Bulgaria Ski discussion board

Started off the holiday with the view that this would be the last time we went to Pamporovo, and maybe Bulgaria. Dithered like a lunatic about going anyway, but since I was taking a first timer, thought it best to be going somewhere where at least one of us knew something of the area.

Arrived in Plovdiv, after a straightforward journey, slightly dismayed to find it warmer than home, bus journey up to Pamporovo was interesting due to it being the first time I'd travelled it in daylight and without treacherous snow/ice on the road up. It was altogether quite pleasant.

Got into the resort, checked in Snezhanka hotel where we'd booked an apartment, we were shown to a large double room with half a wall dividing the main bed area from a folded out settee - not at all what we'd envisioned (or paid for!). Quick scoot around revealed a huge balcony, that was unsafe, the door didn't shut. Half the room had no electricity and the fridge was full of stinking mould. Receptionist told me I was in an apartment and there were no other rooms in the hotel and the manager wasn't available until the following morning, she then rang the Balkan rep (Maria) who appeared in less than twenty minutes. We were then told that our accommodation hadn't been built yet and Balkan (London) were meant to have informed us prior to departure. Obviously this hadn't happened. We had to stay there for the Sunday night with reassurances that everything would be sorted out the following day when the London offices opened.

Monday morning we met the Customer Services Manager (Anthony), detailed the complaint and left him to deal with it. We met him again at 5.30 and were shown to a rather lovely apartment in the Perelik, all fine. Can't really praise the resort reps enough, they were totally honest about everything and really helpful. Got everything sorted for us without any fuss. I have a lovely letter to be writing to Balkan London though

Never stayed in the Perelik before and found it to be a bit too big for my taste (same as previous when we'd stayed at the Pamporovo hotel) that's why we'd booked Snezhanka, but the staff were attentive and nothing was wrong. Food consistently good (microwave available for those wanting hotter meals!) all through the week, with plenty of choice (being vegetarian and having a fussy child it was noticeable). Only thing that proved problematic was the heat, our room was at the front of the hotel and we had balconies, if the door was open it incredibly noisy and if it was shut it was stiflingly hot, so we were somewhat sleep deprived for the stay (and that's my excuse for staggering around like a muppet on skis for a good deal of the week ).

Now, ski school - was a bit wary to find we were in a group of eighteen (never seen such a large group!) but the instructor was excellent (Petar Chamurov) and really worked hard with everybody, we all came on a treat. We were very lucky though, our man was very conscientious and looked after us very well. At the end of the week there wasn't a single complaint from anyone in the group, in fact there was only a lot of praise and gratitude. Some of the conditions were terrible at the beginning of the week but from Wednesday there was a daily improvement. Every kind of weather you could imagine, we got. It was brilliant. Shame about conditions at the bottom, mostly unskiable down to ski centre two (though lots of groups were trying!). Equipment was good enough, all the skis needed waxing and I had to change boots 4 times, but the depot staff were patient and helpful.

The amount of new building astonished me, and like others have said before me, I'm not sure how the place is going to cope with the amount of people they're trying to accommodate. It'll be interesting to see what they do.

Lift queues were nothing like as bad as I was expecting, everything was just as it's been before. May be because I've only been in half term it's just what I'm used to but reading reports before going I was thinking it'd be worse.

My daughter (with the broken arm) was barred from skiing, so up to Friday she was playing about (eating pancakes and being looked after by Karen for the morning - Thank you Karen ) and walking down the mountain (luckily there was another non-skier attached to the group so she had good company), by Friday conditions to Studenets were excellent and we decided to let her ski - with one to one instruction to ensure total safety (the most wonderful and patient Nasco looked after her incredibly well). So a good holiday had by all

All things worked out well, the total beginner we took was very competently whizzing down the green and had a ball.

Entertainment and night times we took steady, bits of playing pool, eating out, drinking. As usual we met lots of fantastic people and had an excellent time.

Now, I went with the view that I'd not be going again and as we left, and it was snowing, I couldn't really believe how quickly the week had flown by, I didn't want to leave and started thinking about where to stay next year! Will have to think on it, seriously!

A good report kitty, it was so nice to meet you and your family....Ciara and I had a ball.

Our third time at Pamps and although I couldn't ski much because of getting bronchitis and daughter getting bored with the skiing ( a case of I've done the wall three times and it's only lunchtime on day one), we had a great time.

The snow shack were brilliant as usual and managed to find daughter an instructor and board hire for the last three days. I would highly recommend them to anyone who wants to try boarding, might even try myself next year..............yes, back for two days and having decided while we were there that it was the last time in Pamps, I have already looked at the brochure to cost next year. 51 weeks, 5 days to go..............Can't Wait!!!!!