Bulgaria Ski discussion board

It would appear that many people are returning from BG this year with stories of being ripped off, had items stolen, threatened, bullied, mugged and had their drinks spiked etc.
To a certain extent I agree with people when they say that this could happen anywhere. However, when you think of the small number of people who post on this forum that are becoming victims it would appear that that statistically you are more likely to become a victim of crime there.
It is a fact that Eastern Europe can be a dangerous place to travel to and tourists are seen as easy prey.

For about ten years now I have carried a mobile phone around with me. I have never lost one or had one stolen before despite being seriously drunk, drunk, tipsy and stone cold sober in many pubs and clubs, in lot's of countries. New Cross, Deptford and Peckham being my local area, I am very careful and not stupid. My phone was stolen on my first night in Borovets. Don't want to harp on about the phone...not that bothered...it was insured. But I do think people going, should be aware of some of the horrible things going on In Borovets.

We had a great time, but stuck to the same bar every night (The Alpina - friendly, welcoming, cheap and it felt safe).

I really couldn't disagree more.

We've just spent a very happy and unthreatening week in Borovets, and have booked to return the same week next year. Everyone we encountered was friendly, helpful and welcoming. At no point did either myself or my husband feel threatened, nor did we hear complaints of such things from anyone else in our hotel.

In our opinion, if you take sensible precautions, as you would in the UK (e.g.. not leave unattended valuables on full view) then you're no more likely to have problems here than anywhere.

In fact, the experience I (nervous beginner skiier, in 40's) had with all Bulgarians was extremely positive. Even the chaps trying to coax people into their bars were kind enough to help me over the slippery street ice, when I was struggling back with my skis and stuff at the end of one enjoyable day.

Go there, treat people as you'd expect to be treated yourself, and you're unlikely to go far wrong.

Judy

Like I said we did have a nice time, and I found the men trying to coax us into bars to be friendly and at times quite entertaining. It sounds like you had a good week. However, most of the people I met in Borovets had one horror story, including drinks being spiked, ski's being stolen from outside bar, a woman being groped by a masseur and the police arresting her husband (he had to pay £2000 fine in cash and drop the allegation in order to be released to get his plane).

Yes things do happen elsewhere but in my experience it's really quite bad in Borovets compared to elsewhere

I am sure they spread things about us drunken brits, sat in the gutter while being sick and not being able to walk let alone remember who we are or where we are staying.

This I feel is the minority of us but we all get tared with the same brush.

The storys are worrying especially when some are of the staff preying on young people. unfortunatly a bad experience spreads 10 times faster than a good one.

If it starts to get just bad press people will stay away, as I have said before a lot of the coments on here for borovets means I will not be booking there. I personally don't like pamps, Bansko is where I like nice little resturants and a good ski area down side is the building work. Will see what its like this year, but with what i've read so far will be looking to the alps.