Bulgaria Ski discussion board

As many of you know, I tried something different this year and spent one week in Bansko followed by a week in Pamporovo. As with all posters, this is nothing more than my personal opinion which may differ from many others.

My impression of Bansko was one of major disappointment on what I had heard of the resort which made my expectations maybe to high.

We stayed at the Lion Hotel which was superb - apart from the location of being surrounded by a complete building site. Bansko itself is 70% under construction which takes away the charm of what it was 5 years ago - a natural heritage site that was little more than a village. The building work is so extensive it takes away any charm that the area once offered and concerns me greatly as to where it will all end.

The slopes are without doubt the finest in Bulgaria - but the means as to how you access them also leaves a lot to be desired. Our friends hired equipment and although they were able to store their skis at the slopes, they had to take their boots home every night which was a real pain if you wanted to dine straight after skiing. They offered to pay for storage but were told it was not possible. = Rediculous - they were stored somewhere when they were not on hire! The gondela queues were often 100 yards long and took upto an hour to access and reach the base of the slopes. Then further queues to access a chairlift to get up the mountains. Often it took us 90 minutes from when we arrived at the gondela until we actually skied.

When we did, we loved it, dispite the full range of slopes only being open for 1 day the whole week we were there due to high winds closing lifts, bomb scares closing lifts, maintainance closing lifts, and the Womans European GS closing lifts. The ski road was open all week and was a gentle way to end the day just cruising home for 7kms.
Snow conditions were very good which made it even more frustrating that we were restricted as to to where we could ski. Night life we found very limited. The best Apres Ski bar we found was the Happy End but on the 3 nights we visited it there was no entertainment and just a few people sat in their own groups. In conclusion, Bansko has some great slopes - but the mountain management team are not giving the general public the chance to experience the thrills of the slopes. Why would anybody be satisfied when the main chairlift to the summit is closed for 2 days due to winds then the 3rd day when the weather is perfect they close it all day for maintainance when other lower lifts are open all week??


Moving on to Pamporovo we arrived 3pm on the Saturday and found the snow cover very poor. However that evening it snowed all night and most of the following day which made skiing perfect on all runs except the blacks and the run to the lakes which remained closed.
When we left yesterday the snow had deteriorated to such an extent that the final green run home was barely skiable. Up the mountain skiing was still reasonably good though. As for the resort itself, well I have to say this year was my least favourite of all the times I've visited Pamporovo - but I could not really put my finger on why. The people I met were fantastic company - hi to all of you including Steve, Krassie, Jessica, Gary, Ellie, Ted, Viv, Cissy, Stan, Pete, Toni, Danny, Moey, Rie, Sandy, Benson, Mandy, Lizard, Connie, Kate, Neil, Mike, Janet, and a host of people I'm sure I have forgotten. Best night out was the reps caberet night which was hillarious and a must for all to see. Big high to Tess, Julia, Karl, Chris, Kat, Michelle, Sabrina, and all the others who made our stay so pleasant and trouble free.
My only real complaint to the reps is the Bar Crawl night which has injected an 18 - 30's eliment to the resort which it could do without. Why they have to intrude onto every bar where people are relaxing and just enjoying themselves is beyond me. We went to the White Hart to hear the live band, and after 2 numbers in walked the bar crawl and the group had to stop playing whilst the bar crawl played silly drunken games. If they want to get blind drunk then that's up to them, but to do so with the encouragement and blessing of the tour companies shows scant respect to their guests who don't want drunken brawls and football chants at 4am in the morning outside their bedrooms.

We stayed at the Morgavets which whilst comfortable and clean has gone downhill since my last visit. Brerakfast was very poor, cold and constantly running out of things that were not replaced, and the lack of any management in the dining areas was obvious as this never happened in the past.

I probably sound quite down about the place, but I did enjoy it, my only concern is that there seems to be a halt in progress of standards which came as quite a surprize.

It was very evident in both Bansko and Pamporovo that there is a vast number of British people investing in property in both resorts. Almost everybody I spoke to had either bought, was in the process of buying, or was thinking of buying property in Bulgaria.

My observations and thoughts of the property market in these 2 resorts are as follows...........

The ski resort of Pamporovo is set to become the largest ski area in Bulgaria, and whilst the current area offers good but limited skiing the plans are to more than treble the number of runs in and around Pamporovo over the next 3 years. New lifts and gondalas will be installed and over 20 new ski pistes will be created to link Pamporovo with several surrounding villages.
Pamporovo's closeness to Greece provides for a mountain climate with a Mediterranean influence and boast the most sunshine of any ski resort in Europe. The new Trans-European Highway will pass close to Pamporovo and will continue on to the Greek coast. Once completed it will mean the Greek beaches will be just 90 minutes drive from Pamporovo which will be far more attractive to people who want the best of both worlds from their investment.

Pamporovo has been a ski resort for many many years. Bansko on the other hand has only become a recognised ski resort over the past 4 years and although the current ski area is by far and away superior to Pamporovo, some of the slopes lack the tree-lined charm of Pamporovo and many of the slopes are too difficult for beginners and early intermediates. The single gondela at Bansko which provides the only access to the mountains can lead to a lot queuing and once completed, there is then another queue for another lift to get to the first of the slopes.
There are already apartments completed in Bansko that remain unsold, and the amount of construction work underway is akin to the Costa developments that was seen a few years ago. In a radius of just a few square miles there is estimated to be 10,000 apartments under current construction. With prices already quite high, (2 bed duplex appartments are now fetching £125,000 - 150,000 Euros) the profit yeild is not as attractive as it may appear and renting out these appartments will be very competitive and price led, and with the high level of appartments available, sell-on opportunities for profit may be very hard to achieve.

So my own advice is, if you are looking to invest in a ski property in Bulgaria then Pamporovo is a much more sound investment given what the area plans are over the next few years. It's charm, tree lined runs, (which will be a feature for all new runs) location, and future access to the Greek beaches makes it the best choice in my book.

Phew - all typed out.

I'm sure much of that will upset you Banskoites - but that's my view -- loved the skiing -- didn't like the resort!

PP

Interesting reading PP.
'We' really do have an appauling reputation internationally for our drunken behaviour...sounds as though we could be disgracing ourselves amoungst the Balkans now, shame.
Growth in Bulgaria can only be a good thing as long it is done in a sympathetic way. The first time I visited the Country was 15yrs ago and believe me, it needed visitors like us to expect the standard to be improved. It has, to a point where we now wish to purchase property there (not imaginable 15 yrs ago).
I am due to spend a week in Pamps early March and we are all really looking forward to it. Snow or no snow...quality hotel or not...locals paying lip service to ensure that our holiday exceeds expectation or straight talking anti-British. I am in someone elses homeland and I will respect what they appear to be losing bit by bit...culture.
Thank you for your posting, it has given me food for thought ( and I have missed Top Gear - result!)
Regards and best wishes

Good honest report

when we all went over to pamps in jan we stayed at the pamporovo hotel ( for the 3rd year in a row ) I encoraged some friends of ours to come, they where on a differnt floor than us, the fights screaming and other happenings which i will not name kept them awke all night they reported it to reception who sent security uo every night including the police, but the noise never stopped.

The ski slopes, well we had at least 6 young lads taxiing down the green run chanting football songs with the usual fowl langauge, the instructor a young female in the middle, what more can i say

It does give the brits a bad name

Any way nice to have you back on this board again PP, welcome back