Bulgaria Ski discussion board

I booked my holiday to Borovets with mixed feelings after reading such a wide spread of views on the skiing/food/hotels etc etc but I kept an open mind.

Personally I had a great time. I stayed at the Rila which I thought was really good for the price I paid for the holiday. I stayed in the Rila Studios which were clean, basic but sufficient and room temperature was ok. We had our beds made every day and clean towels every day which I didn’t expect because it was a Studio. The food was ok with a big choice. For breakfast you had a choice of fruit, cereals, pastries and lovely bread as well as a cooked breakfast. For dinner there were about 6 choices of main course, soup for starters, loads of salad, and numerous deserts. You have to be really picky to dislike everything they put out. I thought it was good for the price you paid. You have to buy drinks for dinner but at breakfast there is water and squash. The service in the restaurant was good and they are really quick at clearing away!

The pool is nice, slippery round the sides so be careful. They charge you to use the sauna and steam room but you can get away without paying. Its only 6 lev per person if you have to pay tho.

Did eat out a couple of times. Katys is excellent for steak and the Red Lion was good too. Drinks vary in prices through out the town but Titanic was really good service and really cheap and good atmosphere. You do get a lot of people handing out fliers for their pubs/restaurants/erotic bars and all of them say it’s the best!! Let’s face it, if you were earning the pittance they were, you'd do the same. If you just tell them you already have one then they leave you alone.

As for skiing, it was my first skiing holiday and I thought it was great. I have heard from friends that it is not the France and Switzerland's of this world but then for an Eastern Block country that is relatively poor you can’t expect that. As someone who has only been on dry slopes I thought it was great. I had 6 days of ski school and was with people who had been to Borovets before. We had snow everyday and covered a good selection of runs. It does get a bit busy on the lower slopes if the gondola is shut which it was one day because it was blowing a blizzard at the top!!! I had heard there were really long queues for the lifts but have to say I didn’t really experience this. Had to queue one day for half hour but this was when the gondola was shut. Weather can’t be helped tho.

Ski school was good and although I don’t have kid’s, they seemed to be well catered for with kindergarten and loads of activities.

Food at the top of the mountain is more expensive than the resort but then I suppose they’ve got to take it a long way!!! Its ok but nothing to write home about. If you need the loo at the top then you have to pay 1 lev per pee!!! The toilets are not the best either so if you’re someone who likes everything to be spotless then either go before you ski or hold on till you get back!!!! Its ok tho.

I took £100 worth of lev and £50 sterling and this was enough - I’m not a big drinker tho. It is easy to change money there but shop around for exchange rate if you can be bothered. There are also 3 cash points on the resort. I had a safety deposit box at reception and things were fine. I didn’t have any problems with things going missing but did hear of a few people. But be sensible and put things in the safety deposit box and don’t do things like leaving your mobile phone on the side in your room.

All in all, I had a great time and will be going back either in March or next Jan. It is a very relaxed resort and very friendly with no snobbery. Go with an open mind and just have fun and you will have a great time too. If you’re going soon then have a great time and I’m really jealous!!!!!!

Any questions, just ask and I’ll do my best to answer!!!!

I booked my holiday on www.teletextholidays.co.uk, booked and flew with Thomas cook and tour operator was Neilson. Very good all round.

The first morning Neilson get their people there earlier to get kitted out before the mad rush which was good but we had to wait a bit for ski school to start. They handed out our ski passes and other tokens such as the ski school one on the coach going to the resort.

Basically they come round and ask you how many skiing holidays youve been on, what level you are etc and then they asked us to show them our turns and then they put you into groups based on that.

It was a bit chaotic but then there are a huge number of people to sort out so based on that and appreciating that, I thought they did a pretty good job.

Have a great time in March!!!!