Bulgaria Ski discussion board

So as promised here's my review of Pamporovo...

So, nightmare start to the trip as we were diverted mid flight to Bourgas airport due to the closure of both Plovdiv and Sofia. We were left clueless as to what was happening by Thomsons. We spent almost 3 hours sat on a grounded plane just in case sofia opened again. This was followed by another 2 hours in the terminal building before they bussed us off to Sunny Beach to stay over night. Lovely hotel for overnight stay apart from getting there at 3am. Told to get up at 7 to find out what was happening and then being told it would be at least 10am before they knew anything. Word of mouth was the only way anyone found out that we were being flown from Bourgas to Sofia at 3pm. Took off at 5pm and finally got to Pamps at around 2am. Will never, ever trust thomsons to get anything right again!!! (Rant over!!!)

So, moving on to Pamps itself. Beautiful little town, great nights out at the white hart and DJs. Met a big group of really lovely people!!
Unfortunately I'm not likely to return unless it's very, very last minute with lots of snow as the snow conditions were in the most part, awful. I've managed to come home with a knee cartilage injury after hitting bare rock on the green run. The blue was also very, very icy.
Hotel Snezhanka was lovely. Older staff were so, so friendly and the reception staff were great. Balcony views were stunning. Room fairly small but definitely served it's purpose. Unfortunately some of the younger women (particularly bar staff) were moody and so, so rude. But to be honest it may just have been with us as nobody else seemed to have complaints. Food was alright, managed to eat fairly well every night and breakfast was nice too.
Medical services in Pamps were also top notch. My friend got bronchitus and was seen by a doctor the same day and he was fantastic.

Overall Pamps was a very nice place, with great nightlife and a great ski school (the head of ski school is a legend!!). Personally I'm not sure I'd go again, I'd probably go back over to North America (call me a snob but yes, the snow is better and practically guaranteed, even if getting over there is a little more expensive) or maybe to borovets where some lads we met on the plane had awsome snow and a great time. For someone on a budget (or very, very beginner skiers and boarders) it would be ideal but for me, maybe not.

Laura

P.S It was great to put a face to the name missizipi!!!

Laura,
I was also on a flight with Thomson that weekend, Manchester to Sofia.
On the whole I think they did a good job in a very difficult situation.
They found hotel rooms (eventually) for 3 to 4 plane loads of people, who then got a bed (4 part of the night), breakfast and the ability to shower and change their clothes.
People in our group who travelled with other companies were left in the airport at Burgass over night until 7am then bussed 9hrs to the resorts without a stop for food/leg stretch etc.
Yes we didn't see a rep, but honestly I didn't see the point in sending a rep on a 9hr drive just to say wot time the bus was going to take us back to the airport, especially when they had 800 people in Sofia airport wanting to go home!
The Thomson way was the best they could do in a bad situation, which was outside of their control.
I have used both companies mentioned and would deffo prefer to use Thomson’s because of our recent experience.
Pete