Bulgaria Ski discussion board

A group of five of us got back from Bansko today, i am going to be honest and give it as we saw things

Transfer from airport bit of a pain at night but a lovely ride back in the day with some nice sights

Hotel Bansko was lovely with very comfortable rooms and a lovely pool, sauna and a nice little gym. Staff were miserable with the exception of the maids who were always polite and said hello every time you passed them (they got a good tip just for being so nice) The bar staff were miserable as were the dinning room staff. The food was luke warm and very limited as well as being tasteless. The hotel boasts sky TV, its a shame they can't afford the ariel that comes with it, if you got one channel you were lucky I was going to post daily reports on the internet that was advertised in the brochure but it was not connected.

The ski equipment was excellent and the facilities were potentially excellent, it was just a shame that the staff who work in Bansko do not show any intersest in their customers and were often rude when we asked why the chair lifts were closed again The ski resort has the potential to be fantastic although the high winds often ment that you could only go half way up the mountain, in one week we only got to the top on one day. The runs were virtually all closed for the last two days, that is no ones fault because it rained. It was just really bad the way the staff were rude when we tried to ask questions and hardly anyone spoke English.

The conditions at the start of the week were great, but i really hope that there is some heavy snow for anyone going out in the next couple of weeks as it was very slushy and like skiing in soup due to the rain. A few patches were starting to show and it wont be long before you can't ski down to the middle gondola. You cant ski any lower already but by at least skiing down to the middle it cuts out some of the boring 40 minute gondola ride.

We were really looking forward to exploring the town as we read that it was a working traditional town. If Bansko wants to try and compete with the likes of Borovets then some one should send a group of locals to Tesco as i believe they have an offer on at the moment, "Buy one personality, Get one free" We were turned away from Mexana's on several occassions as we only wanted a drink. The idea being that we went for a meal for two or three hours then went to a couple of others to try and sample the atmosphere but as soon as we said we were not eating they were not interested and all of a sudden they were booked. It was very unusual to be in a Mexana with other Brits it was that dead. You could stand in the street and count the number of people on one hand it was so deserted. There are very few shops and they are closed by 7pm

The Balkan Holiday reps were as interesting as a couple of paper cups.

Summary: Would i go back to Bansko? Only if i started reading some of the comments that come out of Borovets, and to be honest i can't see that happening for at least another five years even with the two new hotels going up.

Would i recommend Bansko? No, not unless you enjoy doing absolutley nothing during the evenings.
Are the locals helpfull? No, very rude

Hope this has been helpfull to you.

Julie

I did not reply to YT's questions due to the fact i had gone to bed as we were up at 4.30am English time to get fligth home if thats ok with you David.

Fi was right the report made about enjoying the food was not from me it was another Julie. Julie's report was made on the 22nd February, i did not get back until the 28th so how could i have made that report? I said that i was going to do a daily report but their was no internet access in the hotel.

If you read the report properly you would have noted that we had a fantastic time the first time we went to Bulgaria (Borovets) and found the people there fantastic.
I stated that the people in Bansko need to go a long way to attract more people as they were not very welcoming and often very rude. Hardly anyone spoke English.

The new Gondola is first class and the pass system is ok.

The slopes are not over crowded although on the Sunday it was a holiday in Greece and alot of people were there but even then the queues were only 10 minutes or so.

When i mentioned about being deserted i was on about at night time. You would leave the hotel and walk down very dark potted roads with nothing but pictures of dead people and black bows on the doors and lamp posts for company

We did not use the ski schools as we all ski to a fairly reasonable standard.

I really hope you get some decent snow before you go YT.

I put my report up on the board to be as honest as possible and as we saw things. People must take the good comments as well as the bad.

Would i go again? I did answer that on my original report. Only if i started to read positive reports about the town itself with some decent Apre ski

Julie

Julie
We got back exactly a week before you ,we also stayed at the bansko hotel and we also went through Balken holidays - interested to know where you flew from ?
If i had went to the trouble you did to write a fully comprehensive report about our weeks holiday in bansko it would have been a photo copy of yours because we experienced exactly to every detail what you have wrote, but don't get me wrong we had a fantastics week skiing.
The irish rep (Darren) we found to be helpful but the girl Maya or whatever she was called was a complete joke
The only difference between us was we did have excellent snow conditions it snowed very heavily for 2 nights throughout the week.
I must admit i have never been to Bulgaria before therefore it would be unfair to compare to the other resorts but i would welcome comments from anyone who has.

Julie
We got back exactly a week before you ,we also stayed at the bansko hotel and we also went through Balken holidays - interested to know where you flew from ?
If i had went to the trouble you did to write a fully comprehensive report about our weeks holiday in bansko it would have been a photo copy of yours because we experienced exactly to every detail what you have wrote, but don't get me wrong we had a fantastics week skiing.
The irish rep (Darren) we found to be helpful but the girl Maya or whatever she was called was a complete joke
The only difference between us was we did have excellent snow conditions it snowed very heavily for 2 nights throughout the week.
I must admit i have never been to Bulgaria before therefore it would be unfair to compare to the other resorts but i would welcome comments from anyone who has.