Bulgaria Ski discussion board

Hi all,
just got back from Borovets last night and we thought we would post our experiences here for others to read if you have not been to Borovets before. We found this board useful before we went.

We have skied in quite a few different european / nordic resorts, and wanted to keep the cost down for this particular trip.

Our thoughts :

1. Hotel : We stayed in the Hotel Lion Borovets - it was excellent. Clean rooms, modern facilties, free shuttle bus, good pool. The food was much better than we expected.
Hint: On the way to bulgaria buy yourself a travel kettle. We did and it saved us a fortune.

2. Lifts etc :The Main Ski Gondola is outside the Hotel Samokov. The queues for most of the week were horrendous in the mornings. Never seen anything like that in any other resorts. We ended up going to the Rila slopes first thing then headed to the Gondala around 1130 or so. otherwise you waste too much time queuing.

3. Snow: Although it did snow a few times while we were there last week (2nd - 9th Feb) it was very patchy in places and the least snow we have seen on our skiing trips. Maybe we've been lucky. Best snow was at the top of Yastrebetz but visibility was very poor for last 2 days.

4. Prices : The ski trip itself was very reasonable overall, however as others have said on this board, the bulgarians are shooting themselves in the foot if they think they can charge the prices they are asking for what the are offering. Example prices - between 5- 7 levs for a hot chocolate (instant served in a plastic cup !). if it was at least served in a mug you wouldn't mind !

5. Touts: We have never seen touting at a ski resort before. It's really annoying and lowers the tone of the resort. If any bulgarians from Borovets are reading this ? Pass it on.

Overall, because the holiday price was reasonable - we overlooked a lot of the above, but it's not somewhere that we would necessarily recommend - but if you want to do a cheap ski holiday then it's ok.

Discalimer : We realise not everyone will necessarily agree with what we've posted but it's just our 2 cents.

It's a funny one, the 'is it as good as other Alpine resorts', I have only been to Bansko and thought the same as you, perhaps a bit cheaper but the tatt, the touts the grottyness of the building sites, just wasn't what we were expecting compared to previous resorts and I have snowboarded in some lesser know Baltic countries.
Saying that we returned to a top Austrian resort in Jan fantastic yet somehow put Bansko in perspective and we have rummaged around for the funds for a return trip to Bansko this March with the view that it's not a pretty alpine resort but for the price it's got a reasonable mountain, fantastic hotel and we shall just snowboard hard and stay within the hotel much of the week.
As my only ski destination Bulgaria disappoints when compared to every place I have winter holidayed in but something it making us go back.