Bulgaria Ski discussion board

Hi,

11 of us have just spent a week ski-ing in Borovets. I just wanted to give our experience of the restort. We did have a good time. We where interested in Bulgaria, did some reading on the culture, history and language. Read reviews and where excited to go to a different country for a new experience.
We where prepared for Bulgaria to not be as afluent as other ski areas but this does not excuse some of the attitudes we came up against. The gross monthly wage for Bulgaria : 160 lev approx £56.
We spent about £5000 on our trip, I know not all the money goes to the restort but still that is quiet a bit to spend. Ski-ing is always my most expensive holiday and I save all year inorder to go.
Yes, we did get a good deal, but last year we skied in France for only £100 more for everything.

These are the experiences we had.

Positives :
* The mountains where beautiful.
* The runs where good.
* The snow was fab.
* The hotel (Edelweiss) food was good, especially the vegtarian choices.
* The tour rep was OK.
* Our masseur in the hotel was very good.

Negatives :
* On the first day a digital camera was stolen from a packed bag in a locked hotel room. All the rest of the group found that things had been moved or gone through and even locks had been atempted to be picked. This was not a good start.
* The police where very unhelpful.
* The ski instructor for the six beginers was terrible. George did not teach the class enough, he had not even taken them on a blue run or tought them to parallel turn by the end of 6 days of leasons for 4 hours each day (compared to other restorts). George was more interested in how much money he could make out of the group, especially when he mentioned his tip 2 days before the end of class. He was paid to teach, not to demand a tip! He never advised the group to practice. Compared to my ski instructor, George was useless.
* The ski hire shop at the gondola was terrible. They did not even bother to fit anybodies ski or board boots. They were extreamly surely and unhelpful. The skies they rented out had absolutely no wax on them, even on the first day. When we asked for wax they wanted to charge us. Unwaxed skies can be dangerous. I have skied now in 7 different resorts and always had wax on skis. Whenever we complained or asked for help they where rude, ignored us or did not know our rep.
* We hired some Ski-Do's, there where many varying prices for these, even when we would check in the morning and the afternoon, they would tell us different prices and that the staff had told us incorrect prices previously. We where quoted £50 for a one hour ski-do ride, this is outragious as in feb we went on a two hour ski-do ride in Sweden for £50, how is this comparible, especially as Sweden has one of the highest cost of living in the world.
* One of our group injured her knee coming off the Rila 1 chair (very nasty chair). She was able to hobble and went back down on the chair. At the bottom the mountain rescue man insisted she get the ski-do 20 secs to the medical centre. When asked he said it was free, at the centre they wanted to charge her 287 Euros for the ride and refused her a doctor if she did not pay. She refused and the centre tried to call the police on her. I was under the impression that we where in Bulgaria and that the currency was Lev, not Euros or Pounds which we where constantly asked for and quoted.
* Nearly everywhere we went we where constantly accosted by people for money, it never let up. I am fully aware that they are not a rich people and we seem to have everything, but there is only so much any person can take. We ended up buying dinks at the local supermarket and having them in the hotel rather than going out and being scammed the whole time. In the end the constant demand for money made us spend less because we felt cheated and that the people where not as deserving as they seem.
* I would be wary of paying bills in bars, pubs and resaurants as they will over charge you and some of the free drinks have no alcohol in them, even though they say they do.

We have come out of this holiday feeling negative towards Bulgaria, which is an awful shame. I would not recomend ski-ing in Bulgaria at the moment. I think that the people are doing themselves a dis-service. We would have spent more moeny if we had not been so harassed. At present we will not be returning to ski in Bulgaria in the near future. As for them joining the Euro in the next few years, I do not believe this is a possibility. Nearly all of the group have visited other east european, ex-soviet countries and had wonderful experiences and where expecting the same, but it was not so in Bulgaria.
If Bulgaria wants to compete with other ski resorts they need to up their game and try to regulate the system. I realise that this seems like a very negative review but I always believe that all views and information is important. I hope that Bulgaria does improve and takes note of peoples experiences as there is a huge amount of potential for fabulous resorts and ski-ing.

Gosh, i cant believe you had such a bad time. One thing i dont understand is you say that everywhere you went you were constantly accosted by people for money what do you mean? why were they asking you for money was it for food + drinks bill?

What ski school was George from? i agree with you that its very bad that your ski's were not fitted by that i take it you mean you bindings etc?

I have been to Borovets 3 times now and never had any problems at all, i have never paid too much in a bar for food or drinks. You have had a very bad expereince and i dont understand y.

George was from Borosport Ski School.

On the street people are constantly asking for money, there where quite a number of beggers.

With George, it was always his restaurant for lunch and his bar after ski class. Also he pushed for excursions that where very pricey, the same as offered by all the tour companies.

It was just too much, always being treated as a pot of gold that they could dig into. It became very grating after a while, we all work hard for our holiday and wages, but to be treated as only money and not a pearson is demoralising. I always treat people as I expect to be treated, but this did not happen in Borovets.

It is sad that it was not the experience we where hoping for, we where so excited about going. We had read so many good things about Bulgaria, it was a shame we where let down.

Good honest report Becks- unfortunately you seem to have had all the bad experiences possible.
We too had our rooms rumaged through (January 2006)-fags and money were pinched from the rooms (Samakov Hotel).Mobile phones pinched in Pamporovo (2005) Hotel Pamporovo.
We too experienced the locals changing the prices and demanding more than what was agreed- they soon become fairly fluent in english when their demanding more!
We (group of 20+) have given the country a chance for the last 2 seasons but unfortunately we are going elsewhere next year. I would have gone back basically because its cheaper but the majority of the group refuse. I enjoyed my 2 holidays there and look forward to returning when its a more organised and honest. I met many great Bulgarians and reckon its a shame that they are in danger of scaring away the very hand thats feeding them.
The polis seem to be very bent and are pretty useless- which makes you wonder if the mafia are buying them.
Still better than a week in Bahgdad, self catering

We have been to Borovets twice this year and had a great time. All the issues that have been mentioned generally come from the reps and their associates. We travelled independently (wizzair- eastern european equivalent to easy jet- now fly direct to sofia, and cheaply) and so were no subjected to any of this. We found that all the bars and food were reasonably price, and that generally you can have a very good meal and drinks for around £12 a head. If you are interested in travelling independently then please contact me as I may be able to help you.