Bulgaria Ski discussion board

Deb,
I have an apartment in Bansko so am probably biased.

We came back from there a couple of weeks ago. You could probably split Bansko into four areas to bets describe it.
First is the mountain itself. The skiing is probably the best in Bulgaria. It caters for all levels. I think it just edges Borovets out.
Second the area around the gondola station at the bottom. This is mostly hotels that do half board etc. It seems that most people staying in this area stay in this area. With good reason too as the best hotels, such as the Kempinski are there, and there appears to be little reason to wander out.
Third area is on the opposite side of the river from the town where the vast majority of building work is taking place. Most of these are apart hotels and owned by people like me. There is no need to wander over that side unless you have an apartment or an apart hotel.
The fourth area is the town itself. This is a little gold mine. Many people staying in the hotels dont wander into it because they have all they want in their hotels, which I understand, but they are missing out. I met some people recently who were staying in the Kampinski, the furthest they went from there was to the Happy End across the road, which is a real shame.
The town has something like 70 restaurants, loads of bars and a couple of clubs. Prices are good and the atmosphere is too. In the town you are away from any view or site of building work which as I say is predominately confined across the river.
I said I was biased, but I cant recommend Bansko enough, it need a second gondola to ease ques at the bottom, but they can be got round by using your sense.
The food in the place is good. I have two boys and we eat out and about all the time and only once have we had a bad meal, and never any sickness.
Give it a go.

I have been to pamps and bansko, personally I would not return to pamps, the ski area is very limited fine for a begininer but not so good if you can ski well, night life is good if thats what you want, personally I prefer a good resturants and a few drinks in a nice bar. Bansko as mr J said had this and this is why I like it first time we stayed in an appartment on the edge of bansko and loved it. The mountain is really good and there is some good skiing, I go out agian in two weeks and I am staying in the area with all the hotels near the gondla, never really went round that area last time, I would recommend Bansko, but go either self catering or bed and breakfast, I heard a lot of coments on bad food at the hotels, but we never had a bad meal eating out.

In my opinion if you want clubing style night life go to pamps, if you want something more traditional go to bansko. yes there is building work, but there was in pamps as well.

Instead of generalising about what other people are doing all week, why not go there and ski? We have just come back from Bansko, where we also stayed in the Kempinski Grand Arena hotel. The reason for the hotel was its ideal location for the gondola (as we found on a previous trip to Bansko, when the gondola was not running and we kept walking back and forth aimlessly waiting to see if we could ski that day.)
However, I digress. Staying in that part of town did not mean we stuck exclusively to it. Have you seen the little wooden bridge across the river, on Glazne Str., across which the goat herds take their flock? Have you explored the wonderful church with its rich iconography, or found the tiny shop/museum, which houses a tiny cottage industry and offers you the opportunity to throw your own pot? I doubt it. Before commenting, Mr. Jeffrey, why not take time out to consider that your opinion may swing other people's point of view. Tread carefully, for you're stepping on my dreams.

Go for it Deb. There are loads of great experiences you'll be missing out on, if you don't. The skiing is great and caters for all levels. Yep, there is building work going on bu I still took superb photos everywhere. Bansko did not used to be renowned for its food (served warm), or its service, when we first went over some years ago. However, always quick on the uptake, there are significant improvements and we loved the food everywhere we went. Loads of Mexhanas to choose from. We went on the traditional Bulgarian night with First Choice and had a laugh. We met some new friends and hd some great skiing. My wife put in a full week of ski school, culminating in an informal presentation of her ertificate at th end of the week, in the Happy End bar, along with all the other ski classes that week. I skied on my own, found some challenges (in partiular the icy Tomba run and the black/red which desends from the middle gondola station. For tiny's there is kindergarten; for the young, there are easy learner slopes and for the older generation, the Ulen ski school provide very patient instructors. The first aid facilities are excellent as one of our number found, when her leg was broken by a marauding snowboarder (no, he did stop to apologise). So, go for it, Deb. It has my recommendation.

We came back from our first time in Bansko last week and I have to say I loved it. Have been to Pamps previously, really enjoyed it, but would probably not go back after going to Bansko. We stayed at the Kempinski too and were one of the lazy bunch who hardly went anywhere else. We did go for a walk during the day to see the old town, some of the buildings were beautiful. And we did go out round bars & to club 2 of the nights we were there.But I have to say, the lifts and slopes are so good we were to tired after snowboarding most of the day to go anywhere else. Give it a try I think we will be going back next year.