 Poster: A snowHead
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Hey all. Following the debacle with france on Thursday we completely rushed a last minute booking to Bansko Bulgaria. Flying on Sunday. First day on the slopes will be Monday 20th, returning boxing day.
Searched the forums for some recent reviews or experience of Bansko and they all seem bit out of date.
Has anyone got any feedback from a recent trip please?
We are two families with young children so aren't looking for crazy apres ski or knarley black runs (there are none in Bansko).
Lots of negatives on the ques for the gondola which is a concern.
Anyone been over Christmas?
Any tips appreciated thanks
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Hi there, I have worked in Bansko Ski resort as a chalet host for the past 4 years so can hopefully give you a little advice. Its a great resort for families. It does have a few black runs but the good thing about the mountain , is you can get from the very top to the bottom on blue runs. They have a great ski road which takes you straight down the mountain into the town, along the way they have some great traditional Bulgarian restaurants, which I suggest you eat/drink at as it is very expensive on the mountain. There are some indepenant restaurants which I suggest you ask around when you are there. Everyone is friendly, if you need any ski hire then may I suggest Ski Mania which close to the gondola. The queues can be very long, I suggest you get to the gondola for around 7.30am, believe me it will save a 2-3 hour queue time. If you arrive and there is a queue, there are free mini buses that take you up the mountain to Banderista Polyana, they also from the gondola station,, opposite to Happy end pub, near the barriers where the mini buses exit. The most you will wait is 20-30 mins on a busy day. Another tip, if you eat out and want to experience authentic bulgarian food, look for the cafe type places as the restaurants in pirin street (main street) are expensive. If you have time a must place to visit is Banya thermal spa. The food there is nice also, Its great half way through your trip, especially for those tired and achy bones. You will also have a good nights sleep after and feel invigorated. It costs about £5 for an adult, £3 for children, stay as along as you want. It does close at 9pm, so we go around 6pm and then have food after. You can catch a taxi from Bansko to Banya for about 20lev, unless you are booked in a catered chalet, they will take you in their mini bus. Christmas is a lovely time to visit and im sure you will all have a wonderful time. Hope this helps.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Forgot to mention, also visit the OLD town, it gets forgotten by tourists, but it is authentic and beautiful. If you do fancy eating in a Mexhana( traditional restaurant), then next to the church is a restaurant called Obetsonova. The food is wonderful and the staff are great.
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@karen1969zzy, wow thank you so much for the detailed response. We will make the most of your advice. I looked at skimania for children's ski lessons so will book those up.
Is it best to take lev, euros or British pounds?
Are you there this season?
Thanks
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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It might be best to take lev with you although there are many money exchanges there, another tip tho, the closer to the Gondola the less lev to the pound.
Unfortunately we are not there this year, we took a job back in the UK due to the uncertainty of the season.
Ski mania are brilliant, Georgie who runs the place is great and if you have any issues just speak to him and he will solve it for you.
Enjoy your holiday and hope you all have a wonderful Bulgarian Christmas
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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If you hire from Pirin Sports near the gondola, you may be able to negotiate for them to take you up the mountain instead of queuing.
Where are you staying?
The better Mehana for food are in the old town. The one Karen recommends is top Notch & the lamb will feed the whole family.
Portion sizes are usually huge, easily big enough for sharing.
Ive not been for 4 or 5 years though
A stop off at the place on the left towards the last leg of the ski run is a must. It is cheaper than chips!
I used to change my money on the road down towards the old town. A white booth next to the lingerie shop. Wherever you change money, always check what you have been given!
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@Mr.Egg, staying in the strazhite hotel. Will definitely check out the old town for some good food. Also the place you mention on the last run for a beer. Can you remember the name?
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| Boarderfarce wrote: |
| @Mr.Egg, staying in the strazhite hotel. Will definitely check out the old town for some good food. Also the place you mention on the last run for a beer. Can you remember the name? |
the foreign exchange I talked about is not far from the strazite.
Cross the road, walk down & its on the right - white booth.
The bar on the ski road is called pesherite
https://www.facebook.com/Peshterite-612539228783296/
Also if you like Curry, it might be worth contacting the avalon & book yourself in.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Quote: |
@Mr.Egg, staying in the strazhite hotel. Will definitely check out the old town for some good food. Also the place you mention on the last run for a beer. Can you remember the name? |
Its called K bar and the one before that is peshterite. Both cheaper and nice food. K bar as a nice burger bar outside.
Another option if you look at Petit Nicholi..He will deliver to your hotel whatever time you want in the morning and does really nice baguettes. He is on facebook so you can look at a menu there.
I see your stopping at the Strazhite Hotel, well just down from there on the corner you will see what look like a cafe BABA VUNA, really cheap and excellent food. They do takeaway also. Great pizzas.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Note that the higher end spa places have closed their doors to non-guests this winter.
p.s. There is no check on vaccination status, nor tests on boarding flights to BG, and only a cursory check on landing. All a bit concerning.
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Thank you all for the advice. We fly tomorrow ill update you on key events in this page.
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You know it makes sense.
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So we arrived very late to Bansko. Around 3am. No issues at the airport providing you are double vaccinated. Late start up the hill this morning. Great afternoon though and s bit of fresh snow topping up the pistes.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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@Boarderfarce,
Many queues? is it busy?
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Poster: A snowHead
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@johnboy, no ques at all today and not too busy. But we were late up and high winds shut a few lifts. Overall snow conditions very good.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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The red from the 1st lift is really a blue. It’s always empty, as people to take the blue instead, due to both leads straight to bar 180
Go straight to the top of the mountain & you come down a blue that should be a red. Its wide yes, its steep but it gets fvcking icy!
Down the road to the immediate left when you leave (think you will see the ambulance/pharmacy sign) is the bowling alley… keep walking as there is a steak restaurant.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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A good day on the slopes. Lift to the very top was shut due to wind. We got the gondola at half 9 zero cues again. Lots of runs on the reds and blues. Did the snow road back to town for lunch then back up for more. To be fair quite impressed so far.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Should also add kids lessons are with skimania bansko. Very good highly recommended 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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My son liked Queen's Pub, a central wannabe British pub.
There are small booths by the parking lot with fresh pastry (pumpkin and apple small rectangular pies) and savoury yogurt, we saw the local ski instructors buying there every morning and enjoyed it a lot
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@Boarderfarce, My In-Laws own an apartment in Bansko. We visited several times, but haven't been back for 10 years or more.
How do you think that Bansko stacks up against the better known central European resorts now?
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| Boarderfarce wrote: |
| A good day on the slopes. Lift to the very top was shut due to wind. We got the gondola at half 9 zero cues again. Lots of runs on the reds and blues. Did the snow road back to town for lunch then back up for more. To be fair quite impressed so far. |
It has been smashing the last few days, pistes in perfect condition, and lots of snow. It is very quiet in the mornings, with zero queue for the gondola. Partially because it is very cold (-12 °C), and the half day pass starts at 12.20 p.m. Ideal for a quick blast first thing with a pair of sharp slalom skis!
I can highly recommend this place by the way:
https://www.hotsprings-spa.com/en/index.php
The outdoor mineral water pool is about 35 °C, with a beautiful view of the mountains through the steam. Perfect after a morning on the slope (and the hotel runs a shuttle service). My favourite place to eat is Hotel Makedonska Kruchma in nearby Dobrinishte, although it has got more expensive. If you are feeling adventurous, you can also head up to Ribarnika, which is one of those places you can catch your own trout and have it cooked. I think you can get up to the Bezbog hut in the winter too and go for shkembe chorba.
Some of us rented from "Snow Peaks Ski School & Rent" by the way (they even do ski clothing). A very friendly bunch, with a real ski racing pedigree (they will do hand ski tuning). The shop is just across the car park from the gondola and opens at 8 a.m. You can leave the skis etc there, and dump your city shoes before the first lift.
p.s. Disadvantage- I am absolutely certain that some or all of us will get covid. There is very poor observation of mask, social distancing etc. A storm is coming here...
p.p.s. The ski road is currently closed, but we came down it yesterday. Obviously an individual choice, but we found it OK ,if a little icy. Look out for the heaps of artificial snow as well. I suspect that it will either officially open soon, or they will enforce the closure somehow (since it is a free for all right now).
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Still having plenty fun, one minor piece of advice though.
The Bulgarian ski schools seem to operate on a BASI type system, with multiple levels of qualification (unlike e.g. the mighty ESF). I hence ended up with a ski instructor today who was asking me for advice!
When you book, make sure to ask, there is a tendency for some schools (Ulen!) to assume that you can’t ski because you are British…
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| JamesHJ wrote: |
Ah yes, super annoying thing. The ski pass office doesn’t open until the lifts open! It is also written everywhere that you can top up your pass online. However, this only works with the plastic cards that you get for buying a 4 day plus card.
You can however buy an unloaded plastic card for 5 lev if you want. This makes it much more convenient if you are skipping days on account of being an overweight, unfit Covid mess  |
You can get the lev’s back by returning the card to one of the machines. I know there is one in the carpark near the steps that lead to Euphoria bar
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Read this with interest. We considered it having been to borovets years ago. I was put off by the reviews saying the pistes aren’t prepared well and injuries were therefore common. I’m waaaay too chicken for that these days!!
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You know it makes sense.
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That seems to be that for 2021. Last day for us and a big thaw on (it was well above freezing all morning). The pistes are already like soufflé , so I called it a day.
I did manage to have a very good ski lesson from the Snow Peaks Ski School though.
Very grateful to have managed to get out (more by accident than by design). I hope that things improve for everybody else in the new year.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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P.s the pistes were generally very well prepared (within the constraints of the weather). I skied past one today which will be iced in preparation for Alberto Popov arriving for training tomorrow!
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Poster: A snowHead
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Our party has its first positive test post Bansko. Be careful out there folks…
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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just a quick mail for any inside info on Bansko before I commit to book for last week in Feb,
Anyone in bansko now? Whats the snow condition like? how busy is resort? lift Queues? last bit not least how is the Apriski Have heard that it is a thing of the past in several countrys.
all feedback more than gratefully accepted
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FAQ
annoying thing. The ski pass office doesn’t open until the lifts open! It is also written everywhere that you can top up your pass online. However, this only works with the plastic cards that you get for buying a 4 day plus card.
