Bulgaria Ski discussion board

Sadly after reading this forum for many years, It seems that more and more people are complaining about all the resorts. I only hope some of the people who control them read this site so thinks can change. I went last year as usual as I have been doing for 15years, and Pamps was just so different and definately no longer good value. We decided we wouldn't go again, yet have had some of our best holidays in Pamps, We all went to France this year and it was cheaper in La Rosiere, drinks and food, the service was great and the people cheerful, and no smoke everywhere. Why would anyone now want to ski inBulgaria, It did attract alot of all male parties last year especially Irish, it no longer seems to be a family resort to me. But I guess if you are new to Bulgaria you may think its OK, but the returning tourist seems to be becoming a thing of the past!!!!!

Went to pamps in Jan and really suprised about all the negative comments.We went to ski not drink ourselves silly so prices didn,t seem a problem. Stayed in an apartment so ate out every day and never had a bad meal.Ask the waiters what they recommend and you will get a great bulgarian meal.Dont expect a great english curry. If thats all you want stay home.Be nice to the bulgarians and they will be nice to you.saying hello and thank you in bulgarian is a nice touch and they will warm to you straight away. We were not ripped off the whole week.Only bad comment i can make is the toilets up the mountain. Pretty grim and you have to pay for them too but heh it didn,t kill me. My kids have just got back from Boro and loved it. They are already planning to go next year. Lets hear some good points instead of all the moaning.

Totally echo your comments Karen - our holiday experience was almost identical. Everytime we smiled, said hello or thankyou to a Bulgaria we were always greeted with an acknowledgement, sometimes they looked a little shocked and surprised which was sad to see. We also noted that on the ski buses there were signs at the front asking people to be courteous and remember to thank the bus drivers. I have to say that I did not notice anyone else doing this so we always did it extra loudly to try and encourage others. You get what you give, in my opinion.

I think everybody seems to be missing Dave's point. He is talking about Pamporovo. We've been going ther since 1999, and have certainly noticed in the last 3 years that something is going wrong there. We have friends who run a ski school who see this themselves. We do have great holidays (snow permitting) in Pamps, but the mountain is not being run with skiers in mind. How can somebody drain the lake that feeds the snow cannons, knowing snow conditions are not at their greatest ? How can restuarants be closed out to build even more hotels (that never seem to get finished) ? We've thought that the only thing that keeps people going back to Pamps is good previous holidays and good friends met. It seems any changes in Pamps are not for the good of the resort, value for money seems to be going out the window and the bigger european resorts are pulling more of us in as they are starting to give us better value for money.
Our ski school owner in Pamps is thinking about moving to Borovets because the resort is being starved of investment.
What is all this not flying into Plovdiv lark about ? Who wants to travel for 4 and a half hours (or 12+ in the case of the numerous fog problems recently). It's almost as if Balkan are being squeezed out of Pamps for the sake of Bansko and Borovets.
I'm not ripping Pamps to pieces, but we feel time is running out for many more returns.

Thanks Deb for the comment, I'm not moaning, I want Pamps to be good again like it used to be, its the returning visitors who used to be the bulk of the tourists, our friends in Chepelare say it has been much quieter this year and less people are returning. So many on here, probably don't realise what is was like and maybe what is happening these days, I do believe Pamps seems to be having more problems than the other Bulgarian resorts, we all know things change, but it needs change for the better, not all the cars and hotels owned by the same group of men, you only have to be in Hotel Pamporovo to see the men in dark suits to see what is going on. So many on here say we are moaning but most of us on here, would just like improvements so we can all return. Instead of daft comments from Aaron I think it is, saying that the less visitors that come to Pamps the better? I can only assume he has a flat out there, does he not realise his investment wont increase if you don't have the tourists. Shows who buys out there I suppose and it shows exactly the people that Pamps now attracts..

Spot on Dave, I believe that the mojority of the people that are identifying faults and short comings with Bulgaria mean it as constructive critisism. Why would anyone want to tell lies?
It is really annoying when you read comments from people who I would guess have vested interests in Bulgaria having a good at people who are only giving their opinions and experiences. and are probably being more honest.
I'm sure the Bulgarian resorts have a part to playing in the European skiing scene, but the question is, what part? Due to the limited skiing it has to be able to offer something else, which in the past was value for money and good service.
I've skied at Bansko for the last two years and to be honest I would get board going back again due to the limited amount of skiing available.
In my experience service has gone downhill (no pun intended) and greed has taken over.
I'm sure that there are people who will return every year but certainly from the locals I talked to the numbers are dropping every year.