Hotel Izgrev Spa & Aquapark

A very mixed experience. We visited as a family of 5, staying in two adjacent (but not adjoining) rooms. The beds were comfortable enough and the room was a pleasant temperature, but the quality of fixtures and fittings was questionable, e.g. broken shower head, ill fitting electrical fixtures. There were noises from water pipes which interrupted my wife's sleep, and disturbed me when I was trying to get to sleep. You are prohibited from taking food up to rooms, but they do provide room service (at +50% cost). The lobby bar was not open our entire visit, which seems strange. The beach bar and pool bar stop serving food at 5:30pm, main dining room doesn't open until 7pm. Evening buffet was very limited, the a la carte menu is good, but no children's potions and we were struggling by the end of our one week stay - the kids just lived off pizza twice per day. The aquapark is brilliant - one of the best I've been to. Some other reviews note the lack of lifeguards, which is only partially true - the behaviour is self regulating so if you want to go down headfirst you pretty much can. There were, however, first-aiders distributed around the park and staff everywhere if you needed anything. They just weren't blowing their whistles all the time, and let the kids explore their own boundaries on the more adventurous slides. Lake Ochrid is beautiful, and during the day you can walk through the Monastery of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary to get to the small village of Kališta (Kalishta), which has a couple of restaurants. Unfortunately the monastery shuts in the evening, so you can't stay too late - though there didn't seem to be much nightlife anyway. The town of Ochrid is beautiful, but a taxi ride away so it was really a day-trip to go there. There was no entertainment in the hotel in the evening, we were prepared for that so had packed tablets/laptops for evening entertainment - they were very much needed, as there wasn't even a bar open in the evening to sit in. On the whole, I'd say definitely visit Lake Ochrid but stay in the town and make a day-trip to the Aquapark, not the other way round.

The hotel is a nice hotel. The friendliest staff were the room cleaners. Other staff didn't seem to know about manners or a lot English which made it hard to communicate with often having to go find people who had better English. Hotel is dated and could do with a little update to make it much better. Indoor bars not opened so no evening entertainment for residents so not a lot to do in evenings unless you wanted to watch and listen to weddings. There was a wedding every single night. Music was Turkish/Greek mixture. We where lake side and the music was near us. It is VERY loud. The problem is this is their money maker as it goes on all year whereas holiday makers are only a short period. WATER SHOES are essential. Sun cream, swimming costumes and water shoes are a must. Lake is clear and beautiful but really stoney. Sun beds usually available. You can see the bottom and the fish around your legs. Aquapark is great especially for older children and teenagers but can get very loud and busy. However it is only open in July and August. Outside these months it is not open. Infinity pool is nice. Lots of sun beds though. They don't have any lifeguards or Health and Safety so with children you have to vigilant all the times . Food was simple, scarce, eggs, eggs cheese and simple meats. Cereals was available but if you have a picky child please take own. It does say not to bring in own food or drinks. Ignore that and get your own. However this brings into another issue no local shops so you have to go to Struga to buy water,not provided, by hotel. Taxi is about ten pounds each way. To go anywhere you need a taxi. So do a big shop for water etc. no where local to eat out without taxi unless you are half board with boring food at tea time. We had a kettle and fridge but sure if every room had that. Lots of steps and lifts very confusing. Be prepared for step training down to the pool and the lake. Take everything you need like stated above as you will feel it later. Any trips you go on you will have to make your own way to Struga or Orhid for pick. So have plenty of money for taxi fares. It cost £110.00 for the week. Just to go to pick up point. They do not come to the hotel to pick you up and the trips are expensive anyway. No meals are provided either. A positive is that when you down to the lake take a left on the road path and keep going and you will find a monastery. One of them has rooms which is carved into the mountain. North Macedonia is a beautiful place but definitely not commercialised like a lot of other Countries in nearby. It has a lot of potential so see while it's learning and growing

Very nice hotel with beautiful surroundings, nice breakfast, polite staff. I definitely recommend it to everyone ❤️ reception desk is wonderful, so helpful,so lovely and kind. Beach bar is very nice,so quiet you can hear every morning how birds are singing . Best hotel ever!!!

The rooms have not been cleaned every day and the towels have not been changed. On top of that the person at the reception, when I asked why they didn’t clean our room, answered: you should clean it by yourself. And this a 5 stars hotel??? At the shower we hardly had water pressure because the hose was torn. These are just a few of the problems we had there

We stayed only One night everything was terrible terrible everywhere was dusty and dirty Firstly we came at room and someone used our toilet garbage basket was full very disgusting 🤢🤢 we called reception he talked housekeeping they helped us but we wanted to shower and suddenly shower head flew off very shocked There was someone else's hair inside the shower. AC not working 🤢 Linens not good the room smells damp