Bulgaria Ski discussion board
Borovets reveiw 17 -24 Jan
Author:
posts : 13 (Beginner)Date : 01-25-09 14:43Borovets reveiw 17 -24 Jan
A group of 8 people with ages from 55 to 35 went to Borovets last week, the group all couples had differing ability levels two were ski virgins only having a day at Tamworth under their belts , two others (the oldest in the group)had a 7 day ski holiday in the french Pyrenees last year , another couple had a week in Bansko and a week in the Pyrenees behind them, me nad mrs postie have had 5 ski holidays including Italy Bulgaria and France. The reason for going to Borovets was for us to have ...
A group of 8 people with ages from 55 to 35 went to Borovets last week, the group all couples had differing ability levels two were ski virgins only having a day at Tamworth under their belts , two others (the oldest in the group)had a 7 day ski holiday in the french Pyrenees last year , another couple had a week in Bansko and a week in the Pyrenees behind them, me nad mrs postie have had 5 ski holidays including Italy Bulgaria and France. The reason for going to Borovets was for us to have a cheap and cheerfull ski holiday in a low to mid quality resort and having been to Bansko we knew what to expect.
We booked easyjet flights from Manchester to Sofia leaving at 06.40 0n the 17 and arriving at Sofia at middayish, no problems witht the flight or at Sofia.
I had booked 4 studios in the Flora complex and a transfer by minibus through this website, the minibus was waiting for us and the trip to Borovets took a steady hour and a quarter. We arrived at the Flora and were taken to the Daisy block of apartments, the rooms were excellent,Having a large leather sofa a kitchenette two single beds a seperate bathroom with bath and a balcony they were clean and tidy the gas situation did not cause a problem at all.
There was a note from the BG ski rep saying that he would meet us at 4.30 to sort out the ski packs that we had also booked through this site. Sure enough at 4.30 we met up and lift passes and and tickets for equipment and lessons were given to us we couldnt fault the rep Philip he was always helpfull and friendly.
At about 5.30 ish we went for a walk round town and popped into the Alpin bar having read good reports about it on this site, only to be told taht sorry guys we are shut till 7 even though there was about 12 to 15 people inthere drinking, we did not go back because there were plenty of other places to go and they did not give us a chance to introduce ourselves their loss not ours.
Next day we went to the Rila 1 ski hire depot and we were issued with our equipment, me and mrs postie took our own boots, so we only needed skis and poles, the rest of our group had the full equipment. In some places i have been if you use your own boots you are given an upgraded pair of skis but this did not happen and i have to say that none of ours had fresh edges or wax,
and they did look old and tired ( the skis not the group members !)
W e were then assessed and place into groups . We were assigned to a chap called Boby and i have to say he was great very caring and safety conscious but also pushing us to do lots of skiing in our lessons. We used to meet up with him at 9.00 am and he would leave us at about 3.00 pm even though the lesson was meant to be just 4 hours this was the case for most of the Borosport instructors. The rest of our group were also very happy with their instructors especially another chap called Emo.
At night we had some great meals in bars such as Derby owned by a FIFA referee who was friendly and had the good fortune to employ a guitarist to entertain the customers. For anyone who was their when we were they would know us by the singing of Delilah at full gusto.
We also had good meals in Alpin hotel and restaurant and also The Black Cat.We had one bad experience in Chilli Peppers with the music being so loud that we could not talk then the food took about an hour to come and just when it arrived so did about 50 people on a organised pub crawl and thay piled all around us but to be fair when we complained we were given a 50% discount.
The skiing on the first couple of days was ok the snow while not fresh was alright for the whole of our group to ski,but after that the lower slopes began to close. A the same time the gondola being the only access to the higher slopes was only working from the mid station up on 2 of our 6 six mornings. The problem with this was that the slopes below mid station were closed so that the only access to the mountain was from the Yastrebets express the 4 man chair to the right on the piste map but to get to this you needed a taxi from the town at a cost of about 15 -20 lev and if the gondola did not open all day you needed at taxi back again. Now in resorts in France and Italy as part of your lift pass you also had access to shuttle buses that would take you to different lifts etc that accessed the slopes, but not here and this seemed to be part of a theme that some of the locals making money in every way they could. Another example of this was in the cafe at the top gondola station they were expensive and charged a lev to use their toilet even if you had eaten in their. This toilet was patrolled by a hag who was not pleasant to the point where she assaulted a 14 year old boy who had not paid. Also a couple in our ski school were charged 1 lev each for milk in their tea.
The best place on the mountain for food and drinks was a place we called Jacks, this can be found at he bottom of the red run called Popangelov on the piste map or Yestrebets 2 on the piste signs, his place was at the very bottom just before you turn right for the path to the Yestrebets Express , they were friendly, inexpensive ( 5 lev for a big plate of chips 4 lev for a hot choc) good fun lovely jubbly and all that and reminded me of Bansko a few years ago.
One of the biggest moans from our group was the touts outside bars trying to get you into their bars and we chose ones that didnt employ this tactic, but it is difficult to be rude and ignore these people but after a few days you do start to give them the cold shoulder.
On the last day my wife enquired about swapping her skis for blades and was told yes their was no problem the charge to do this would be 20 lev needless to say she did not swap.
So in conclusion , Easyjet superb, BG Ski for apartment transfer and ski pack excellent, the equipment can only be described as poor , the weather was poor but beyond any ones control. The slopes and equipment poor , the ski instructors excellent, value for money on the whole good , again its not the Bulgarians fault we are only getting 2 levs to the pound instead of last years 3, touts a pain in the bum, the people mostly friendly and did not ever feel threatened.
Would i go back the answer is no not yet but possibly would if superborovets was fully opened or Bansko extende its slopes, but that does not take away the fact that we all had a brilliant time.
I will be happy to answer any questions or accept any feedback with regard to this report and would like to say that this is just based on our Borovets experience.
We booked easyjet flights from Manchester to Sofia leaving at 06.40 0n the 17 and arriving at Sofia at middayish, no problems witht the flight or at Sofia.
I had booked 4 studios in the Flora complex and a transfer by minibus through this website, the minibus was waiting for us and the trip to Borovets took a steady hour and a quarter. We arrived at the Flora and were taken to the Daisy block of apartments, the rooms were excellent,Having a large leather sofa a kitchenette two single beds a seperate bathroom with bath and a balcony they were clean and tidy the gas situation did not cause a problem at all.
There was a note from the BG ski rep saying that he would meet us at 4.30 to sort out the ski packs that we had also booked through this site. Sure enough at 4.30 we met up and lift passes and and tickets for equipment and lessons were given to us we couldnt fault the rep Philip he was always helpfull and friendly.
At about 5.30 ish we went for a walk round town and popped into the Alpin bar having read good reports about it on this site, only to be told taht sorry guys we are shut till 7 even though there was about 12 to 15 people inthere drinking, we did not go back because there were plenty of other places to go and they did not give us a chance to introduce ourselves their loss not ours.
Next day we went to the Rila 1 ski hire depot and we were issued with our equipment, me and mrs postie took our own boots, so we only needed skis and poles, the rest of our group had the full equipment. In some places i have been if you use your own boots you are given an upgraded pair of skis but this did not happen and i have to say that none of ours had fresh edges or wax,
and they did look old and tired ( the skis not the group members !)
W e were then assessed and place into groups . We were assigned to a chap called Boby and i have to say he was great very caring and safety conscious but also pushing us to do lots of skiing in our lessons. We used to meet up with him at 9.00 am and he would leave us at about 3.00 pm even though the lesson was meant to be just 4 hours this was the case for most of the Borosport instructors. The rest of our group were also very happy with their instructors especially another chap called Emo.
At night we had some great meals in bars such as Derby owned by a FIFA referee who was friendly and had the good fortune to employ a guitarist to entertain the customers. For anyone who was their when we were they would know us by the singing of Delilah at full gusto.
We also had good meals in Alpin hotel and restaurant and also The Black Cat.We had one bad experience in Chilli Peppers with the music being so loud that we could not talk then the food took about an hour to come and just when it arrived so did about 50 people on a organised pub crawl and thay piled all around us but to be fair when we complained we were given a 50% discount.
The skiing on the first couple of days was ok the snow while not fresh was alright for the whole of our group to ski,but after that the lower slopes began to close. A the same time the gondola being the only access to the higher slopes was only working from the mid station up on 2 of our 6 six mornings. The problem with this was that the slopes below mid station were closed so that the only access to the mountain was from the Yastrebets express the 4 man chair to the right on the piste map but to get to this you needed a taxi from the town at a cost of about 15 -20 lev and if the gondola did not open all day you needed at taxi back again. Now in resorts in France and Italy as part of your lift pass you also had access to shuttle buses that would take you to different lifts etc that accessed the slopes, but not here and this seemed to be part of a theme that some of the locals making money in every way they could. Another example of this was in the cafe at the top gondola station they were expensive and charged a lev to use their toilet even if you had eaten in their. This toilet was patrolled by a hag who was not pleasant to the point where she assaulted a 14 year old boy who had not paid. Also a couple in our ski school were charged 1 lev each for milk in their tea.
The best place on the mountain for food and drinks was a place we called Jacks, this can be found at he bottom of the red run called Popangelov on the piste map or Yestrebets 2 on the piste signs, his place was at the very bottom just before you turn right for the path to the Yestrebets Express , they were friendly, inexpensive ( 5 lev for a big plate of chips 4 lev for a hot choc) good fun lovely jubbly and all that and reminded me of Bansko a few years ago.
One of the biggest moans from our group was the touts outside bars trying to get you into their bars and we chose ones that didnt employ this tactic, but it is difficult to be rude and ignore these people but after a few days you do start to give them the cold shoulder.
On the last day my wife enquired about swapping her skis for blades and was told yes their was no problem the charge to do this would be 20 lev needless to say she did not swap.
So in conclusion , Easyjet superb, BG Ski for apartment transfer and ski pack excellent, the equipment can only be described as poor , the weather was poor but beyond any ones control. The slopes and equipment poor , the ski instructors excellent, value for money on the whole good , again its not the Bulgarians fault we are only getting 2 levs to the pound instead of last years 3, touts a pain in the bum, the people mostly friendly and did not ever feel threatened.
Would i go back the answer is no not yet but possibly would if superborovets was fully opened or Bansko extende its slopes, but that does not take away the fact that we all had a brilliant time.
I will be happy to answer any questions or accept any feedback with regard to this report and would like to say that this is just based on our Borovets experience.
