Bulgaria Ski discussion board

Arrived home yesterday and i really do wish we hadn't! We loved our time out there. We flew from Manchester to Sofia on a Tupolov 154-m. The flight was fantastic (although be warned that there are no entertainment facilities on board, so take a book!) and even though we were delayed out of Manchester we made up time in the air and still arrived ahead of our due time. The transfer to resort was very eventfull! As we left the airport we came accross an accident that had only just happend so we were held up for some time by this. We got on our way as the snow really started to come down. Around an hour later we were forced to slow down due to a wagon blocking the road. Unfortunately when we tried to move off the coach simply slid down the hill we were on so we were then stuck in the middle of nowhere waiting for help. Now i have to say from both a customer AND a travel agent point of view the rep handled the situation very well. He kept us informed the best he could even though when i spoke to him he informed me that he had never had this happen to him before. He even went out once the snow plough and grit eventualy arrived to help free our coach. We arrived in resort at 0230am, our 3 hour transfer ended up to be nearer 7!
The hotel is new and several of the advertised facilities are still not available, however the rooms are cleaned everyday and they are very comfortable. The bathrroom again is very nice and the deep luxury baths are great after a hard days skiing! (The Orphey offers baths in every room as standard, which makes it one the only hotels to offer this. However this will change soon!) The food was nice but be warned, to get it you have to be there early....because once its gone its gone! Every other aspect of the hotel was fine. The pool area & steam room were small but again if you timed it right and you got them on your own it was bliss! The only bad point to note is that the hotel is NOT 800m from the gondola. Its a good 30min walk to get there, and this is an issue that i am taking up with balkan holidays, however there is a free shuttle bus that leaves every 30mins or so.
The skiing in Bansko is absolutley brilliant. The area has just had a massive face lift and investment, meaning all the equipment is new and top of range. The lift passes are chipped so as long as its on the left side of your body the sensors will detect it and let you pass. The gondola takes around 20/25mins to take you up to the ski centre. The boot/ski room is very busy on the first day (obviously) so again be there early to get the good stuff! There is an area where you can keep your boots and ski boots overnight and it cost us 1 lev each per day. On the first day we were met by the ski school and sorted into our classes. I was seperated from the other two skiiers in my party as they had skiied before, however the group i was in (started as 7 but finished with 4)was good fun and we had a really good laugh (Mel or Simon if you read this..hope your not too bruised!) and Lydia our instructor was brilliant. She was funny and had a great sense of humour. She even arranged a meal for the group which was a fantastic night out! The ski in general isnt really catered for begginers but like i say the school is one of the best i no of so dont let that put you off, becasue at the end of the week you will be an intermediate meaning you can go back next year and enjoy it even more! The ski road down to the resort was great fun and a nice end to the day. Bansko is one of the few resorts in Europe that offers this. Bansko has put in a bid for the ski world cup and there is talk of them openng another 2/4 runs for next season. There is alot of building in the resort as next year is going to be very busier, however compared to other resorts ive been to in austria, it will still be quiet! The roads need alot of work doing to them, as some of the pot holes look more like small swimming pools, however the resort is still nice. The locals still dont really open us brits with open arms (Bansko is popular bulgarian resort too, and they see us to be in the way!) but if you take the time to learn the basics of the language they soon change there mind. A good one to take is thank you, which is pronounced blargo-darria. We were there for a national holiday, and the resort was packed out with bularians overnight. The queue for the gondola was just stupid as some 7000+ tried to get on it. On the first day it took us ages to get up! So be advised that 03/03 for 3 days is a public holiday and dont go then! Although we were half baord we still want out as eating was dirt cheap, and the food was nice. We went to a pizza place called the Golden Fox and after 5 12" pizzas, 3beers, one coke and a water the bill worked out to be around £6.50 each. We are definately going back next year because despite people telling me that Bulgaria is a cheap option for skiing, a resort that has the facilities to hold the world cup cant be bad can it!?! The cheapness is simply a bonus! The other 2 skiiers in my party skiied in Andorra last year and said that Bansko was far far better and they wouldnt consider going back there after Bansko. The were also 3 non skiers in the party and although they had seen pretty much everything after 4 days, they still had a great time and enjoyed the cheap drinks to!
Like i say i am a travel agent and i will have no problems at all refering this resort to any level of skier that sits with me in the future. It was a thumbs up from all my party and all are happy to go back next year. I feel like i have missed so much off this so if you have any questions feel free to mail me!

Hi Dave, I was at the Orphey too - and enjoyed the bathroom apart from the lack of frosted glass or curtains to the window, and a slight mildew smell - probably better if they had a curtain for the shower over the bath too!

Definitely when the food was gone, it was gone - we arrived for dinner at 7.15pm one night and there was very little left apart from the singer and her mate;-)

I think the Orphey is ok-ish, but construction quality is very poor and it'll look very tacky in a year or so. The prices for next year don't look very appealing, either - more than the Strazhite on the igluski.com website:-(