Bulgaria Ski discussion board

Ok I am really confused, I am flying out on Saturday and taking my 7 year old daughter (who is soo nearly 8!) travelling with First Choice staying in Rila. We have booked beginners ski school for both of us, and from various bits of info I thought we might be able to ski together. But since yesterday, and by trawling through this list of past postings I am now really confused as to whether she is allowed to ski in ski school or whether she will have to stay in Kindergarten.

I have read the small print off my brochure and nothing says she can't ski in ski school, in fact on the internet (which is where I booked) the child ski school actually says 7-12 years.

So can anybody who has been out with a 7 year old please offer any help.

Sometimes I wish I had never started reading this excellent board as I would have been non the wiser to the fact that she might not be able to do ski school which first choice have led me to believe she can.

Jacqui my advice to you is to all learn together in Ski school. I came back from Boro about 5 weeks ago and am also going again on Sat. When I went a few weeks ago I went with my sister in law and her two boys aged 12 & 6 the 6 year old was in the kindergarten at the Rila. To be honest it is not very nice. There is nothing for them to do they only get 2 hours of skiing in a day 1 hour in the am and an 1 hour pm. It got better as the week went on but my nephew was given one drink for the whole of the first day. His mum left him in there until about 2pm at the latest a whole day was too much. You know your child the best get up early and take a look at the kindergarten that may help you make your choice but I would try and make your mind up befor you go to your own ski group.

Hi Jacqui,
We were at the Rila in January , 6 adults and 11 chidren aged 5 to 14.The three younger ones 5 , 6 & 6 were at kindergarden till 3pm and we felt that one of the 6 year olds was almost too old for it.
Our friends paid for an hour of private instruction at 3pm and they really enjoyed it.My advice would be to get her into ski school on Day 1 with other kids and hope she takes to it. We expected to meet up at lunchtime with them but this wasn't easy as we were in our class and lunched elsewhere , so make sure you give her money for lunch and hope by 3pm she is happy.
Cheers Doug

Hope this helpes.
We (wife + 15 yr old ,13,11,8,7) stayed in the Rila Studios 5th to 12th of Feb this year.
ALL were in ski school (and there were younger kids than ours in school). Everyone meets outside the RILA Sunday morning to get put in groups. The split depending on ability(Beginner,First timmer / Intermediate /Advanced) is Kids / Adults.They seem to do the cut off at about 11/12 years.
Ski school is from 10am to 3pm(they take you to lunch as well so make sure your daughter has some Lev's-20 per day).
Advice - we got fed up of not seeing all the kids so after 2 days we asked if we could all be in one group & it was no problem the reps sorted it out.
Have a great time we did.

Skied with my 2 children (12 & 7) in January this year. Had same worries as you as Thomson would not book my 7 year old into ski school as their age range was 8 - 12. Saw the rep when we arrived who advised us to speak to the ski school in the Rila & book her in direct. We did this and although she was youngest in her group (just) she really enjoyed it and was skiing down the runs by the end of the week & coping with the lifts on her own. She was really pleased with her progress and I would recommend that you book your child in to ski school & not kindergarten. I took her out of lessons 1 afternoon as she wanted a break but that was fine with the instructor & she rejoined the class next day. I saw lots of groups with adults & children learning together so you should be able to ski together if you are all the same level. Our family are all different standards so we went separate ways but met for lunch. Have loads of fun - wish we were going again soon.

She will be able to ski so please don't worry.

Your only decision is whether or not she goes to ski school or stays in a group with you. Our daughter was nearly 7 last year and although she had skiied before we didn't feel she would cope with ski school without some adult input. All our children are different.

I skiied with both the children and we were in a mixed family group - 2 other families with children/teenagers. This worked brilliantly for us as I had adult company and we all helped each other out and the kids had others to play with as well. My husband was in a more intermediate group but joined us on the Wednesday and Friday so hw could be with us. Being the only child in a group isn't ideal though as I think they can miss out on the great interaction they get from other children.

The Bulgarians are very flexible so please just go with the flow and remember you know your child best and pick a group accordingly!

I hope this has helped rather than hinder.

Enjoy

Ellie