Bulgaria Ski discussion board

It's becoming an annual event now. The skiing season in Bulgaria has changed quite dramatically over the past few years
and the significant snowfalls are getting later and later into the season, and yet the tour companies do nothing to alter their
holiday availabilities. And here we are again with most if not all tour companies pulling the plug on package holiday availability
within the next couple of weeks and the snow is about as perfect as it can get.

Currently they are flying holidaymakers to Bulgaria in early/mid December when there is little or no snow and then deny people the
opportunity to travel when the conditions are amazing.

Sort it out someone

PP

I think that's a whole new can of worms emjay but a very fair point. But lets look as to why this has happened
considering Bulgaria was so busy 10 years ago. Prices have risen but not significantly. It's still one of the cheapest places in Europe to ski
but the numbers have dropped off considerably. Hotels have improved a million-fold to what they were like when I first visited 23 years ago.
Firstly there is the history of bad practices of a certain tour company. Putting on local UK airport departure points only to cancel them after people
had paid for their holidays in full and diverting travellers in some cases hundreds of miles to more central and major airports. Then there is the lack
of using Plovdiv airport for Pamporovo travellers. People are just not prepared to make the 4 hour transfer from Sofia when Plovdiv is only 90 minutes away.
Again this is down to a certain travel company having a financial interest in Sofia airport and no interestin using Plovdiv. And thirdly, Bulgaria is hopeless at
marketing itself. When was the last time you saw an advert for skiing in Bulgaria? And finally resort management needs to be improved and brought into the
21st century. Too many false promises of improvements and the like that never happen.

It's all so sad as I love the place so much and can hardly believe how far it has gone backwards over the last few years.

Will it improve? Who knows. But if it doesn't then I can see it dropping off the destination list for good -- and that would be heartbreaking.

PP

But looking at it from a 'glass half full' perspective, what winds me up about the more prominent european resorts is the time spent in lift queues. Provided you are able to avoid half term (and liberation week, as I learned to my cost this year), Pamporovo is virtually queue-free and to that extent is ski-ing's best kept secret as far as I am concerned. Long may it remain that way.

It really depends what you want I guess. If you are there as much for the social aspects as for the ski-ing, then clearly a quiet resort will not suit your tastes. I am there to ski however.

PP do you really think Pamporovo has gone backwards ? Over the last 5 years new Stoikite runs and new lifts, snow cannons, night ski-ing, next year a new lift at Two Bridges, Ryanair into Plovdiv for independent travellers..... I'm not sure I would call that going backwards but then I don't use package companies which I take to be your main concern.

Just my view,

Mark