Bulgaria Ski discussion board

Re;- Prices and some of our 'friendly' Bulgarian Hosts.
I'm sure that this will create a bit of a stir,but it is an honest appraisal,some you will agree with and some won't .
It seems that all of the people other than the cleaners (I guess because they are not in any position to do so) that work in the ski /touist industry will be your best friend and help as mucgh as possible so long as they have a constant flow of 'your ' money into their hands !!
All these people receive a wage of some discription and yes by our standards it is poor ,however once you move away from Pamporovo ,Borovets etc you realise that every thing is in proportion and things price wise generally reflect their income.
The ski instructor only took us to the most expensive of mountain restaurants every oppotunity he could ,and tried his best to encourage our spending on extra items such as videos tapes and photos meals out with him etc.
He was not intrested in giving good instruction infact he is the worst instructor I have ever had,and could not even do a good standard of carving turn .
But what really annoyed me was when he offered to take our small group of five to his local slopes for 16 levs a sum of just over £6-20 was agreed per person .
The location was a ten minute car ride away upon arrival he brazenly demanded 25 lev from each of us ,an increase of £3.46 he said was for petrol.
This is being dishonest and amonunted to an extra £17.30 between the five of us for a ten minute car ride their and the same return a journey of about 7 miles each way.......................................sorry but thats taking the piss!!!!!!!!!!!!
If all the Bulgarians are so genuinely nice as I'm sure those who haven;t been tainted by the prospect of easy tourist money are ,why did this instructor say at the begining the real cost he would charge for the trip!!???
Going to Andorra next year MUCH ,MUCH better value for money.

I think that when there are comparatively well-off visitors to ski resorts (or any resort for that matter) then there will always be an element attempting to 'make the most' of the clientele - it's just human nature.

However, I do agree that Andorra is good value for money, and I was not scammed in any way when I skiied there last year.

It's a balancing act - I actually intended to go back to Andorra this month, but couldn't find a reasonable deal around the £300-350 mark. In contrast, my Borovets trip this coming week was £222 all in for flights, transfers + half board.

So if I do get ripped off a bit I'll try and keep that in mind to make myself feel better

Franz, i agree.
In my case , my instructor was excellent!! He took us to cheaper restaurants so that wasnt the problem. But the constant flow of people expecting tips for nothing really annoy me!!!!
You are never given change at the bar, they expect to be able to keep it?! The prices were infact more than at home for a spirit in a bar. Weatherspoons charge £1.09 for smirnoff and coke, bars in boro charge 5lv for local brand and coke!!! Twice the price??
Thats the only thing putting me off going back to boro!

i can see you had a bad time out there, but why ditch bulgaria all togther?

Bansko is a great resort, and the ULEN school has the best instructors in bulgaria, there selection process is extremely strict. The slopes are the best i have been on, the resort is cheap and your not ripped off anywhere, apart from when you hand your lift pass back in at the end of the week and they ask you to put the 6 lev deposit into a tip box (which i didnt do as there is no obligation)

Each to there own obviously, but ive had more people come back having had things/money stolen from them in Andorra than any other destination for ski. The food there is a rip off and far to expensive for what you get, and i again lots of people who have had food poisoning whilst out there. In Bansko, all the equipment is new, most only 1 year old as they had a massive investment last year and the resort is still quiet, so you dont have to Q for ages to get on any of the lifts, and the slopes are more-or-less empty.

I can safely say that Andorra may be as cheap to get to as Bulgaria, but as far as value for money, doesnt compare at all! Its definately worth looking into.

Hi Franz,
None of us know how prices will increase for next year but i can tell you that in the mehana's in Bansko a bottle of local beer went up 0.20 leva just prior to the ski season (that's just 7 pence)
This season you will pay 1.20 to 1.50 leva for a beer, bottle of wine 7 to 10 leva and a quadruple vodka 1.50 to 2 leva, that's in town of course. On the mountain you will pay 3 leva for a beer, coffee or hot red wine and a bowl of bean soup is 2.50 leva
You can of course go to the bars and restraunts aimed at the british tourists and pay 3 leva a beer and feel you are being ripped off but it's your choice
Bansko is firstly a town with a population of about 9000 so prices in town have to reflect the locals wages
Generally speaking you are not ripped off in Bansko, but it does happen occasionally that a waiter does not return with change, but as yet it's not the norm
What you also need to think about is that it is not uncomman for tourists to have a great deal of money in their wallets when paying and it is easy when on holiday to leave tips in excess of 20% (ie meal costs 20 leva leave 4 leva tip as that's only 1.43 pounds and waiters come to expect this) as a 10% tip seems tight.
So do we encourage locals to rip us off, I don't know, when we go out we tip if we have a meal but not if we just have a drink but then we live on bulgarian wages, we don't get treated any less friendly when we return to places but people now know we live here