Bulgaria Ski discussion board

Just returned from Bansko and thought I would write a report on my experiences. This forum has been an excellent place to find information on Bansko and hopefully I can answer some of the questions I had before my visit.

We flew with Balkan Holidays into Plodiv airport. The plane is an experience in itself, think 1970’s Russian technology. No TV monitors or headphone sockets in sight and a emergency exit which looked like it was on its last legs. Certainly not in the same league as my Virgin Atlantic flight 8 weeks previous but you get what you pay for. Smooth flight, polite staff so all in all not a major problem although probably not a good idea for any bad flyers out there!

Plodiv airport is a military airport during the week and only has the most basic of facilities. This is no problem going into the country, however with 5 flights leaving closely together on the return journey with only 2 check in desks and one x-ray machine it was complete chaos which took the edge off the end of the holiday on our return. Next year I will therefore be willing to pay a bit more for a flight into Sofia with a major carrier, which I understand is a bigger airport and a shorter transfer to Bansko.

The Coach to and from Bansko was modern and comfortable which is a must for a transfer of 4 hours+. My previous 2 ski holidays have both been to Andorra so we are used to a long transfer.

We stayed at the Strazhite hotel. Very clean, spacious rooms, reasonably decorated. Nice reception and bar. On arrival we were checked in within seconds by a very friendly bunch of staff only too willing to help, typical of the majority of the Bulgarians we came across. On one occasion the hot water system failed, a quick call to reception and a member of staff was up to assess the problem within 5 minutes. The one complaint has to be the food. Edible yes, 4 star quality, not a chance! We tried the evening meals on the first two nights in the hotel and then ate out for the remaining 4 days. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, try eating out, you do not know what you are missing if you don’t!

The local mehana’s offer superb food and drink at superb prices. I bought a meal for 6 people (which we struggled to finish) with 4 beers and 2 cokes for under 50 Lev (20 pounds). All mehana’s have open log fires on which much of the food was cooked. In another bar we had 4 beers and a coke for 2 pounds, 2 coffee’s and 2 huge brandys for just over 1 pound. All well decorated to create a great ambiance.

The Happy End Bar and Sky Sports Bar were the only English style bar’s we came across which tended to cost around 1 pound a pint, with the hotel prices similar to the UK. There were 2 children in our group who said they preferred Andorra. It is probably fair to say there is not really enough to do for the children in the evenings. (Nothing a couple of pool tables / table football tables etc would not fix).

Bansko itself is a lovely town, Bulgaria clearly has a long way to go if it wants to catch up with Europe but the Tourist area clearly has much more money pumped into it than some of the horrible tenement blocks you see on the coach journey. There is a huge amount of building work going on however the old town is a MUST for a visit and has lost none of its charm. If you need a ski Jacket buy it from Bansko, loads of high quality jackets at very low prices. I’m sure Spider Jackets for under 50 pounds are fake but I could not tell the difference. Bulgaria is the land of the Pot Hole and missing footpaths but in a way if they tarmac all the roads this may take away some of the charm.

Onto the Ski area. The Snow is plentiful and it was snowing all last week. The ski Road still has plenty of snow on it. The ski lifts are well maintained as were the slopes (although not quite to the same level as Andorra). Restaurants on the slopes were well priced and offered good food, pizza, kebabs, steaks, pasta etc. The tree lined slopes are beautiful, and when the clouds clear a bit the views are superb. There were enough slopes for us, however we may get a little bored after a couple of years, although more are planned (according to our ski instructor).

The hire equipment was of good quality however there was a two hour queue for equipment. Next year we will be booking ski hire ourselves from elsewhere as we effectively missed a mornings skiing. The queue for the gondola was never more than 5 mins and from what we hear they are planning a 2nd gondola with construction possibly starting as early as this summer.

The ski school was adequate. They only have 2 classes from what we saw. Complete beginners and the rest. We had children, average skiers and good skiers in our group which meant not everyone could be kept happy. With all the hassle with the ski hire in the morning it was a bit of a mess, no one was there by 10am, we struggled for 12!. In Andorra all skiers are assessed and put in 4 / 5 classes based on ability. We ended up with a ski instructor who took the kids of piste for the jumps but taught the rest of us nothing in the first 3 days so we dropped out. In fairness we may have just been unlucky with our instructor as many of the others seemed to be teaching their groups much more.

All in all a great week, the Bulgarians still have a few thinks to improve on but they are still in their early days. If we had wanted a perfect holiday we would have gone to one of the major resorts and paid a damn sight more. I don’t worry about money when on holiday, I drank very well, ate very well and spent 160 pounds in total. 2 adults and 2 kids in our group spent about 350 pounds between them.

With those savings over what we have paid in previous years we are halfway to affording next years trip. Probably self catering and flying with a major tour operator into Sofia.

All in all a great week for the money!

Has anybody tried booking their own holiday i.e apartment, flight, airport transfer etc. If so how easy did you find it?

good point about the kids Dave.

I have booked the flight only / apartment and transfers before. I found it really easy and hassle free. This was mainly down to the agent who arranged the apartment and transfers for me.

The accomodation was as good as the 5* Kempinski and more spacious. Ok you havent' got the facilities of the hotels but you have the flexibility of when you arrive and depart. I landed on a Saturday and would avoid doing that again due to the queues for lift passes on the Sunday morning.

Let me know if you want more details.

hi dave
we did it all our self booked the flights through neilsons we got them realy cheap but only had two days before we flew, think they start from about £160 into sofia, we booked an appartment through this sight, cost about £200 would sleep upto 4, taxi transfere booked throught this site £100 return altogeather for 2 adults our holiday was £452 pounds, there was ski hire and lift passes on top lift passes were £100 each and the ski hire was 100 euros although we had boots, I have since had an email from a lady through this site about an appartment she rents out if you want the details let me know and i will pass them on.