Bulgaria Ski discussion board

Flew out of Bristol on 26th with a 15 min delay - so not a bad start to the holiday. Arrived at Plovdiv to the usual hassel that you get in a small arrival lounge - especially with the size of luggage we all took!! Straight on the transfer bus which was to takeus to the Iglika, with no problems at all. Arrived at the Iglkia (i had stayed there in 2007) and i did not recognise the place - it had doubled in size. We checked in and were pleased to find out we were in the new block - the 12 of us (6 couples) were on the same floor. What a difference teh new rooms are compared to the old - so were were all happy chappies!! (i will say that i think the rooms have been rushed, i think i littel bit more time could have been spent on the tiling/grouting/sealing sinks/baths as thye bathrooms got pretty wet - a £10 shower curtain would not go a miss either). As we arrived in resort around 9.30 ish, we managed to go for a little walk and have a drink in Mamacitas - and book ourselves in for the Sunday night!! We did go back to the Hotel for a last drink, and the new bar area is nice - the only problem we found was the smoke - i think as we are used to drinking in non smokey bars - the fist thing we noticed in the hotel bar was the smell of smoke - think a few extraction fans would not go a miss!!

Sunday morning we collected our passes from Balkan rep and headed to get our gear from the Rila depot 2, after a few of our group swapping bits and pieces it was all sorted - i think they need to replace some of the equipment as some of the gear is now quite rough!! i had my owwn boots and they did give me the best pair of skiis they could find - i would have struggled to cut butter with teh edges before i had them sharpened!! After we were sorted we headed to the slopes to find our respective ski school, 2 of us were advanced/ 3 intermediates and the rest were beginers. I can not recomend my instructor enough and the group i skiied with for the week were spot on, Krassi (our instructor) was a top man, took us all over the mountain, and i personally improved my skiing in the 6 days. Not only the skiing but the laughs we had were superb - by Wednesday my legs did not feel like my own - we did a fair bit of hard skiing!!

Snow - Was good all week, it snowed Monday/Tuesday and we had sun Wed/Thurs/Fri. Top of the mountain was fantastic, the Musala pathway did get a bit dodgey late in the day, especially when all the beginer groups were making the way down, it is tight in some spots and when icy can be dangerous. Rila side was pretty good all week, there were some ice patches later on in the day and Friday there were a few more - i think some snow is needed pretty soon, as the green run from the 4 man lift is very patchy.

Food - We ate breakfast in the hotel every morning which was fine, plenty of selection and not busy (we were there by 8.00am) so could not fault it. Most evenings we are out - Mamacitas on the Sunday was excellent - and the guys on the guitars kept us entertained all night!!! Also ate in Katy's - was so good on we booked there again on the Friday for our last night. Green King (was a recomendaiton on this site) was very good, local cuisine adn the 12 of us had something different - "The Boat" is worth a try - a little bit different when it arrives on the table. The other place was Blue - which again was very good. Average cost for a couple was between 65 - 75 lev, whihc is not bad for 2 starters / 2 main / 2 deserts and a bottle of wine. We did eat in the Hotel one night, but was not for us - food was OK but not the same atmosphere as sitting around a table in a restaurant.

Apres Ski - Ended up in White magic after skiing every night, we did try to get in the Alpina but by 4.30 it was busy and would have struggled to get a table of 12 in there!! Christo was his usual self in the White Magic, and was a excellent host - prices were pretty good - i think a large beer was 4 lev and small was 2.50 lev.

Skiing - as i mentioned previouly teh skiing was fantastic, Krassi improved my skiing and i think everyone in the group had the same feeling. We hired blades for our last day so 10 of our party went out together and had a ball - have not laughed so much on skiis before - especially the musalla pathway dodging the trees, also the run from the gondula to the top of the Ystrabets 4 man lift was good fun - i think i have got a few video clips that could be shown on You been framed!!

Overall a fantastic holiday, all our group enjoyed and i think everyone would go back to Borovets and stay at the Iglika. Only thing they have got to be carefull with is the pricing, i think the restaurants were not too bad but the costs on the mountain were definately more than last year.

Anyway - back in work now - better start saving for next years ski trip!!!

Overall a fantastic holiday