Following a very pleasant visit to Albena towards the end of last summer, I felt confident that a Bulgarian beach holiday was comparable to the Canary Islands or the Balearics - prompting me to suggest to my best friend in the UK that she and the kids might like to meet up with us here this summer for a joint holiday.

The idea went over so well that my friend managed to arrange a party of 12. Unfortunately, even as early as April it was difficult to get accommodation in Albena through the UK tour operator, so we settled for Golden Sands. I had also heard good reports about this resort and so I thought it would be a good opportunity to check out yet another of Bulgaria's gems as far as foreign tourism goes! This time I was less than impressed, however - angry, irritated and frustrated would better describe how I feel after a week in Golden Sands, not to mention extremely tired.

Having spent the majority of a decent Bulgarian salary for seven nights of B&B, which we pre-booked from Sofia, we found ourselves in probably the only hotel in the entire resort that hadn't come across the remotest trace of renovation. Stifling heat, no fans, no A/C - sleeping with open windows was compulsory! And so, night after night a cacophony of disco, techno and other music from nearby bars, pubs and restaurants kept us from that much-desired phase of deep sleep until at least 2am.

On the first night, we were rudely awoken around 4am, when a couple of British blokes decided to take a drunken swim in the pool opposite our bedroom. The ritual chant of "We're f__ing heads" was interspersed with shouts of "Quiet" in various languages. After an hour of this, my husband went to the reception and requested they call the police; after two hours - I decided to deal with it my way! I got dressed, went over to the pool and, after a brief chat, was able to convince the offenders that no one minded them swimming in the early hours of the morning but the singing was keeping people awake - people who likewise were on holiday. We didn't hear another peep from them all week, but unfortunately there were plenty of other contenders on other nights, including a similar incident - this time with some Russians a few days later. Again it was yours truly who very calmly but firmly put an end to the nighttime disturbance.

Golden Sands seemed full of people who didn't give other holidaymakers a second thought, in pursuit of their own pleasure. Hotel management and staff (at least in the areas I was in) seemed to me inadequately trained and not in the least bit interested in enforcing the simplest of rules. I was reminded of our bemusement, three years ago in Las Vegas, at the vigilant observation and enforcement of rules by all resort staff. Oh, what a difference just a fraction of this staff enthusiasm would make to the overall image of Bulgarian resorts (we all know that Golden Sands is not the only culprit).

The problem with noise pollution in particular must be tackled very seriously and enforced with heavy fines as it is in Spain. If one knows that at midnight all will be quiet, one can relax instead of wondering when the music will finally stop.

Amongst the other misdemeanors I came across were ice-cream and fruit selling at four times their normal price, all restaurants charging their clientele anything between 0.30 and 0.50 stotinki to use their toilet facilities, shops selling Bulgarian cigarettes higher than their nationally fixed price, pool lifeguards who had their noses pressed in books all day long, and local drivers with a total disregard for pedestrians including children. All of these added to that feeling that you were being taken to the cleaners and nobody really cared if you were having a good time.

At this point, I do want to say that we did have a good time. Sunny days spent on the beach in the company of our friends - seven adults and nine children - beautiful evenings all dining out together, plenty of good food, drink and laughter... but that too we could have had on Ibiza or Gran Canaria.

I wanted to promote Bulgaria and it let me down. No wonder that the receptionist of our hotel looked totally puzzled when I requested a holiday satisfaction form or guest comment book!