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Resort: Kopaonik
Country: Serbia
Domain: Not linked to other resorts.
Author: Shane45

Date: 15th Jan 2006 & 27th Feb. 2006
Our holiday: My 1st trip to Kop. was a 'boys' holiday ages ranged from late 30s to early 50s. Skill range was early intermediate
to 'been skiing for years'.
2nd trip of the year was with my wife (I liked Kop. that much).
Website : http://www.tckopaonik.com/ski_info.html
Basics : Approx. 3.5 hrs flying time + 3.5 hrs coach. Fly into Nis as this is closer than Belgrade (5hrs coach). Nis is
fairly new as a tourist airport and the facilities are limited, however its very quiet with only a couple of flights a day
(only one uk flight a week at present).
Lift system : Kop. has had some significant investment over the last couple of years but needs more. Currently there
are 3 'new' 4 man chairs (2 with magic carpets) + a further 2 2 man chairs all of the chairs are VERY slow even the very new
ones. There are also many buttons and one T bar servicing black 19 & 20.
The terrain : Mainly blues a few reds and 3 black IIRC. Plenty of shallow of off piste between the runs.
Runs are quite short best suited for beginners to early intermediates. Reds & blacks can be very bumpy.
The snow : Excellent 1st week we had 2 white out days and it was very cold. 2nd week warmer but only 2 clear days.
Never seen so much snow though, the trees looked like snowmen.
Off-piste : Plenty of safe off piste for beginners, and some pretty steep stuff through the trees for those mad enough.
The resort : Quite pretty, buildings all concrete but disguised well. Very small resort based around the Konachi complex
where there are a few shops/bars (20?). Small ice rink, quads & snow mobiles for hire.
Food : All the mountain restaurants we tried were all good and excellecent value for money. Special mentions to :
Tuborg Restaurant (Cafe Ninn I think) on blue 7 beer around £1 a bottle try their chicken sandwich.
The 'pig' restaurant (not sure of its real name we called it that after the amount of meat served) on the left of blue 8 as you
go up the lift. Bake their own bread and as most places food is cooked on open fire in the room. Next to no English spoken
just ask for Pig / Sheep / Hamburger. Beer 80p for a large bottle.
The 'new pine' restauarant next to the newest lift, dead opposite the Grand ski hire shop & next to the kiddies snow mobile
park. This is posh, almost to posh to go in with your ski gear on. Prices are much higher than anywhere else but you could
get still a very nice soup for about £2. Well worth a try and the bathroom is what you might expect in a good hotel.
Accommodation : Week 1. Club A 3 star. 1st room we had was shabby to say the least. The shower tray enamel was worn
through. The decor was tatty and tired. The sofa bed I had was knackered and the covering ripped. We moved to another much
smaller room that was better. The hotel has a small lobby where you store your skis and boots, lockers for boots only and
some were too small. There didn't seem to be a problem with any gear going missing. Club A is a short walk approx. 50m before
you can ski. The food, there was always plenty of it and it was quite tasty the disappointing aspect was that it was nearly always
cold. The best bit was the cold buffet, the selection was great and quality good. Wine was a reasonable £5 a bottle.
Week 2. The Grand Hotel, supposedly the best hotel in the resort I certainly noticed the difference with Club A. reception
and public areas are pleasant as is the large conservatory on the ground (suprisingly the cheapest place for a pint I found £1)
We took a late booking and had to pay a supplement for our room (£90) so our room had a lounge with sofa and tv and small balcony
The room wasn't bad but again fairly tired. Food was better than Club A in that it was hot but there wasn't the variety and the
atomosphere of the dining hall was much like a school canteen..Not somewhere you'd spend an evening. All rooms have are allocated
a full size locker on the ground floor by the hire shop straight out the door onto snow. Very nice pool complex. Gym is like an old
school gym pretty much weights and wall bars only not worth the cost to use in our opinion.
Costs: Week 1 was £327 h/b including lift pass & ski hire
Conclusion: Highly recommended for beginners & intermediates, to us it was so different to Italy & Andorra where we'd been before.
Probably the biggest difference is the food & restaurants are so good. The lift system still needs improvement and we were that one
of the 2 man chairs will be replaced for 2007 easing some of the congestion. At times the queues were bad, 20 minutes wait.
We had some private lessons whilst in Kop. paying £16/hr, the tuition was very good and well worth the money, I contacted the
same instructor on our second for lessons for my wife. Having been there twice I probably wont return as there isn't
enough skiing. Take sterling or better still use an ATM, don't worry about queuing at the airport to get cash. Keep some cash on your
return as the Airport cafe is very good and very cheap, then exchange any left over cash at the exchange office.

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