Bulgaria Ski discussion board

If you cant be bothered do do that, this is what it says...


Despite the 1994 Good Skiing Guide's strictures, some comparison of Bulgaria and Andorra is in order. In terms of the ski slopes, there's no contest; Andorra's skiing is linked into areas that are bigger and better. In terms of cost, Bulgaria has the advantage: in Crystal's 2005/6 brochure, the cheapest week in Bulgaria, at Borovets, is priced at £319, while the equivalent holiday in Andorra is 10 per cent more expensive, even though the flight to the Pyrenees is much shorter. Compare an average four-star holiday in Bansko with one in Andorra, and the differential is about the same. Skiers' spending power in Bansko is high: half a litre of beer costs around £1 on the slopes, and I had lunch at a basic café in town for £2.

Aesthetically, there's not much to choose between Bansko and the Andorran resorts. The former is grim, the charm of its old centre being nominal at best and compromised by the English-speaking hustlers outside restaurants; the latter are architecturally challenged and set in narrow, often dark valleys. About Bansko's cuisine, I have nothing good to say; and, fortunately, I have no experience of the medical facilities. In contrast with the situation in Bulgaria a decade ago, Bansko's rental equipment is fine.

Is Bulgaria the new Andorra? That's not a question to raise with those involved in marketing Bansko. It is irksome to them because it suggests that their expensively developed resort is just a bargain-basement destination. They might be happy that my answer is "no", but they shouldn't be. Because it is my view that Andorra remains the better place for value-for-money skiing.

The Independent News, UK
Published: 31 December 2005

Still love Bansko though so