Bulgaria Ski discussion board

Hi to all,

I just returned from Bansko yesterday and had a fantastic time !

The first three days there was not alot of snow bit enough for a first timer like myself to learn the basics on the nursery slope near the top gondola station. The last three days there was loads of snow and all slopes were open although some were not fully prepared. Funnily enough the resort operators were not prepared for the forcast snow and some drag lifts and chair lifts were not operating - this was soon resolved although we never saw one of the drag lifts working which was a shame since it meant a hike up a hill or a trek through a forest to get to a nice gentle slope suitable for us beginers to ski.

All in all though we had a really good time, the instuctors were excellent, all the hire gear was brand new salomon kit and all buses from hotels to the gondola ran smoothly.

The only gripes were that the food in the hotel (Pirin) was never warm - didn't bother us - we ate out every night (food in the mehanas is excellent )
And the trip home was a nightmare supposed to be picked up at the hotel at 5am for transfer to Plovdiv - minibus turned up at 7am - we were not happy. Then there was a 2 hour delay on the flight because it hadn't been de-iced. But we got home eventually !!

Anyway - there's a little info for anyone heading out to Bansko - hope you have a great time.

I'm happy to answer any question anyone might have !

Happy New Year !!

I didn't see an ice rink anywhere - sorry.

There is a Mehana over the road from the Pirin which does really nice food, they grill it on an open fire, we had 2 starters 2 main courses and 3 litres of wine there for under £20.
It's difficult to name the Mehana's as I didn't get the hang of the alphabet - but they all appear to be very similar - down to all of them having the same table cloths!!
Beer is generally around 1 lev in the Mehanas (more in the ski restaurants)
The food at the top gondola station was pretty good - the chicken soup was nice and warming and about 2 lev.
If you get bored of eating meat there is a Mehana in the main square which does nice pizza (around 4.5 lev for a smal one, 6-7 lev for a large one)
There are a couple of night clubs but we were always to knackered to go so I can't say what they are like ! The ski school presentation was in one of them (Amnesia) and it looked OK.

Lift queues were fine there was rarely a queue for the gondola and the rest of the queues moved quickly, the T bar from Shilgarnika was quite busy - mainly because the higher slopes hadn't been properly prepared.
The slopes were not very busy - it was certainly safe enough for a beginer like myself to be doing slow turns.

We changed money in the hotel - the rate was the same as in the bank.