Bulgaria Ski discussion board

Hi All

I'm looking at booking Bulgaria for end of Feb/March 2011. Can anybody recommend hotels/villas and also resorts for families with young children please?

There will be 4 adults, 2 x 5 year olds and 2 x 2 year olds so need somewhere very child friendly!

Also, who would be the cheapeast to book with and do we need to book packages, lift passes before we go?

I've been told not to buy a lift pass per person as we won't all be skiing at the same time and we can just use each others if no photo is needed. Is this the norm??

Thank you!

i would recomend borovets. this is a very family friendly place( im taking my grandson again this year) they love kids. if it is your first skiing trip i would recomend you use someone like inghams and get the whole package great deals at the moment. they do a creche service which is excelent i used it last two years. they look after the ids all day so you can all ski together but not sure how young they take them the resort has a kids play area and bumb boarding in the evening right outside one of the hotels great for the 5 yoas for hotels rila and samakov are the biggest but also quite dear ela good value and in a good positionbut have a look at the books and see what you fancy

We took our little one when she was 3 and she has hated skiing ever since. In my opinion she was too young, we went with Inghams, and she was fine with staying in and playing but it was too much when they took her up the slope and made her put the boots and ski's in.

I finally persuaded her to give it another go as recently as yesterday she had a lesson at the Snowdome at Tamworth. (She is 9 now) She was booked in for a 3 hour lesson and walked off after 2 and wouldn't go back on. Looks like she will be staying at home with her Nan in future!!

I think the Rila in Borovets had a really good kindergarten when we were there, but not sure from what age they take them now.

Hope this helps. I have been to borovets twice in the last three years. I stayed in the Rila on both occasions the food is ok for adults and proberly better for children as the have many types of breakfast inc pancakes and for the evening meal if the children don't like anything you could always resort to pizza and chips.

The Hotel has a pool that is always full of children as well as 2 jaccuzzi's that overlook the pool. There is a pottery painting shop/are at the entrance to the pool. It has free wireless in the lobby and security on the back door. The staff are pleasent and helpfull.
The rooms we stayed in had two single beds and a bunk bed, it also had a fridge sink and small electric hob.

The Rila overlooks the slopes and is warm and has beautiful views. The ski gear is hired from the hotel basement and you can (snow permitting) ski to the door.

Loads of children play on the bottom of the slope opposite the hotel where you can watch them from 7 or 8 bars with outside drinking. The rila also has a clock on the front of it so the children can see it if you have a set meeting time.

I booked on both everything occasions with Balkan Holidays and everything ran smooth. ie meet and greet at the airport shown to the bus (short transfer 80mins max) very informative throughout. I called them directly on the phone.

There is no photo on the lift passes as yet, 2011 maybe but I would say it is unlikely.

Hope this helps a little, Anymore help just ask.
Ed

Thanks for all of your messages!

I spoke with Crystal holidays today who told me that as beginners, we probably don't need lift passes unless we want to go on the bigger slopes and that the kids will just mess about on the nursery slopes too, is this right?

I think the lads will need beginner package for snowboarding but i can only find 6 days at £500 with crystal. Does it take 6 days or can you book 3 days?

Also, France lets kids ski from 4years whereas Bulgaria doesn't, would be nice to give them an option though. Is there anywhere in Bulgaria that do let kids on ski's?