Bulgaria Ski discussion board

Try Bulgaria Air. I booked this time a couple of years ago for the following Feb half term and paid around £160 pp.

www.skyscanner.net is a useful website, as is www.opodo.co.uk You may find some cheaper options that involve a change of flights in Hamburg or Frankfurt, but that adds to your time travelling.

Also I believe you can books flights only on the Balkan Holidays website, so have a look there.

Personally I found that because it is half term EasyJet bump up the costs considerably for that week. By the time you add on the bags etc they may not be any cheaper than BA or Air BG.

Good luck, and save all your Tesco clubcard points to exchange for Airmiles, and get a Tesco credit card to get Miles. In 2014 you may be able to take the family for free!

It is silly to pay that amount for flights only when you can book into the Alps better deals even 2-3 months before your date.
At price of 130 plus there is nothing to tempt me to book and sooooo early.
Keep in mind this seasons snow is a one off and very unlikely to be repeated again and straight on the back of this winter.
Why not look for deals around November .
If you are going at least 4 people: Book a ferry book acommodations direct anywhere in the Alps and you will find that you will save considerably.
Plus freedom to arrive when you want to arrive.
9 hours drive and Bingo you are in a resort which is going to be happy to accommodate you .you will have a weekly programme to entertain you and your kids.The queues are going to be less and your choices of food (inclusive or not) will be massive.
For other than Half-term time and into the dead weeks of the season maybe BG can be good choice (like for example now when the snow is good the resort is empty and appart of the expensive lift pass the rest is reasonable)
I would never ever attempt taking my family at Half Term Feb Hols to Bulgaria .
At that time- to the Apls.
you will be cramped on the slopes,using massively big ski groups,and the,,,,queues are gonna knock your pleasure down to an all low level.
Tricky isn't it?

Not sure I completely agree with everything there Mr M. Half term prices in the Alps are extortionate - try pricing up half term week for a family of 5! I did for 2012. Easy to see why people end up pulling their kids out of school rather than sticking to holiday.

Even if you drive to the Alps - once you add in fuel and tolls its not a cheap option (not to mention for us there is an 8 hour drive in the UK before you even get to the channel) and then the price of food in the resorts!!! Admittedly the ski area is larger than BG resorts - but if you are beginners then does that really matter? Even an expert skier would struggle to cover the full Espace Killy in a week!

We were in Pamporovo for half term just gone and it was a great holiday. Yes the skiing is a bit limited if you are an advanced skier and my eldest two would have been bored - So I put them on snowboards and they went back to being beginners again. What I do love about a smaller resort is the ease of meeting up with the rest of your group both at lunch and other times during the day. When we ski in the Alps we say goodbye to the beginners at the start of the day and see them back at the chalet at tea time! Not so social.

Yes, If money were no object I'd choose the Alps every time. However, my lucky numbers have not come up just yet and, like most folk, I need to make those pounds go further. Even with the problems in BG resorts, its still a cheaper option by far. Whilst we are restricted to school holidays there is no way I could stretch to the prices in the Alps.

Sandrine, Oppodo have got the flights for £226 (flying BG Air) each for the Sat 16th to follow Sat, as per earlier post if you play the dates and go day early or stay day late you can get this down a bit...

I've been feb 1/2 term for the last 4 years and always had enough snow and never had a problem with the Q's, this year was especially quiet !!

I've also got a really good deal on 1/2 board via balkan and it works out about £550 each incl (hotel, flight and lift pass)... I think its a bargain.... but I havn't looked at the Alps - like Borovets too much to miss it :-)

Sarah...

Ahh, the good old Alps v Bulgaria price discussion. This has been done to death and no one has ever demonstrated a French alps holiday with kids that is the same price as Bulgaria.

If you are on your own or a couple then you can do France reasonably but with kids it's a massive compromise to get anywhere close to Bulgaria costs.

Compromise 1 - you probably have to drive and that possibly is not cheaper if you are driving from anywhere several hours away from Dover.
Compromise 2 - you have to self-cater
Compromise 3 - you have to take loads of food or drive to a supermarket outside of the resort as everything in the resort is expensive
Compromise 4 - you cannot afford to buy anything on the slopes
Compromise 5 - you cannot afford to stay in accommodation near the slope
Compromise 6 - you have to forgo ski school for the kids as the lift pass is so expensive
Compromise 7 - you have to go very early or very late in the season to get cheaper prices

If you start comparing like for like then you will never make the sums work. If someone can find me a holiday with:

- travel first week of March
- flights
- accommodation for 5 (with a private sauna) right next to the slopes (ski in/ski out)
- transfers
- 6 days ski school for the kids from 9:30-15:00
- 2 mornings of guiding including off-piste
- spending less than £100 a day for all food, drink for 5 on the slopes and resort restaurants. To include a proper lunch of hot food and a 500ml beer or hot choccie with brandy.
- lift pass (min 58km skiable area), ski & boot hire for 5
- ski doo trip
- horse riding trip

for less than £2700 (outside of half term) then please tell me and I will be there.

The simple fact is you CANNOT do it.

I agree that half term is a nightmare week and even BG prices/queues/flights get a bit steep but I just take the kids out of school as they are young enough. Bear in mind as well that as soon as kids get to 12 you're paying adult prices as well for loads of things like lift passes.

We have friends who go to France with 2 kids. They go a week before Xmas to a Mark Warner catered chalet in Les Deux Alpes on a brilliant deal. It costs them about 2.2k but this is for 4 people and to ensure snow you are on the glacier at 3000m where it's -20 and the kids are crying from the cold. They can't eat anything more than 1 bowl of chips on the slopes as it's too expensive and they don't put the kids into ski school as it's too expensive. If we went the extra child would cost £400 in accommodation alone. Add a lift pass and we are up to 3k with no ski school to go when it's fecking freezing. And that's a GOOD deal.

Our neighbours go to France and have done for years with kids but they drive, self cater and the kids don't need ski school. But they also have to stay away from the slopes, not miles but always a fair walk or bus transfer. Oh - an they are going at Easter as she is a teacher and half term was way too expensive for them.

Italy is perhaps better value but still not anywhere near BG prices on a like for like basis.

Austria is better again but driving is not such an option, lift passes are not cheap and you have to think about resort height if you are looking at an early or late season offer.

Of course BG has it's downsides and prices are high in the resort compared to outside but it's still affordable. We have to watch the pennies to be able to afford to go skiing and going to BG means we can enjoy all parts of the holiday knowing we have the funds rather than being forced to compromise loads.

So the challenge is there - it's easy to choose to French/Italian alps when you don't have kids but I don't think it is possible to do a like for like holiday with 3 kids in the alps for anywhere near the same money. I'd love to be proved wrong but never have been.

I think that it is always difficult to compare the Alps with Bulgaria-I have been going to Bulgaria for 22 years and fell in love with the country and it's people from the start. The main problem for me in the recent years has been the snow reliability and so I have travelled to the Alps etc.many times in order to get good snow. When my grandchildren were under 11 years there were good deals to be had from the major tour operators-eg. 1 child free and 2nd for £99 which made the charges for the adults seem more of a bargain-however the lifts passes in the 3 valleys are over £200 and ski school also pricey unless you research ways to reduce those prices-we always make our own packed lunches and go for half board.The week before Christmas tends to be cheaper if you don't mind getting organised for Christmas in advanced. I also try to visit Borevets every year and find if you have good snow as we had this year there is no place like it-where else would you find a 'George's Bar' built in the middle of the mountains of pine trees with an open fire selling all sorts of tasty morsels-Health and Safety would never approve! The hospitality from the Bulgarian people can never be equalled. Some research etc can also cut some costs-I took my grandaughter out of school just 1 day and flew back before the weekend which saved mega bucks.I agree that there is no holiday like it to bring the family together. This year at the age of 70 thought that I had better keep to the blues and greens , however, one of my Bulgarian friends pursuaded me that I was still up to the Fon Fon- so have the video to prove it.Yes, Granny pays for some of the sking holidays but I would rather my grandchildren have these memories of us sking together .We were in Borevets at half term but managed to ski round the queues-skied the Rila slopes in the morning and then used the gondola mid morning. Those early lessons in the Bulgarian ski school has stood me in good stead.I don't think that Courchevel has a forum like this one!!