Bulgaria Ski discussion board

Hi, thanks for all your replies, however, I wouldn't worry about advice, because I'm not going now. I initially was supposed to go on my own, and then I posted the deal I got to my facebook status and one of my friends (and I use that term loosly now!) was desperate to come along. He took just long enough to ensure that there were no seats on the plane left by the time he told me that actually he didn't want to come. Plus, to top it all off, he knew for a whole day that he wasn't coming before he told me, so I could have booked it if he hadn't been such a b*stard.

So... I guess my new question is: anyone know anywhere I can go that's as cheap as Bulgaria, but isn't Bulgaria. I've been looking all over the place, and the cheapest I can find all in (flights/hotel/transfers/lessons/equipement/lift pass) is costing more like £750 instead of £550. Add that to the fact that all the apres ski will cost probably twice as much, means that going somewhere other than Bulgaria suddenly gets disproportionally more expensive.

I had a guess, and whilst I think the entire cost for absolutely everything in Bulgaria would be around £700, £800 tops, the cheapest Austria deal I could find was for about £750, and I reckon the total cost for the whole holiday would go over a grand, as the Euro isn't nearly as good value!

I was planning to go to Bulgaria due to it being cheap (£550 all in), and going from a local airport (Bristol). £550 was perfect for my budget. The 13th is the ideal date for me (I can't go any earlier than the 9th), and I don't really want to leave much later in the season in case it's completely empty and I don't get a chance to meet anyone (going on my own so don't want to be bored in the evenings!), and in case it's too late for decent snow.

Unfortunately, due to my mate taking his sweet f-ing time and then cancelling on me, there are no seats left on the flight from Bristol to Bansko, so I'll have to fly from London, which not only costs me a lot more to get there, is far more inconvenient, adds a fair amount of time to my journey, and to top it all off, the flight costs and extra £100 too!

So now, we're getting up in the £750 region, and for that I can go somewhere in Europe. However I'm not convinced I want to pay that much for my first snow holiday. I really wanted it as cheap as possible, and now that my original choice is all booked up, I'm just not sure I want to pay that much for Bulgaria!

I understand that the food & drink will be cheaper in Bulgaria, but for that sort of cash for the whole holiday, I'd rather have the sort of luxury associated with Austria or one of the other European resorts...!

Or at least I think I do - as I've never been on a snow holiday before, I'm speculating based upon reviews and forums I've read in the past month or so.

No, I've been round all the travel agents, an the limiting problem is flights. I can't go this weekend because next week I'm in Holland for 4 days, so it's gotta be sometime after the 9th. There are zero flights from Bristol around these times. In fact depsite trying three different travel agents, I'm struggling to find a snow holiday ANYWHERE for less than £800 all in. There have been one or two in Neiderau, but from what I hear the highlight of the entire village is a 'harp night' which sounds as much fun as having my eyes gouged out with red hot spoons!