Bulgaria Ski discussion board

Generally, as always, had a wonderful week in Borovets Skiing.

Let’s start with the snow conditions. Prior to our trip, this site had everyone saying the snow was really poor and the ski conditions were bad. I was worried about this and took books with me just in case. When we got to Borovets all looked to be OK. Snow in the village and on the slopes. On the Sunday we went up in the Gondola and the ski conditions were absolutely perfect. It had not snowed on our way over so will everyone please stop scare mongering. There was plenty of snow and most of the slopes were open and we had a great days skiing. I do however, have a complaint here. It snowed heavily overnight for 2 of the nights we were there. When we got up the mountain we found most of the piste’s had not been bashed. As any skier will know, this means hard work. It was still fun but hard work for 2 of the days out of the 6 skiing. Would this happen in another resort? Would other places have piste bashers out in force overnight to ensure good skiing the next day? I don’t know as I have not been anywhere else.
But I would really like to thank everyone who moans on this site, it has obviously put people off going to Bulgaria as there were many occasions when we had entire slopes to ourselves, we couldn’t have asked for more! Keep up the good work on this score.

Prices – OK, things have increased slightly. I did not notice any huge increases. For cheap and cheerful I would highly recommend the Green King. The people are lovely and the food is good and homemade. The sesame bread is to die for. My husband and I had a bowl of soup each (he had meatball soup which he said was one of the tastiest things he has ever had in Borovets), we had home made garlic and cheese bread. 2 large beers each (4 in total) and the bill was 19 levs. Well this is under £5 each so will everyone who complains about the prices please just look around. ½ litre of beer for 2 levs (i.e. £1) is hardly a rip off!!! In the Green King, even the chips are home made. We spent at least 6 meal times there and thoroughly enjoyed every one of them and the prices are amazing. In case you want to know, Green King is practically opposite the Gondola station. It is the next building up the hill from Revolution (the old Peters bar). Please give it a go, it really is worth the trip.
The only thing that made my blood boil was the 6 levs charged at the top of the mountain for a small bottle of water. Please make sure, if you are staying up there, to take your own drink with you. The bars up there were empty and we certainly never went to them again. This was the only real rip off I came across. Stick to Bulgarian type places and you will have a cheap-ish meal and drinks.

Hotel – We stayed at the Iglika and this is our 4th visit here. We stayed in the older part of the hotel and I must admit, I was disappointed. The room just felt a bit – SMEGGY – sorry, I can’t think of another word. I actually didn’t want to walk bare foot on the carpet, it just felt a bit dirty. We had booked 2 rooms for 6 people so had 3 sharing a room. This meant we were in a twin room with a put you up bed. Now we have an 11 year old and she struggled to fit into the bed. It was small and extremely uncomfortable. She actually ended up on the mattress on the floor for the entire week. Now for an 11 year old it’s not too bad and quite an adventure but for an adult, after a hard days skiing, it is no fun at all. The Iglika really need to refurbish the older part of the hotel. There were actually no hooks at all to hang your ski gear on when you came in after skiing and for 3 of us we only had 4 coat hangers in the wardrobe. Iglika bar is a nice place to be (most of the time). It has a happy hour, or should I say, happy hours, that starts at 7pm and finishes at 1am. This is 2 for 1 on spirits and cocktails. Needless to say we spent some time in there drinking. My only complaint here is the music. It starts well but then the staff just put on what they like without any consideration what-so-ever for the customers, as the techno rubbish they put on quite loudly was obviously not what most of the customers wanted judging by ages etc.
Food was OK. There was always something to eat and we ate there for 6 nights out of the 7 so it can’t have been that bad. Always a good salad selection and 2 soups and then other Bulgarian dishes and of course chips.
Swimming pool area was clean and the pool was warm.
Another part of our family stayed in the Moura and this hotel was very clean. We will definitely consider staying there next year.

People in general – the people, as always, are lovely and helpful. The touts outside the bars are fun and inoffensive. The town was quieter of an evening than usual, this must be due to everyone feeling the pinch this year.

All in all, a thoroughly wonderful week spent in great snow conditions with great people and for a very reasonable amount of money.

Do check on prices before entering somewhere to make sure you are getting a good deal. If you think you are paying too much, then go somewhere else, there really are cheap places to be found, you just need to look for them.

For anyone travelling to Bulgaria soon, I really hope you enjoy it. Go with an open mind and you will have a great time.

See you all next year – H x

Hi H
Glad you enjoyed your trip. We went the week previous to you and conditions were indeed quite poor. You have been lucky as I have spoken to my freinds over there and conditions have improved. No one has control over the weather and however long and hard you look at that webcam it cannot forecast what the weather is going to do when you actually arrive. It's in the hand of the Gods! Make the most of the conditions you have, enjoy the hospitality, and if you thinks £3 is too much to pay for a coke then don't drink on top of the mountain. Me, I was happy to pay the £3 and take in the sunshine and the views - it's not something I do every day. I love Borovets - tacky bars and all - Caz -

Hi,

I was also in Boro last week. Having spoken to our instructor, he said that the bashing department decided to wait because the forcast for the Wednesday (may have been Thursday...the days were a blur lol ) day was for further heavy snow and they didnt want to do the 50k of runs twice ! As it happens it did snow and having got caught in the white out, that didnt produce huge amounts of snow compared to the overnight dump.

Food and drink costs up the top are silly. We took a ruck sack with two flasks and some sandwiches and sat on the free tables and chairs at the bottom of the 4 man chair lift and had our hot chocolate (with the addition of some sort of liquid from our hipflask !!)

Hope this helps.

Accurate report H x. You mention what's good and not so good. Curtesy of a free upgrade I stayed in the new right hand side wing of the Iglika in the 'superior' rooms. I'd say they are 3/2 star on the international scale. Recommended if HB, flights and transfer come in at £250ish or less.

Mr W, The 'Superior' rooms are fairly basic, our room had combined bathroom/wc. Bath with shower attachment, hairdryer, shaver sockets. 2 single beds/1 double plus a foldout sofa-bed about the size of a double. Comfortable enough for me for good kip. Balcony aswell. Clean carpets, it is a new wing afterall.