Bulgaria Ski discussion board
Just back from Bansko
Author:
posts : 13 (Beginner)Date : 02-09-09 13:36Just back from Bansko
Hi all,
I got back from Bansko late on Saturday evening, and as promised here is my report.
The flight to Bulgaria went withouut hitch and we landed in Plovdiv almost on time. We were met by our rep in the arrivals hall, and were on the road to Bansko almost immediately. The drive to Bansko takes roughly 3 1/2 hours from Plovdiv, buy it is a lovely drive following a river up into the mountains.
We arrived in Bansko at aprox 4.30pm and were met by guest services at our hotel, The ...
I got back from Bansko late on Saturday evening, and as promised here is my report.
The flight to Bulgaria went withouut hitch and we landed in Plovdiv almost on time. We were met by our rep in the arrivals hall, and were on the road to Bansko almost immediately. The drive to Bansko takes roughly 3 1/2 hours from Plovdiv, buy it is a lovely drive following a river up into the mountains.
We arrived in Bansko at aprox 4.30pm and were met by guest services at our hotel, The ...
Hi all,
I got back from Bansko late on Saturday evening, and as promised here is my report.
The flight to Bulgaria went withouut hitch and we landed in Plovdiv almost on time. We were met by our rep in the arrivals hall, and were on the road to Bansko almost immediately. The drive to Bansko takes roughly 3 1/2 hours from Plovdiv, buy it is a lovely drive following a river up into the mountains.
We arrived in Bansko at aprox 4.30pm and were met by guest services at our hotel, The Kempinski. As expected, The Kempinski lived up to all expectations, and to us was better than any 5 Star hotel we had stayed in before.
The facilities were second to none, and the ease of access from the Ski Road home to the storage room for ski's, boots etc. was excellent. The guy in the storage room took your boots & ski's and placed them on racks assigned to your room. Every morning he would get your boots & ski's for you when you arrived in the room....Great Service!!!!
The food at the hotel was excellent. We were on a half board package and were restricted to the Gallery restaurant. The staff were very friendly and would meet all your requirements. Word of warning....Dont order bottled water, just ask for a karaff. The karaff is free, but the bottled water is very expensive.
The Wellness centre at the Hotel is also excellent. The outdoor pool and hot tub are a must!!!! The indoor pool is also fantastic though the jacuzzi was not hot.
Through another door and down the stairs brought you to a labarynth of rooms in which were two types of steam room, two types of sauna, a snow room, power showers, and 6 heated tile beds that soothed any ache you may have had from skiing.
Onto the slopes, and the conditions were mainly good. Unfortunatly Tomba and Todorka are closed, and will remain closed until March 3rd. The preparations for the womens world cup races are well underway, and I suppose cannot be helped. Work is currently being carried out to level the race track and also create a one meter deep track of ice!!!
The higher you went up the mountain the better conditions you got. Unfortunately Plato 1 & 2 were closed on Tuesday/Wednesday which meant traffic was heavy lower down the mountain. On Wednesday there was a very heavy rain shower at lunch time, which made all slopes quiet messy for the rest of the day, and the ski road home a bore as you were travelling at 2 miles an hour!!!. Other than that all slopes were in great condition, with fresh snow higher up on most days. We didnt venture down to Chalin Valog as our instructor told us the conditions there werent great.
The queue's for the Godola were long at certain times. We found if you were at the gondola at 8.20am you didnt have a queue. Leave it untill 9.00am and it could take you an hour and a half to get up the mountain. On Friday we left our hotel at 8.45am and the queues were nearly back to the Happy End. We got a taxi up the mountain, which dropped us near the Bla-Bla restaurant. We were charged 50 Lev, which shared between 4 of us was about E6.50 each. It spared 1 1/2 hours queing.
Food on the mountain was as expensive as you wanted it to be. From past experience I became a big breakfast, light lunch eater. A Meatball(Burger like), Chips, and a bottle of Coke cost 11 lev. Although another day, Lunch cost me 21 Lev. We made up a sandwich at breakfast in our hotel most other mornings, which meant we only bought soup & a drink for about 6 Lev.
Alcohol in town again varied in price, depending on where you went. I still enjoy The Happy End, where you still get a pint for E2.50......5 Lev. Compared to Ireland this is great value, but a lot of British people tend to disagree. One round I bought....2 X Pints of Larger, 2 x Vodka & Red Bull, 2 X Vodka and Coke, and 1 X Orange Juice came to 35 Lev......18 Euro. In Ireland you wouldnt get the 4 X Vodka's for 18 Euro, so we all agreed that The Happy End is still a cheap place to drink. Venturing further down the town does make the drink cheaper.
We found JJ. Murphy's the new Irish bar, which was an achievement!!! I recommend this pub to everyone, and the food there looked quiet good, and is reasonably priced. It is near the Perun & Lion hotels, past the Crown.
Overall Bansko hadnt changed much, but for the amount of forsale signs on buildings/ building sites. They even have a "resellmyapartment" shop. There are still a lot of building sites in Bansko, although you dont hear/see much work being carried out. As was said to me last year....Bansko will be lovely when it is finished!!!
Our overall consensus is that we will definately return to Bansko next year, and vie to stay in The Kempinski again!!!!
If anyone needs any questions answered, please dont hesitate to ask. All the best!!!!
I got back from Bansko late on Saturday evening, and as promised here is my report.
The flight to Bulgaria went withouut hitch and we landed in Plovdiv almost on time. We were met by our rep in the arrivals hall, and were on the road to Bansko almost immediately. The drive to Bansko takes roughly 3 1/2 hours from Plovdiv, buy it is a lovely drive following a river up into the mountains.
We arrived in Bansko at aprox 4.30pm and were met by guest services at our hotel, The Kempinski. As expected, The Kempinski lived up to all expectations, and to us was better than any 5 Star hotel we had stayed in before.
The facilities were second to none, and the ease of access from the Ski Road home to the storage room for ski's, boots etc. was excellent. The guy in the storage room took your boots & ski's and placed them on racks assigned to your room. Every morning he would get your boots & ski's for you when you arrived in the room....Great Service!!!!
The food at the hotel was excellent. We were on a half board package and were restricted to the Gallery restaurant. The staff were very friendly and would meet all your requirements. Word of warning....Dont order bottled water, just ask for a karaff. The karaff is free, but the bottled water is very expensive.
The Wellness centre at the Hotel is also excellent. The outdoor pool and hot tub are a must!!!! The indoor pool is also fantastic though the jacuzzi was not hot.
Through another door and down the stairs brought you to a labarynth of rooms in which were two types of steam room, two types of sauna, a snow room, power showers, and 6 heated tile beds that soothed any ache you may have had from skiing.
Onto the slopes, and the conditions were mainly good. Unfortunatly Tomba and Todorka are closed, and will remain closed until March 3rd. The preparations for the womens world cup races are well underway, and I suppose cannot be helped. Work is currently being carried out to level the race track and also create a one meter deep track of ice!!!
The higher you went up the mountain the better conditions you got. Unfortunately Plato 1 & 2 were closed on Tuesday/Wednesday which meant traffic was heavy lower down the mountain. On Wednesday there was a very heavy rain shower at lunch time, which made all slopes quiet messy for the rest of the day, and the ski road home a bore as you were travelling at 2 miles an hour!!!. Other than that all slopes were in great condition, with fresh snow higher up on most days. We didnt venture down to Chalin Valog as our instructor told us the conditions there werent great.
The queue's for the Godola were long at certain times. We found if you were at the gondola at 8.20am you didnt have a queue. Leave it untill 9.00am and it could take you an hour and a half to get up the mountain. On Friday we left our hotel at 8.45am and the queues were nearly back to the Happy End. We got a taxi up the mountain, which dropped us near the Bla-Bla restaurant. We were charged 50 Lev, which shared between 4 of us was about E6.50 each. It spared 1 1/2 hours queing.
Food on the mountain was as expensive as you wanted it to be. From past experience I became a big breakfast, light lunch eater. A Meatball(Burger like), Chips, and a bottle of Coke cost 11 lev. Although another day, Lunch cost me 21 Lev. We made up a sandwich at breakfast in our hotel most other mornings, which meant we only bought soup & a drink for about 6 Lev.
Alcohol in town again varied in price, depending on where you went. I still enjoy The Happy End, where you still get a pint for E2.50......5 Lev. Compared to Ireland this is great value, but a lot of British people tend to disagree. One round I bought....2 X Pints of Larger, 2 x Vodka & Red Bull, 2 X Vodka and Coke, and 1 X Orange Juice came to 35 Lev......18 Euro. In Ireland you wouldnt get the 4 X Vodka's for 18 Euro, so we all agreed that The Happy End is still a cheap place to drink. Venturing further down the town does make the drink cheaper.
We found JJ. Murphy's the new Irish bar, which was an achievement!!! I recommend this pub to everyone, and the food there looked quiet good, and is reasonably priced. It is near the Perun & Lion hotels, past the Crown.
Overall Bansko hadnt changed much, but for the amount of forsale signs on buildings/ building sites. They even have a "resellmyapartment" shop. There are still a lot of building sites in Bansko, although you dont hear/see much work being carried out. As was said to me last year....Bansko will be lovely when it is finished!!!
Our overall consensus is that we will definately return to Bansko next year, and vie to stay in The Kempinski again!!!!
If anyone needs any questions answered, please dont hesitate to ask. All the best!!!!
re: Just back from Bansko
Just got back from Bansko/Kempinski as well.
I agree with the above comments. Chose the Kempinski because it was close to the Gondola and so less messing about in the mornings (especially as I took my 7 year old).
Whilst I thought the Kempinski was good I thought the Perun much better value and would only choose the Kempinski because of its location. The Perun is as good as or better on the swimming pool, spa, room, bar atmosphere, service and price. Kempisnki is better on location ...
I agree with the above comments. Chose the Kempinski because it was close to the Gondola and so less messing about in the mornings (especially as I took my 7 year old).
Whilst I thought the Kempinski was good I thought the Perun much better value and would only choose the Kempinski because of its location. The Perun is as good as or better on the swimming pool, spa, room, bar atmosphere, service and price. Kempisnki is better on location ...
Just got back from Bansko/Kempinski as well.
I agree with the above comments. Chose the Kempinski because it was close to the Gondola and so less messing about in the mornings (especially as I took my 7 year old).
Whilst I thought the Kempinski was good I thought the Perun much better value and would only choose the Kempinski because of its location. The Perun is as good as or better on the swimming pool, spa, room, bar atmosphere, service and price. Kempisnki is better on location and food.
Other people in my ski group were staying at the Lion, the Strazhite (apoligies for any misspelling) and the Emerald and none had a bad word for any of them.
I agree with the above comments. Chose the Kempinski because it was close to the Gondola and so less messing about in the mornings (especially as I took my 7 year old).
Whilst I thought the Kempinski was good I thought the Perun much better value and would only choose the Kempinski because of its location. The Perun is as good as or better on the swimming pool, spa, room, bar atmosphere, service and price. Kempisnki is better on location and food.
Other people in my ski group were staying at the Lion, the Strazhite (apoligies for any misspelling) and the Emerald and none had a bad word for any of them.
re: Just back from Bansko
Just got back from Bansko/Kempinski as well.
I agree with the above comments. Chose the Kempinski because it was close to the Gondola and so less messing about in the mornings (especially as I took my 7 year old).
Whilst I thought the Kempinski was good I thought the Perun much better value and would only choose the Kempinski because of its location. The Perun is as good as or better on the swimming pool, spa, room, bar atmosphere, service and price. Kempisnki is better on location ...
I agree with the above comments. Chose the Kempinski because it was close to the Gondola and so less messing about in the mornings (especially as I took my 7 year old).
Whilst I thought the Kempinski was good I thought the Perun much better value and would only choose the Kempinski because of its location. The Perun is as good as or better on the swimming pool, spa, room, bar atmosphere, service and price. Kempisnki is better on location ...
Just got back from Bansko/Kempinski as well.
I agree with the above comments. Chose the Kempinski because it was close to the Gondola and so less messing about in the mornings (especially as I took my 7 year old).
Whilst I thought the Kempinski was good I thought the Perun much better value and would only choose the Kempinski because of its location. The Perun is as good as or better on the swimming pool, spa, room, bar atmosphere, service and price. Kempisnki is better on location and food.
Other people in my ski group were staying at the Lion, the Strazhite (apoligies for any misspelling) and the Emerald and none had a bad word for any of them.
I agree with the above comments. Chose the Kempinski because it was close to the Gondola and so less messing about in the mornings (especially as I took my 7 year old).
Whilst I thought the Kempinski was good I thought the Perun much better value and would only choose the Kempinski because of its location. The Perun is as good as or better on the swimming pool, spa, room, bar atmosphere, service and price. Kempisnki is better on location and food.
Other people in my ski group were staying at the Lion, the Strazhite (apoligies for any misspelling) and the Emerald and none had a bad word for any of them.
