Bulgaria Ski discussion board

I have just returned with a large group from Pamporovo. I have enjoyed the resort over the last 15 years, have made great friends with many of the locals from Pamporovo, Smoylan, Cheplare and Varna. I consider them to be good friends but before departing on Saturday I wished them all the very best and told them that I would not be back in the forseeable future.

1) The business people in the Pamporovo Resort are getting too greedy. 6.50lev for a 500ml bottle of coke. it's 0.95lev in Cheplare-Enough said on the prices.

2) The snow conditions have been dreadful over the last two seasons. The lift infrastructure is very poor. It has been the same for years. The only thing that has changed is that hundreds of new apartments have been built. Too many people and no infrastructure to cope. Snow canons don't work even when the temperature is right.

3) The medical facilities are dreadful. I had occasion to visit the medical centre on the mountain as one of my party, which comprised 90 people had a bad fall. Although the doctor was helpful, the x-ray machine resembled something from the 1950's. The medical centre on the mountain had no medical equipment worth talking about. No resuscitation equipment, poor hygeine standards and outdated basic equipment. The ambulance was a Land Rover with an old metal bed in the back-no defibrillator, oxygen, drip, or basic medical facilities. God help anyone who took seriously ill on the mountain.
I also noticed the ambulance in the resort parked outside the Murgavets Hotel-it looked like an old school bus with a bottle of oxygen strapped to the back of the front seats!
In conclusion the medical facilities are non-existent.

I may come back to Pamporovo in 5 years or so but many things must change.

Bulgaria is now in the EU but to justify this the infrastructure must be put in place comprising roads, medical care in the ski resorts, pricing policies, ski facilities etc.

If things don't change sooner rather than later Bulgaria will loose out to better and mor economical ski resorts.

Hi Pete,
good thread.
I am so glad someone has posted exactly what I have been thinking.
First went to Pamporovo 12 years ago and then returned this year.The facilities/slopes/lifts are identical. There are apartment blocks all over the place. How can this work if they are not increasing the the amount of ski slopes and lifts? Taxis are 5 times the price of the city and a beer is ony 1lv in Asenovgrad.They have become greedy.Its generaly untidy piles of sand kerb stones mising etc they need to spend money on the resort not just apartments . After sking in France and Italy I would find it hard to recomend Pamporovo. Sorry !
Its a shame I love so much about Bulgaia.They do need to take note.

i have skied in both Austria (january) and Bulgaris (boro) this year. The comparison of the two are below:

Cost:
Both Holidays cost the same with crystal Austria-SOLL, BG-Boro
Lift pass:
£130 in Austria. This gave us access to over 90 lifts with a capacity of 114,000 per hour. £80 Bulgaria 15 lifts all outdated with a capacity of 15,500.
Ski Runs:
Austria 250kms all well groomed with staff working on them day and night to keep them in tip top condition. BG, 58kms. I know it was warm and the snow was melting but I didn't see any staff out trying to keep them going, some were dangerous in places and the bottom of my ski's are dreadfull now!.
Accommodation:
Austria Catered chalet with a five star chef and the staff couldn't do enough for you. One of them even had a broken back, but she was still working as best she could. BG, Hotel Lion. Hotel good, food not so, staff could be better. Hotel lobby too smokey (amazing how quickly you get used to a smoking ban!)
food/drinks:
About the same price when eating out in both resorts, however due to the quality of the food in chalet we ate out only once as it was five star food, and this only because the staff get a night off. Free wine provided at the table. BG, food in hotel not so good so spending more sourcing it elsewhere- but quality outside hotel good.
medical:
didn't need to use it in either resort but saw the helicopter in Soll numerous times scooping people up, also had ski patrols out to help you and ski-doo's to help rescue you if it wasn't such a serious fall. BG, like I said never used it, but also never saw any ski patrol out looking either!. No Ski-doos with medics on board and no helicopter spotted.
numbers of skiers:
Soll, due to number of runs you could be on a slope on your own, nice and wide and well groomed. Fantastic. All runs well sign posted with signs at every junction. Never queued at any lift/gondola for more than about 3/4 minutes if any queue at all. BG Didn't use gondola inmorning as queue almost to top of mountain! Chair and drag lifts had small queues but nothing to ruin the day. Slopes always had someone on-those that were passable anyway!. again poorlly maintained slopes with plenty of people on, and due to lack of snow below upper slopes full of beginners.-not their fault I know.
flight:
better departure times for Austria. The flight is half the distance so half the time!.
Town: both towns had no snow in them when I visited. Soll was clean and tidy, picturesque, and a pleasure to walk around with all locals saying hello to you when they saw you. Ski bus in operation if you couldn't be bothered to walk to/from the slopes which was included in the lift pass. Boro: Dirty floors, pavements broken, Some of locals very friendly, others not so. No bus system in operation, although hotel did provide transit van to get you to slopes for free.

In conclusion, with the £ not changing too much in the four weeks we had between the two holidays we found Soll to be a slightly cheaper holiday. It was certainly more enjoyable and the skiing (the reason we were there) was far superior. I cannot really compare the two holidays. We used bulgaria as it was a chep destination and good value to learn to ski. Now we're spreading our wings. Crystal provided ski guides for two days in Austria to show you around the extensive mountain range and runs. We made use of these and they were excellent. All again for free. The first page I look at in next years brochure will definately Austria, with BG coming quite a long way down the list.....sorry BG.

Thank you Pete that can't have been easy for you to post but unfortunately it's true.

I loved Borovets having been 4 times in 5 years, I think its time to give somewhere else a go now but I haven't ruled out coming back one day when the welcome is as warm and friendly as it used to be.

Bulgaria - you've got complacent, and some of us are taking your "take it or leave it" attitude to heart. We'll come back if/when the facilities improve and you learn how to treat decent visitors to your beautiful country.

At the moment it's all the gear... no idea.

Don't dismiss Bulgaria completely as in the next few years there will be changes. Prices have increased especially in Pamporovo & the main reason for this that all the bars are run by the same company, so they don't need to compete or offer happy hours. This will be their downfall & Bansko & Borovets will benefit. Last week I found umpteen bars/restaurants in Bansko offer large beers for 1.5leva & a restaurant offering free wine with a main course & in Borovets we all know about the Alpina bar & others like black tigers happy our which can make it less painful on your wallet. I will be back to Bulgaria again & I hope not too many people lose faith as it will turn a corner.