Weekend vacation in SPA hotel Calista in Stara Zagora Mineral Baths, Bulgaria
SPA Hotel Calista rating by the 5D Sensograph of placescases.com: 4.7 out of 5.
September 2020
Seen 
Felt 
Heard
Smelled 
Tasted
Reading time: 5 min
You don’t have 5 min to read? Then try the fast mode, go only through bold and colored text – 4 min
You don’t have 4 min.? See the short movie further below: 3:21 min.
Hotel Calista is one of the distinguished hotels in Stara Zagora Mineral Baths. There is a remarkable SPA, in which massages, manicure therapies, pedicures are performed by Balinese masseurs. The hotel enjoys many guests on weekends, organizes events and the restaurant has regular visitors, respectively the products are always fresh. What else differentiates SPA Hotel Calista, read below.
See ….
…. The style of the interior is quite old-fashioned, without the finesse of the retro, the walls in the corridors and the rooms are bare, without a single painting or print;
With so much empty space, the design screams the need to put vertical gardens, wall moss, paintings, even if they are not original, but wholesale prints.
The best example of how to turn the walls of a hotel into a gallery is Hisar Spa Hotel. Read about it in Hotel Hissar – 3 in 1, relaxation, art gallery, recreational procedures.
…. The family room is actually a large apartment, very comfortable, with 2 separate rooms, the master bedroom is actually the living room. The room has a balcony and 2 separate bathrooms – a rare comfort;
…. The most interesting is the waterfall, which flows from the ceiling in the spa area – see it in the video. The SPA has a lot of facilities – infrared sauna, Finnish sauna, mint and eucalyptus steam baths, ice pool, ice room, laconium, tepidarium, relaxation area with aquariums with colorful fish. In my opinion, the tepidarium and the ice room did not work.
…. The pool is indoors, but has access to a terraced lawn with sun loungers. It is not huge, but there is a jacuzzi, whirlpool beds and an interesting powerful fountain, where children played a lot. There were also sunbeds indoors around the pool;
…. The hotel also has a winery, but it is closed in the summer, so I can’t say anything about it. We were told that during the winter, it would be open, however smoking’s allowed inside and it’s not suitable for children.
Feel ….
A very interesting sensation in the SPA is the mint steam bath. You inhale hot air, but when you exhale you feel an icy chill throughout the mouth, nose and nasopharynx.
…. Great massage and pedicure in the spa, from the Balinese. It’s not quite like in Bali, because it was twisted a bit by some local restrictions, but the Balinese masseurs are doing well. Read about the massages on the island of Bali in the publication Is the Balinese massage a ritual or therapy?.
…. The girls at the hotel reception and spa are kind, smiling, helpful, I have no complaints. However, they claimed that the water from the hot tap in the hotel rooms was not mineral. This was refuted by the waiters at the restaurant. The staff at the restaurant were also very kind and responsive.
…. Masks almost no one wore from the staff and no one instructed us on the Covid-19 protection requirements at the buffet breakfast. There were gloves on a shelf, but since there were no instructions and they were not positioned on a central place, no one used them except me.1 heart falls here.
Hear ….
…. When there are no events it is very quiet and pleasant at night because the resort is generally quiet. But if you have the misfortune to have weddings organized in the neighboring hotels – the noise until midnight and the early morning hours are quite disturbing. Interestingly, weddings at Calista Hotel itself are held in a hall above the spa area, from which nothing could be heard towards the rooms;
…. We visited the piano bar, the music was ok, but not something special, and no one plays the piano, there was only a DJs.
Movie watching time: 3:21 min.
Smell ….
…. We had a shocking experience with the unpleasant smell of children’s schnitzel. As my daughter said, “it smelled like socks.” The waitress immediately inquired what was wrong and ran to the kitchen to ask why. She explained that the meat was absolutely fresh, but that there was parmigiano in the breading, which was the reason for the strange smell. It turned out that the schnitzel was delicious, with a crispy crust, and the meat inside was tender, but with that smell… However, it was eaten to the last bite;
…. The ice cream in the children’s desserts had a very strong smell of essence, which spoils the pleasure and does not suggest Italian origin, as stated in the menu.
Only half a heart is lost here because of the odor blunder.
Taste ….
…. Beef is unexpectedly well prepared because it is capricious meat and hitting the 3 stages of roasting is a skill that is not for everyone;
…. All kinds of salads – wonderful pink and sweet tomatoes, roasted peppers – also sweet, really good salads;
…. The restaurant had good wine, which further raised its rating.
…. There is a children’s menu, which is a very good idea, and each portion is mainly served with the child’s dessert, free of charge – pancake or melba;
…. Sauteed beef tongue – served in very thin, artfully sliced slices, but I missed the butter on top and the red pepper. We asked for the second and they brought it to us;
…. The children praised the spaghetti Bolognese, as well as the breaded chicken bites from the children’s menu;
…. Great yellow cheese on a plate – a simple dish, but very well made and unconventionally garnished with finocchio (fennel) and slices of green apple.
Fennel is from the carrot family. It has a slight aniseed aroma and is crunchy. This made it a very nice addition to fish and many other meats. Here, with the yellow cheese, it was a nice surprise.
…. Breakfast was varied, with quality charcuterie, the most distinctive being the wonderful cheese pie, cream caramel on a sponge layer, orange juice and bread with yeast. For lovers of sweet rice with milk, there was also some. 😊
…. The coffee from the bar is Illy and is great.
Although you may enjoy staying mainly at the hotel, I recommend taking a walk around. To the center of the village there is a park and a lake. In the opposite direction to the hill is the natural landmark Holy Mother Step, which I have already posted on the Instagram profile of the blog. You better go on foot, but keep in mind that people travel there by car and dust rises. Some are worshipers and go there to seek healing. The place is sacred and has a chapel. The interesting thing about it is that it was once a Thracian sanctuary, and now it is Christian. In the past, the Thracians mined copper in the region and came here to worship the goddess Chernyakh. After Christianity was adopted in Bulgaria, it became a place of worship for the Mother of God. It is called a step because there is a natural well in the form of a giant human foot in a rock, full of water that never dries out, although it could have been dry weather for months for months.
How to get there?
Don’t worry about getting to Calista SPA hotel near Stara Zagora. Just use the Google map here by clicking on the red pin of its location and then select directions:
Стара Загора, Старозагорски минерални бани, Спа Хотел Калиста, 6062 Стара Загора, Старозагорски минерални бани, България
A: SPA hotel Calista, Stara Zagora Mineral Baths, 6062 Стара Загора
T: +359 41 112 980
Е: office@spahotelcalista.com
How to book your stay?
If you want to stay in SPA hotel Calista, I recommend that you book your stay right here. For your convenience, I have added a booking.com box, which refers directly to their site. I guarantee you’re going to use all your genius discounts and privileges they would offer to you. Just enter the dates of your trip, then hit the Search button and voila. In addition, booking.com are doing their best to make sure that your expectations as a customer are fulfilled. I’ve described an example about the latter in my story about our stay in Shangri-La hotel in Singapore .
If you need a rent-a-car to travel to Stara Zagora mineral baths, you can book it here in the box of the largest booking platform.
Where to follow the reviews and ratings blog placescases.com?
Did you like my blog? Great! Then follow placescases.com pages on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter and don’t miss any new publication. It is best to subscribe directly here.
Are you looking for info about good restaurants, hotels, any nice places in Bulgaria and around the world? Then dig into the categories of placescases.com to find something just for you.
Do you ever wonder how some places differ so much from others in service, environment, as an overall experience? This means you are also interested like me in the topic of The Experience Economy by Pine and Gilmore. I constantly add to my collection reviews about those of them, which practice its principles, regardless of intentionally or accidentally. If you are curious to understand which are they, explore category The Experience Economy.
