Bulgaria Ski discussion board

Just back from a fantastic holiday in Pamporovo, a big thanks to Ted & Gary in the snowshack and Ella & Maria in the White Hart.

We all had an amazing week (even if David did bust his ribs). The snow at the beginning of the week was incredible with thigh deep power off piste. Towards the end of the week it began to thaw out and became rather icy on Friday. Hopefully there should be some new snow soon.

However as snowboarders we found the hill rather frustrating with long flat sections where, unless you took your life (and those around you) into your hands and flatlined the last couple 100 meters of the slope to get enough speed to make it over, you ended up stopping and taking your board off - aagggghhhh!!!! This even happened on a couple of the red/black runs. The best run was starting off from under the 4 man chair or going off piste at the back of the hill.

We stayed in the Finlandia....rooms were lovely all with balconys, massive beds, 24hr room service. Food - well one of our group got suspected food poisoning on the first night so we ended up eating out every night. Hotel is not within walking distance of the resort or ski centre so relied on taxis and hotel shuttle bus. Swimming pool was freezing cold and you have to pay for the sauna and jacuzzi.

Couple of things to note if you too are a first timer:

Lift passes - book them before you get there otherwise you will have to pay 240 lev for the week.

Eating out - Murgarvets Hotel Grill/Barbecue restaurant is amazing, so cheap and a fantastic environment. 6 of us had a 3 course meal with 5 bottles of wine and the total bill came to (including a tip) 180 lev

Runs - some very narrow with flat sections. The blue and green runs can get exceptionally busy so be careful.

Piste maps - don't exist, I believe there is one which you can download on this site

Money - we spent app £300 each and we ate out each night, very easy to change english sterling (not scottish or Irish sterling) don't expect to use visa as most places don't accept it so remember you pin no. Some of the shops will ask for sterling rather than lev so be prepard to haggle. Legally you cannot take any lev out of the country with you nor can you spend it at Plodiv airport!

People - amazing, so friendly and helpful (apart from our hotel reception staff who were perhaps the rudest and most unhelpful people I have ever met!).

All in all a great holiday that past all too quickly, if you are a skier the hill is wonderful if you are a snowboarder expect to do a lot of stopping and walking!