Hotel Bellevue

Communist hang-over hotel Ohrid

Having spent my first week in an excellent hotel in the centre of Ohrid (Millennium Palace) I then moved on for a week at Bellevue, 7 km from Ohrid.

This hotel is not worthy of its 3 stars: dark and depressing interior (dark purple paint), empty shops and conference rooms on the lower ground floor, mouldy and neglected bathrooms, very badly behaved guests (large groups of 'problem' teenagers attending a 'course' in learning to integrate into normal society, running riot for a week and wrecking everyone else's holiday).

The attractive pool in the hotel photos unfortunately cannot be used: no heating or maintenance, just an open tap and drainage left open all day to constantly refresh the water, which is truly ICE COLD!

The staff are incompetent and indifferent and will say anything to get rid of you. Complain about the deafening music in the hotel grounds from 8pm till 1 am and they will tell you this is the last evening, no more noise in future, yet the noise continues all week.

Breakfast is good. The food at dinner is truly abominable: first course, soup, no choice. Second course, raw cabbage salad, no choice. Main course a choice of a piece of meat or an omelet, served with tinned/deep freeze peas or sweetcorn and foul cubed potatoes soaked in grease and salty bouillon. Desert: watermelon, dry cake or a half-melted ball of icecream.

On the 4th day, when I was again served raw cabbage and cubed, grease-soaked potatoes for the 4th day in row, I had a tantrum in public and was 'allowed' chips and a tomato salad by the manager, which almost caused a riot amonst the other suffering guests!

On their last day, a group of about 40 elderly German tourists made an appointment with the management to voice their grievances. They were told, "it will be better next year, we hope."

Unique Quality: Wonderful setting and view.