Bulgaria Ski discussion board
Just Back from Bansko........Disaster !!!!!
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posts : 13 (Beginner)Date : 02-17-07 17:14Just Back from Bansko........Disaster !!!!!
just arrived back from bansko today and heres report (warts and all !). I have skied in USA x7, Andorra, Val D'sire and Bulgaria x 3, so i have a little experience.
Stayed in the Guinness Hotel. Quite impressive. Rooms clean, food , hit and miss, bar in Hotel, daylight robbery by bulgarian standards. 7 lev per 330 ml bottle, shorts similar.
Although hotel was only 200 metres from gondola, you had to go through a building site to access it.
Gondola Itself, busy with queues, aprox ...
Stayed in the Guinness Hotel. Quite impressive. Rooms clean, food , hit and miss, bar in Hotel, daylight robbery by bulgarian standards. 7 lev per 330 ml bottle, shorts similar.
Although hotel was only 200 metres from gondola, you had to go through a building site to access it.
Gondola Itself, busy with queues, aprox ...
just arrived back from bansko today and heres report (warts and all !). I have skied in USA x7, Andorra, Val D'sire and Bulgaria x 3, so i have a little experience.
Stayed in the Guinness Hotel. Quite impressive. Rooms clean, food , hit and miss, bar in Hotel, daylight robbery by bulgarian standards. 7 lev per 330 ml bottle, shorts similar.
Although hotel was only 200 metres from gondola, you had to go through a building site to access it.
Gondola Itself, busy with queues, aprox wait was 30 - 40 minutes over the course of the week.
Skiing was good for myself and others, however beginners in the group seen very little of mountain. Not suitable for beginners in my opinion. Food by gondola station expensive ( bulgarian standards) and often undercooked despite pleas for chicken, meat etc to be well done.
Apres ski, totally non existent. Bar beside gondola, the happy end, had poeple in it for about an hour, after that empty.
Only we had a large group and entertained ourselves, it wold have been a disaster.
General customer service was poor to say the least.
Venues to go out at night very limited.
Taxi rides were totally random pricing policies with many taxidrivers taking the preverbial. One short run for one of our group cost 23 levs for aprox half a mile, and although they knew were they were going and pointed out to taxi driver, the driver decided to take a mystery tour.
Having loved bulgaria, i fear the latest encounter has finished me with the country. In my opinion it have become an economic honey pot with everyone out to screw as much money as possible from as many as possible.
We travelled with Balkan tours belfast, who had a rep bilko that was unreal.Common practice is to go to your rep if you needed something. In this case it was him constantly coming to us looking for money for this that and whatever.
The final straw was when he conned 22 of us of of ten levs each for the karoke bar for admission/ drinks. Now its not the 220 lev but the principle. Wrote out a reciept and said to present to barman for free cocktails/drinks. When we arrived we found it was free entry for everyone and our "cocktail voucher" entitles us to one free soft drink.
Thats only one story, i could go on with many more, but safe to say i wont be using Balkan Tours in Belfast ever again
How the resort will cope next year with the number of developments and increased holiday makers, boggles the mind. Inadequate at the minute.
In a nutshell, good skiing for intermediate and above.Inadequate for beginners. Prices from last year have trebled at least. ( That was the general consenus of our entire group who have been in Bulgaria over the last 3 years). Atmosphere in resort is non existent,apres ski is non existent.
I for one wont be visitin Bansko again( Probabaly not Bulgaria again)Its not a patch on Pamporovo for charm , craic and atmosphere.
No side agenda, just a true account
Stayed in the Guinness Hotel. Quite impressive. Rooms clean, food , hit and miss, bar in Hotel, daylight robbery by bulgarian standards. 7 lev per 330 ml bottle, shorts similar.
Although hotel was only 200 metres from gondola, you had to go through a building site to access it.
Gondola Itself, busy with queues, aprox wait was 30 - 40 minutes over the course of the week.
Skiing was good for myself and others, however beginners in the group seen very little of mountain. Not suitable for beginners in my opinion. Food by gondola station expensive ( bulgarian standards) and often undercooked despite pleas for chicken, meat etc to be well done.
Apres ski, totally non existent. Bar beside gondola, the happy end, had poeple in it for about an hour, after that empty.
Only we had a large group and entertained ourselves, it wold have been a disaster.
General customer service was poor to say the least.
Venues to go out at night very limited.
Taxi rides were totally random pricing policies with many taxidrivers taking the preverbial. One short run for one of our group cost 23 levs for aprox half a mile, and although they knew were they were going and pointed out to taxi driver, the driver decided to take a mystery tour.
Having loved bulgaria, i fear the latest encounter has finished me with the country. In my opinion it have become an economic honey pot with everyone out to screw as much money as possible from as many as possible.
We travelled with Balkan tours belfast, who had a rep bilko that was unreal.Common practice is to go to your rep if you needed something. In this case it was him constantly coming to us looking for money for this that and whatever.
The final straw was when he conned 22 of us of of ten levs each for the karoke bar for admission/ drinks. Now its not the 220 lev but the principle. Wrote out a reciept and said to present to barman for free cocktails/drinks. When we arrived we found it was free entry for everyone and our "cocktail voucher" entitles us to one free soft drink.
Thats only one story, i could go on with many more, but safe to say i wont be using Balkan Tours in Belfast ever again
How the resort will cope next year with the number of developments and increased holiday makers, boggles the mind. Inadequate at the minute.
In a nutshell, good skiing for intermediate and above.Inadequate for beginners. Prices from last year have trebled at least. ( That was the general consenus of our entire group who have been in Bulgaria over the last 3 years). Atmosphere in resort is non existent,apres ski is non existent.
I for one wont be visitin Bansko again( Probabaly not Bulgaria again)Its not a patch on Pamporovo for charm , craic and atmosphere.
No side agenda, just a true account
re: Just Back from Bansko........Disaster !!!!!
Should have gone to Borovets. We were beginners and skiied from top on 3rd day. Prices great, people great, food great. Of course its not to the stands of america, france, italy etc, its cheap and fun. We have already booked next yearre: Just Back from Bansko........Disaster !!!!!
Having been in pamps the last two years, and enjoyed and wanting to stay loyal to the bulgarian experience, we were not anticipating such an experience as we had.re: Just Back from Bansko........Disaster !!!!!
oh dear!!!! i'm goin to bansko next weekend.oh well to late now, we'll just have to see what happens.
re: Just Back from Bansko........Disaster !!!!!
I jus hope Pamporovo can keep its charmre: Just Back from Bansko........Disaster !!!!!
I think that as soon as I get off the plane I am just going to punch my rep.I go on the 3rd and am a Bulgarian first timer.
I already consider Bansko to be a sh*thole and have never been.
Balkan holidays beware. My knuckles are polished!!!
re: Just Back from Bansko........Disaster !!!!!
Why dont you wait to see if yourself before making judgement.Should always ask the taxi drivers before you set off how much the trip is going to be so you have set price.
Dont book any activities through reps do it through ski instructors much much cheaper.
Enjoy
re: Just Back from Bansko........Disaster !!!!!
No Apres Ski?
What about Sir Galahads, Lion Bar, Friendly Bar, Tamplier Night Club, Amnesia Night Club, B4 Cocktail Bar, Route 66 Karaoke Bar, Amigos Bar, Banderitsa Pub or the choice of over 100 Mehanas? To name only a few.
I can not belieive you did not visit any of these bars!
re: Just Back from Bansko........Disaster !!!!!
Totally serious question Snowy - Do you own a property in Bansko?Or some other invested interest in Bansko or Bulgaria etc?
re: Just Back from Bansko........Disaster !!!!!
Sir Galahads, no
Lion Bar,yes
Friendly Bar, yes
Tamplier Night Club, no
Amnesia Night Club,yes seedy kip
B4 Cocktail Bar,no
Route 66 Karaoke Bar,yes....only open at about 9
Amigos Bar,yes
Banderitsa Pub yes we were usually the only ones in it
choice of over 100 Mehanas? several
Apres ski............after skiing, not at 11 or 12 at night. It would then be nightlife
Apart from the happy end for an hour everywhere else was virtually empty, and even the happy end ...
Lion Bar,yes
Friendly Bar, yes
Tamplier Night Club, no
Amnesia Night Club,yes seedy kip
B4 Cocktail Bar,no
Route 66 Karaoke Bar,yes....only open at about 9
Amigos Bar,yes
Banderitsa Pub yes we were usually the only ones in it
choice of over 100 Mehanas? several
Apres ski............after skiing, not at 11 or 12 at night. It would then be nightlife
Apart from the happy end for an hour everywhere else was virtually empty, and even the happy end ...
Sir Galahads, no
Lion Bar,yes
Friendly Bar, yes
Tamplier Night Club, no
Amnesia Night Club,yes seedy kip
B4 Cocktail Bar,no
Route 66 Karaoke Bar,yes....only open at about 9
Amigos Bar,yes
Banderitsa Pub yes we were usually the only ones in it
choice of over 100 Mehanas? several
Apres ski............after skiing, not at 11 or 12 at night. It would then be nightlife
Apart from the happy end for an hour everywhere else was virtually empty, and even the happy end had an atmosphere of a fart in a spacesuit
Lion Bar,yes
Friendly Bar, yes
Tamplier Night Club, no
Amnesia Night Club,yes seedy kip
B4 Cocktail Bar,no
Route 66 Karaoke Bar,yes....only open at about 9
Amigos Bar,yes
Banderitsa Pub yes we were usually the only ones in it
choice of over 100 Mehanas? several
Apres ski............after skiing, not at 11 or 12 at night. It would then be nightlife
Apart from the happy end for an hour everywhere else was virtually empty, and even the happy end had an atmosphere of a fart in a spacesuit
