[Closed] Skiing in Bulgaria

Good review of Borovets in here:  http://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=135777

Going to Borovets in 2 weeks. First time in Bulgaria for me but have heard good feedback from friends that have been; albeit later in the season than Christmas. I did do a bit of research before committing and noted that snow conditions can be a bit hit and miss in Borovets so early in season. They do have snow cannons but think they only cover 4 runs. Could be mistaken depending on how old the info was that I read.

I went 10 years ago, I wouldn't rush back but then I'm sure its improved. I mean the standard of service certainly couldn't have got worse . Was cheap as пържени картофи  though

We're in Borovets at the moment. 2 tentative beginner skiers, 1 'average' confidence beginner skier and me- snowboarder of 20 years with 30+weeks on snow.

There's not much here that I'd call challenging and the off piste options are very limited.  The less confident have one or two runs that they're enjoying. There's more runs to suit intermediates than anyone else- a lot of the blacks aren't like french blacks, more like steep reds-but with only around 60k of pistes a fast group will do most or all of it on the first day if they're keen.

It does feel a bit like going back in time coming here, safety standards are definitely lower - runs- especially intersections and edges to drops are poorly marked and the lifts a bit shonky. The food is o.k, quote meaty though- I don't think I'd recommend the place for vege lovers.

If you just want to do shorter ski days and spend time enjoying the apres and some of the other activities (skidooing is cheap here) then I'd say Borovets is a good choice, the bars are quite cheap (around £2.50- £3 for a beer) and reasonably lively. But, if you want off piste tree runs (or any off piste really, there's not really enough snow for it here) or enough terrain to stop fast skiers getting bored then I'd look elsewhere. Maybe Sauze D'Oulx in Italy which I remember being cheaper in resort than France.

Edit: they have proper toilets too!

Skied there in the early 80's - Pamporovo I think - and really enjoyed it. Great atmosphere, friendly people, culture shock etc. Terrain was pretty but not extreme IIRC. Lots of trees I remember.

I guess it may have changed a lot post cold war but i have great memories of it and would love to go back. Sadly I doubt it would live up to the sort of experiences on offer in the Northern alps ski wise.

Another thing to consider with booking a Christmas trip - I don’t know what the snow record is like in Bulgaria but I’d be taking into consideration snow making and the availability of other activities if the snow is late to arrive.

A few more things too add to my post above:

There is a limited number of runs and lifts in Borovets. When one lift or one of the beginner runs is shut the rest of the area is noticeably busier.

The area isn't well laid out and as a snowboarder I ended up doing quite a bit of walking, especially getting to the gondola from the other side of the resort and getting across to the sitnyakovo chair.

Water supply issues seem to be common- no water for half a day in our hotel last week and I heard that the week before much of the resort was without water for 2 days.

They don't seem to maintain their trees very well either- there were many closed runs and only one lift open when we arrived due to fallen trees. They cleared the fallen trees over the course of a couple of days, but I saw many other dead trees still standing near lifts which will fall eventually, possibly causing more disruption.

Smoking seems to be more of a thing in Bulgaria than at home. I'm not sure if it's legal to smoke in bars/pubs or not, but it's definitely at least tolerated in some. This may be a good thing for some people, but it would put me off going back there I think.

On the plus side I got a half day lift ticket for our last morning for about £21!

All in I'd say it's good for a group of lads wanting cheap boozy nights and a bit of skiing, but not so good if you're an experienced group that want to smash the runs in all day.

Smoking is a Bulgarian national sport .

Value for money it's okay , nothing extreme that I remember.

Apart from the smoking the après ski is pretty good .

Not been but beagleboy from here went snowboarding and had a bad accident in Bulgaria and spent a very scary week in a Bulgarian hospital before getting a private ambulance flight out. Whilst lying there I think he rethought how good a cheap holiday in Bulgaria was (insurance co advised him against being operated on there and he said hospital was like third world stuff) If you can search the old forum you will find it.

I read a report from someone saying that Borovets is the only ski resort they'd been to with a red light district!

Went there a long time ago with the kids.  Food was really nice as were the people but runs were limited and became rather boring.

Spent a week in Bansko last March and had good skiing, mainly because there was so much snow which meant runs under the lifts etc stayed in good condition. Pretty limited piste area though and queues for the gondola to get up to the ski area were about an hour long in the mornings. Soon figured out what all the taxis were hanging around for!

Real mix of customer service experience - mostly terrible but a few really good hire places.

Apres-ski was excellent and good fun with lots of live music and a range of bars catering for all walks of life!

Definitely wouldn’t want to have an accident there though, we witnessed a pretty nasty experience when a guy from another group cut is foot open on broken glass. Similar to the post above.

went skiing in Bulgaria in 1974.
aeroflot had mist on the inside of te window, MIGs and cows on the runway
First time I got drunk, and kissed a girl,bulgarian pernod,threw up on the carpet
High tide and green grass was the only hotel cassette

Consider Slovakia instead. Equally cheap (3 course set meal in the slope = €6), equally shonky but great fun and flushing toilets. Limited runs but loads of great in-bounds off piste and tree runs

I can can highly recommend Dan’s place:  https://chaletslovakia.com/

Slovakia is a good call.

OP probelm with Christmas is its generally a premium priced week but snow reliability is an issue. A bad combination. If it doesn’t have to be Christmas then a cheeky trip the week before has the same snow risk but is half the price or less. Next up I would say look around at smaller resorts in France and/or staying outside a major resort but driving in each day, We’ve saved a lot before for example by staying in La Tania below Courcheval and drving up to 1850 each morning or just taking the chairs all the way up assuming snow is good enough to ski back down. How about looking at Sainte Foy (group booking with White Room), lower resorts of La Plagne inc Champery-en-vanoise, outliers of Chamonix like Les Contamines or Les Houches, Chamrouse ?

“where to ski and snowboard” are working on a France book (prior worldwide book has sadly stopped being published) ... might be worth buying a copy / checking the website

Personally I would look at a smaller French resort with a car in case snow is  poor to drive to a nearby high resort rather than Bulgaria which all a bit “all or nothing/balls in”