Bulgaria Ski discussion board

Went to Borovets 24-31 Jan 2009. Stayed at the Iglika Paradise Hotel in the new section.

I think it is important when reading other peoples experiences to establish what age they are and what
level skier they are and what skiing experiences they have had before accepting there advise. On a scale of 0 - 10 i would put myself at a 6 having skied for 20 years in Canada and Europe. I have skied in some of the best conditions and some of the worst. My overiding factor for a skiing holiday is SNOW.

This is my opinion. Like it or lump it - it is my personal experience which just happens to be the same as the other 6people i was with. Ages ranged from 14 - 43

Accomodation - Standard, clean and warm. Literal wet room with a free roaming bath and shower hose with a mind of its own. No sealant around bath but floor has a drain. Hot water at all times though. Clean towels daily.

Staff - Can be rude/polite/obnoxious/ignorant

Food - Pleanty of choice for breakfast but cold. Microwave in corner soon sorts that out and then not to bad. Tea was much the same standard and cold. Just nuke it for 2 minutes and its fine. Had to pay for drinks at tea time though!

Prices - £1 = 2 Lev is a safe bet. Rate fluctuates on a daily basis. However, be aware that someone only changed £20 and got 1.69 Lev for £1. A threat to get the local police soon got the £20 back.

You can be ripped off/overcharged depending on where you go and what you are buying. We where never short changed but regularly had the 'ive got no change' chestnut. Infact it became too regular and tedious. We where often given small sweets as the change? Just stand your ground and dont accept it.

Do not use the pharmacy! Take your own ibruprofen, deep heat, paracetomol. We where charged 8 Lev (£4) for 12 paracetamol, 10 Lev for 12 Ibruprofen and 15 Lev for a small tin of deep heat spray. Rip off or what!

Prices in general vary gatly, even just going next door. A local beer that we called kamakazi was very nice but can be 2.5 Lev or can be 5 Lev. Same for food if eating out. The standard of food varies but in general was good. I would recommend the bacon & cheese burger at mamacitas 9.50Lev. Everything up top is a rip off - everything!

A small bottle of coke is 0.50 Lev in Samokov town. In the supermarket in Borovets resort it is 1.50 Lev. In a bar/cafe at bottom it can be 4 Lev and on the mountain it can be 8 Lev! Its the same fo food!

The street touts or PR's are all middleaged men. Can be a tedious pain trying to lure you in to their establishment. It was banned in Aya Napa and Falaraki as British tourists dont need to be tols where to eat. They are friendly ish but can become very tedious and it spoils the street walks.

SNOW AND SKIING in Borovets
Ignore the web cams on this site. Ignore the snow reports from all sites. The snow was the biggest factor for my holiday and was therfore the biggest let down. Yes it snowed and yes i managed to ski everyday. However, the piste management is at best pathetic and at worst none existent! The turnstyles to lifts are poorly manned, often dangerously uneven, yet queue free ish.

The gondola is slow and takes 25 mins to get almost to the top! (further drag lifts and button lifts are required to actually get to the real top). The gondola is often closed for half day due to winds reaching 25 mph. This happens quite a bit given the geography of Borovets.

The general piste management is poor. If it snows the runs are generally left alone for the skiers to compact. This results in 'mogul' type skiing throughout the resort. The wind takes the uncompacted snow away and leaves nothing but ice, which remains for days! This in turn gets quickly eroded to unearth the mud and rocks. Not sure where the 90cm of snow was on top o the 30cm of snow at bottom was (as reported before we got there) but it certainly was not in resort!

We had 3 days o snow and about 20 cm which should of meant a decent weeks skiing. However, the resort only has 3 piste machine (one an ambulance) and they are poorly operated and come out when its too late and only level the remaining ice. Runs are often closed for days with plenty of un managed snow on them. We skiied them anyway but had they been pisted they would be good. Lazy Bulgarians only seem to move the snow from around the cafe shacks up top or the lower level runs for the overcrowded beginners, which ski on ice!

The mens clubs are evident and the pr's market them but are not in your face - despite my 14 year old son being given flyers on a daily basis!

Itwould be unfair to compare Borovets with any other resort i have skied, simply because you cant! I would compare it more too Aya Napa or Malia but with a bit of snow!

The price issue is no longer a factor in my opinion as Borovets is no longer the cheap option. Many people do not like the food inthe hotel so will eat out, despite paying for half board. That is the same for the Samokov and Rila!

£1 = 2 Lev when your paying 4 Lev for a coke is dearer than the Alps. Beer prices are on par. Food the same etc etc etc.

We had fun and enjoyed the experience but would rather save a little more and go elsewhere next time.

Good report, and on the button i feel.
Boro has to pull its socks up, piste prep is poor, system poorly linked and to my mind overpriced. Overall prices are high by BG standards (there are exceptions, Alpina ??) and varying standards...
Try Bansko, piste preparation is better though maybe not to the billiard table smooth pistes of N.America, lift system is new, well linked, with few bottlenecks. Prices are generally lower (a lot in some cases) to Boro, and the overall feel is more aimed at families, than beer swilling singles (though that still happens hehehehe). Touts still exist (ban them please) but tend to be less pushy. The hotels are newer, some very upmarket, offering great facilities... Its not perfect, still a building site in places, but it has an old town, old mehanas, less hectic and well priced.... OK, im a fan, i live here, but i do except and in most agree with what you say of Boro, hopefully they will wake up, as Bansko has (no increase in lift pass prices, overall no price rises in beer or food, money invested in mountain infrastructure etc)

Maybe this post will be disputed, i have no axe to grind. Mearly a personal opinion...

Steve C

This is an honest report from a person who has as stated 20n years experience of skiing. I was in Borovets at the same time. I was a first time skier with wife and 7 year old daughter. We enjoyed the experience very much. I agree that prices vary a great deal and this is something we were surprised by. However even at 5 lev for a pint it represents reasonable value.
The piste preparation is poor, even I could appreciate that and does need to be addressed.
The attitude of staff was poor in some cases as to be actually funny. The PR guys are a bit of a pest especially if you are out for a stroll but not intimidating or anything more sad really.
I met people who skied in alps etc etc and they were not very impressed with the snow lifts etc, but had tried BG as an economic alternative. They accepted that there would be implications to that cost savings in terms of quality which I think is reasonable. The prices up top were the scariest experinece (for a ski virgin) I will not be caught by that when I visit again. Donttrustthecam is correct Borovets is not for him and he has tried it and is entitled to his view. The fact that Borovets has to do some very obvious thing to improve cannot be denied. But it will never be an expert skiers paradise. It provides skiing at a lower cost but at lower quality. It has a lot of bars restaurants night life that can be enjoyed at reasonable prices. (beware of some rip offs) Best really to try and then decide. We did and I reckon we will go again. But a fair review given the circumstances of the poster.

Well, I was there the same week and hardly saw any snow. Quite rightly, the pistes were not bashed on 2 ocassions after snow. £1 for a 1/2 litre of beer is not a lot and I am almost sure you cannot get it anywhere near as cheap in other European resorts.
We managed to eat in the hotel (yes the Iglika) every night except our last special night.
Street touts are always fun and no issue for us.
There were some heavy winds but I only remember the Gondola being shut once. I'd rather it shut than be blown around like mad, too scary in my opinion.
We had a great week. H x

If the OP has 20 years of skiing experience spent in Canada and Europe then surely pointing out the price differentials he encountered is nothing new for a ski resort anywhere in Europe, can't say for Canada because I've never skiied there. Another ski forum, snowheads, has dozens of posts about sometimes big price differences in French resorts. 13 euros for a average spag boll, 8 euros for a pint in many bars.

He stated himself he likes the local brew he called Kamikaze. So 2.5Lev-5lev,£1.25 - £2.50, for a pint, or 330ml, you like in a ski resort is cheap and yet rather than saying beer he liked was very cheap he expresses it negatively by highlighting the price difference. £1.25 a pint in France? Not in my experience.

Street touts? A simple 'Later' or "I've had dinner already" works wonders. I wonder how people cope with cold callers in the UK either on the telephone or the front door.


20 years experience and he complains about the lack of piste mantainance. On the other forum I mentioned above there are some veteran skiiers who actually complain about TOO MUCH piste bashing because they say it takes away the need to learn different skiing techniques for different conditions. The piste maintanance isn't great I know from experience. With 20years experience you'd think he would like more challenging terrain rather than easy groomed corduroy runs. If he had beginners in the group, with 20years skiing experience under his belt he should know of much better places to ski than Borovets. He mentions 'mogul' type skiing throughout the resort. Has this guy really been there and does he really have 20 years skiing experience? Moguls on the red Yastrebets, not in my experience. Moguls on the easier runs, yes there are. With 20 years experience he should know the easier runs at ski resorts all around the world have develop or have moguls because beginners don't have great technique and skid there turns.

Tignes in France often closes the top lifts because it's very exposed, with 20 years experience he should know it's not uncommon.

He's possibly right about Borovets being unlike any other resort. Isn't there a place in the ski market for something different? To me there is.

Prices at top were OTT.

does anyone from bulgaria ski or the buisiness owners read from this site as it would be in their best interest as i am sure if they arent carefull the bristish tourist will favour somewhere else to ski as the euro has lost some of its strength people are very choosy were they want to go on holiday.i have been to boro 3 times and will continue as i do no where to go and not get ripped of but if they do read from this site perhaps they can change a little they dont seem to understand that they dont have to try to rip us off as we will return again happy holiday

Thanks all for your comments - each has his/her opinion based on personal circumstance and experiences.
Life would be boring without it


DaringRed - You seem preoccupied with questioning my 20 year ski experience, which much of was spent with the British Army and varied from the norm of alpine skiing to nordic/cross country! Please do not lecture me on piste management!

With regards to your implication that i 'expressed negatively' about the beer prices - I believe i stated that i liked kamikazi beer and it ranged from 2.5 Lev to 5Lev, which it did! What was negative about that?

It would appear that some on here are simply here to pick holes in others opinions by mis representing what is clearly written.

I tried Borovets, had a good time - as stated, but would rather go elsewhere. That is what my post said