Bulgaria - bansko or boverets

A snowHead

Hello all,

I am going to book a ski holiday to Bulgaria for 2012. Typically when is the best time to go in the season for snowfall, i know this cannot be predicted but what month would people suggest i aim for?

I went to Boverets last year, had a great time skiing was good and the nightlife lively. Only issue was the snow fall or lack of it, this was early February when i went and the snow cannons saved the day to be honest.

I am also thinking should I be going to Bansko to try something different? Is the skiing any better and things to do at night?

Thanks all

A snowHead

JPL, Welcome to Snowheads

You'll get a lot of opinions here about Bulgaria, and I'm very open about not being a fan. However, my experience in Borovets is about 20 years old now, and things may be better, but from what I've seen here in recent times, it doesn't seem likely. Snow wasn't fantastic anywhere last year, but most resorts managed well with a combination of low temperatures and good snow grooming.

Is there a reason for going back there, even if you are considering Bansko? If budget is the main consideration, that has to be balanced against what you get for your money, and can be a false economy. Spending a bit more, and trying, perhaps, the Pyrenees or Austria, could offer you better value

Dare say someone else will be along soon so stick around Very Happy

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Have skied in Borovets twice and found the people to be very friendly and the nightlife is plentiful for such a small resort. Unfortunately, the snow is pretty hit and miss. Sad

As a bargain last minute holiday when you're sure of the conditions I would say its worth while, just as long as you don't mind the queues for the gondola in the morning. Smile

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Thanks all, yes it is on a bit of a budget i have a price of £565 for boverets in feb which includes flights/ hotel/ ski hire/ lift passes and tuition in the ski school for the week! which is good as two people in our party cannot ski! I’ll have a look at Austria now..which resorts would you recommend?

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Can't offer an opinion on Austria having never been there but I'm sure there is plenty on the forum to give you an idea. Try the Forum search above.

Might be handy to add more details in your question too to help get the answer you're looking for, e.g. what sort of holiday are you after - family friendly, more apres ski than ski, boarder friendly, big group chalet etc.

You'll be hard pushed to get an all encompassing package like yours for that money else where but most of the travel operators are now pushing out their deals for BOGOF on lift passes etc so its a good time to pop down to your local travel agents and play them off against eachother. Wink

Hope you find a good package whatever you choose!

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Well there are 4 in the group two exp skiers and two beginners. We are all under 25 years of age so we enjoy a drink but its more about the skiing and not the hangover the next day although the odd night out would be fun and decent things to do at night is a bit of a must!!

thanks for all the advice very helpful!

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

i have been to borovets twice and love the place! think you would easily be able to get that price down a lot if you do it diy (book own fights, apartment, ski hire etc) thats what we have always done... I am myself hoping to go to austria next year for a week but will still fit a long weekend on the cheap in borovets... havent been to bansko and dont fancy it as love skiing back into the town in boro and never seen much of a queue in boro with the 2 chair lifts on the rila side taking the pressure off the gondola. bansko queue for gondola is supposed to be a nightmare at times especially half term, xmas and when there are events on.

I am looking at soll in austria that seems to tick all the boxes for me maybe try looking there for a change...

also you have the night ski in soll as in boro which is handy if you have had a hangover in the day! Very Happy

After all it is free

I went to Bansko two years ago in the third week of February, that year the snow was excellent. I am going back in the first week this year and really looking forward to it. Essentially the main requisite for me is a good value holiday and decent skiing conditions. Last time for a week, all in it cost about £400-£450 each person, and that included flights, accomodation, ski hire, lift passes and food & drink for a week.
I didn't know what to expect from the place but it was fine and good enough for us to go back, yes it's not a plush resort in France but it's still a place that a lot of money has been pumped into in the last few years to update it. One of the things I loved about the skiing was the fact that you could ski from the top of the mountain right down to the town, which someone else mentioned is similar in Borovets. The big complaint I keep hearing about Bansko is the gondola to get up the mountain. Now I can't speak for times such as mid-term but when we went we generally queued for around 20-40 minutes each morning, which was nowhere near as bad as the stories some people were saying of having to wait up to 2 hours. Whether that is just people trying to paint a bad picture or that's what it's like during the school holidays I can't say for definite. Up on the slopes the queues were pretty decent and not any worse than I have experienced on the slopes in Scotland, and apparently there has been a couple of chairlift upgrades this year including the busiest one going from a 4-chair to a 6-chair.
I would love to tell you all about the nightlife in Bansko but quite frankly after dinner and a couple of drinks we were all shattered and happy to head to bed. Their are certainly a great variety of restaurants and bars around the place and we ate somewhere different each night and never once had a bad meal.

All in all my experience of Bankso was that if you are looking for a good value ski holiday on a tight budget it does exactly that job, and I am more than happy to be going back. From what I hear it has changed a lot over the past 5 or so years and much better than it used to be.

I've never skied in Bulgaria and to be frank nothing I hear about it makes me want to change that anytime soon.JPL, I'd expect for £565 you can get to somwhere in Austria for within that, Soll and Mayrhofen tend to be the cheaper options for Austira and bother offer great sliding and varied nightlife to suit most tastes. I've never skied in Bulgaria so don't want to put it down too much, but the majority of people I know who've been and skied elsewhere in Europe will never go back.

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JPL, some will disagree, but Bansko is on a whole different level to Borovets, head and shoulders.

Check when the local (to Bg, ie Greece, Rom etc) holidays are, avoid them like the plague, and you shouldn't be having too much of a queue problem. I take it you're going outside of UK half term?

If you've got the bottle, and as there's only four of you, go for a late booking, and you can maybe get your headline price down to about £400 staying in quality accom, up by the gondola. And you'll know where the snow is, no way I'd book this far out. Try Balkan Holidays, on cost, as apart from moving flights around, they're ok.

Decent terrain, not as small as it looks, world class lifts, even some good off piste. Plenty of modern bars in the 'new' area, plenty of character and economy in the 'old' town, a UNESCO world heritage site, dontchaknow.

Last minute to Austria you can probably do for a monkey, and although booking late has its uncertainty, methinks next year, at least, there'll be enough choice that you'll not struggle.

As always, JMO.

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

Without a crystal ball I can't say when the snow will be good but we went to Bansko over new year and I would NOT recommend going then. Purely because it is sooo busy and with the one main lift to get you up the mountain the queues were often in excess of 1hr to get to the main lift up, let alone then getting up the next lifts to do some skiing. My parents went again later in the year (early March I believe) and had no trouble with lift queues.

snow reports

March is the best. Not so busy, wonderful weather, loads of snow... I would rate Bansko first, then Borovets and then Pamporovo.

Bansko is better in terms of snow record and skiing. I learned snowboarding there and the nursery slopes were good which is great for your beginner friends. But a friend of mine who is an experienced snowboarder went on all the runs in Bansko on the first day! And there are even fewer runs in Borovets. It might be better to go to a larger ski resort in France or Austria where both beginners and experts can both enjoy for the whole week.

You know it makes sense.

One of my friends has bought an apartment in Bansko (massive for the amount he paid but now also worth a lot less than he paid) so I went in mid -late March this year. I think it was pretty much the last week. By that time things were getting a bit wet a slushy. We in effect went for a long w/e but the distance and time zone changes does make it less suitable for that kind of trip. The development there is massive but many apartments have stopped mid build. I would say the development if completed would out strip the actual piste available. At that time of year we had no queues at all to go up the gondola. The run down is something like 7KM kept open by snow cannon. Pretty easy stuff though we did (rather naughtily perhaps) race it down through the beginners and I imagine the end of day when busy could be a challenge to get some free piste. The end is a bit of a pole punt when it is heavy conditions. The actual skiing is pretty good it is just not that much of it and we skied out most of it in a day. The is a pretty good Tomba black and some other challenging runs off the gondola mid point but most is pretty easy stuff if you have skied much before.

The nightlife is pretty cheap though and whilst I thought they took Euros in the end it was easier to get their local currency out in cash. Every bar and restaurant will have someone outside trying to get you in. The smoking is also a culture shock now we are not used to that kind of thing. Up around the lift station there are a fair few bars and restaurants but we found that whilst the pizzeria would be packed somewhere nearby would be empty. There is a big bar in the building at the bottom across from where the piste down ends that was good but just empty and I imagine that would be good when things were busier. I actually preferred walking further down the hill into the old town and we found a great restaurant absolutely heaving with locals that was superb. Finally it is the first resort I've been in with a strip club and is complete with heavyset Russian bouncer types. An interesting place as a lot of "extras" are on offer! So something for all tastes really is Bansko lol

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

Hi, went to Bansko couple of years ago, reasonable but must stress not massive ski area and be prepared for major wait each morning to get up the mountain. When covered in snow Bansko acceptable if as when we arrived looked like a building site. Town ans social is good and cheap, but like all things the more people go the greater the price.

As a point of interest check out Teletext holidays online ski holidays, was looking and found some awesome deals for Bansko, might be helpful.

A snowHead

A snowHead

Why Bulgaria? if you want cheaper skiing go to Kosovo or Macedonia, its cheap, better snow, less skier, nicer locals, all is better,,,

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

With regards the the gondala queues at Bansko, yes, they can be pretty long in the morning, but when we went in March, there were a fleet of Minibuses to supplement the uplift. there wasn't a queue for these! They would take you to the top of the Gondola where you could then jump on a chair lift. We didn't use this service as the chap who owned our apartment block ran us up each morning. IIRC correctly, it took about 10 minutes.

Once up on the mountain, the lift system seemed pretty modern and there was very little queuing.

Help!!

Bulgaria - bansko or boverets

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