Bulgaria Ski discussion board

Remembering 10 days ago how desperate we were for information I thought I would give you our angle on things.

We are family of four, boy 8 & girl 6. All booked into beginners ski lessons, full kit hire and half board at the Rila.

Ski lessons were very good, we were warned about instructors trying to fleece us for lunch but even when we offered to pay for our instructor's he told us that as an instructor his are free, so it seems we got the honest guy. We left the children in their ski school for the first two days only, the teachers there seemed very good but the class was quite large meaning a lot of hanging around which for them equals boredom and cold. I think there were also children from, shall we say, all ends of the discipline spectrum which caused some disruption. However on the third day they joined us in our lessons from then onwards and our instructor was absolutely fine (we had initially decided to take it in turns looking after them outside the lesson). Net result is we can all ski which was the intended aim.

Hotel Rila - overall very happy, we knew it wasn't going to be the Ritz but it was clean and the beds were comfortable. Towels changed and room cleaned daily - haven't noticed anything missing. We had a studio at the end of the hotel just back from the main street, noise wasn't really a problem, there was some but not too late. We did speak to another family who had a bad experience in terms of noisy people staying around them partying 'til all hours so there is an element of the luck of the draw and it seems we were lucky and I imagine it doesn't matter where you go the same can happen - Andrew did you get your revenge game of 'corridor football' in with the kids at 7am? I gather if things get bad the Security people are generally helpful - loads of them which put some people off but I would rather see them.

Prostitutes were not a problem, I barely noticed them. 8 year old practiced his reading and asked me what a 'Playboy Show' was at one point, it's going to happen one day!!

Food - again not Ritz at the Rila but perfectly adequate, if you go expecting 100% English food you may be disappointed but we found it generally OK, not piping hot but warm enough. I enjoyed a large plate sausage, bacon and eggs every morning and enjoyed the salad in the evening and found some of the 'iffy' looking dishes particluarly nice. Also plenty of fresh fruit. Bit limited in terms of kids food (ours are a bit fussy though) if we had stayed for a fortnight scurvy may have become an issue maybe some vitamin tablets next year. Eating out was generally good and inexpensive, we eat at Franco's Pizza, one of the more expensive but found it very good and a couple of other places I cannot recall the name of, no complaints.

Ski conditions - as previous posts have mentioned began to get in serious need of fresh snow at the end of the week and it was surprisingly warm but we did manage to ski all week. Queues were long on the bottom slopes when the Gondola was shut and ice became an issue. Chairlift was open all the time but that became crowded from time to time. However it seems we could have
paid twice as much to go to Austria and France and not skied at all so all in all we can't really complain as far as weather goes you take your chances wherever you go. I imagine next year assuming reasonable weather and the new lift completed the resort will have plenty of capacity.

Ski equipment - absolutely dire , I don't mind poles which do not match (just as well as they didn't) and to be fair the boots were OK. The skis however were well past their useful and I think someone had filed off any edges there were, probably not a major issue if you are on the nursery slopes but with ice becoming a problem on the other runs I really noticed their shortcomings. In fcat they had obviously at some point been judged pasttheir useful life as they had phone numbers for Keystone Ski Rental on them, as far as I am aware there is no Keystone in Bulgaria and these started their life on the slopes of Colorado.

Walking about the place was fairly cheap in terms of beer, food etc.... lots of fake gear. Some people were put off by the people asking you to go into their Restaurant / Bar but a simple 'no thank you' or 'perhaps later' and they left you alone. Not just a Bulgarian thing this, I've experienced the same in Cyprus, Paris, Tenerife, Balearics etc....

Overall - You get what you pay for, it wasn't Aspen but if you think you will get Aspen or St Moritz at that price you are incredibly naive. Also cheaper when you get there, meal for two plus coffee at the top in Courcheval I belive is about £18, we paid nearer £6 or £7. Hotel was basic but clean and perfectly adequate. Ski conditions were not brilliant but it seems better than most Alpine resorts costing twice as much (Val D'Isere rained out last week?). Ski Instructor very good and helpful. People were generally friendly and hospitable, met some good really nice people from here too. Ski equipment - poor. Transfers etc... again luck of the draw but we had no delays or diversions (rep told us that he has only had one diversion to Burgas so far this season) - Duty Free in Sophia fairly small by major airports standards but had everything we wanted, only problem was their phone line connection wasn't working so we couldn't use VISA - also a shortage of seats in departures.

Overall - brilliant holiday and will be going back next year.

Hope this helps feel free to ask any questions.

Bill

HI,
Thanks for your helpful information. I'm from Portugal and I'll go with some friends to Borovets and we'll stay at Rila Hotel.
I only need this information:
- We have the choice to book here the lift pass and eqipment. Do you think it's better book here or in Borovets? It's easy and quick to pick the lift pass and the equipment?
- There's a lot of schools to learn ski, what do you recomended?

For me is the second time to see snow so I think that Borovets is verry good for beginners! With this price I don't imagine that I'll go to St Moritz!!!eh eh eh eh
Thaks a lot and sory about all the mistakes...but my English is so bad!!!

Bye bye,
Bárbara