looking for a bit of a budget ski holiday this year as im saving for a new bike and looking for a resort which would suit my girlfriend she has only been skiing for a couple of seasons in scotland so maybe 10 days in today

Bansko looks the best of the budget resorts does anyone have any “real life” reviews of the place…food…snow conditions…grooming…beer etc etc??

is it suitable for 6 days for a intermediate ??

Not skied in Bansko but have in Borovets. Never again.

Badly maintained slopes, poor food, lots of drunks Brits on a cheap lads holiday, horrible place. Every street corner had “ladies of the night” on it and a lot of the bars seemed to be run by some “interesting” characters.

On a budget Andorra is OK (not great but OK) of there is snow like there wasn’t last year. Livigno in Italy can also be had for quite cheap mainly due to the 4 hour transfer to the resort, but it is a proper ski resort with good skiing and is quite a nice place to stay.

I’m off to Bansko for a long weekend on the 18th Jan. Mixed group of intermediate to advanced borders/skiers. I’ll let you know how it goes, if you can wait until then?!

yeah hoff that would be great, hoping to head over at the back end of feb so any info would be great

Hmmm interested too

suggest you ask this on snowHeads… or do a google site search of it…

Very mixed views…

went about 3 years ago
Was pretty decent for the money (also been Pas in Andorra, would say they are similar really
ok for intermediate – we where a mixed group from learner boarders and skiiers to advance skiers, I was in middle, intermediate boarder
(instructors where hit and miss, I had a really good one for some more advanced lessons, the wifes and my friends was useless)
dont expect Alps style runs or conditions but its much better and more reliable snow than Bovovets
Town itself was okay, decent pubs, hotel we stayed in was spot on but a bit out of town, we had to catch a free ski bus
There is one main gondola up to the start of the runs from the town, queues can get busy but you soon learn timings to avoid the main rush and once there it was pretty quiet with no real lift queues, there is a ski road back to town so you dont have to get gondola back
I wrote a full review on another bike website, I’ll dig it out and paste the link

I know both well – I looked after them both for a ski holiday company years ago.

Borovets = poorer infrastructure – older lifts, older hotels, cheaper, fewer russians, more prostitutes, but sort of fun in a way. not a bad place, but certainly not that great for skiing to be honest.

Bankso = better skiing. newer hotels, more expensive. better lift system – all lifts are modern four or six packs. can be a bit busy queuing at the bottom of the mountain in the morning at the gondola (only way to get up the hill). realistically, neither are amazing and can be skied in a day. BUT, if theres a dump of snow it’ll be great fun.

Bulgarian food generally is served warm rather than hot – most restaurants and hotels will accommodate british tastes if you ask for food to be served hot. i found the food to be very good on the whole, lots of stews, dumplings etc. heavy winter food which sounds fine to me when I’m in the mountains.

neither is that cheap any more unfortunately, but, it’s cheap and cheerful and does what it says on the tin. friendly locals too and some good nightlife in Bansko (but you’ve got to go looking, which is part of the fun!)

Don’t go expecting 3 valleys of dolomiti superski and you’ll no doubt bump into some sound people and have a bloody good holiday.

One other thing to note is that ski schools are actually VERY good, far better than anything I’ve experienced from the likes of ESF.

Hope that helps!

enduro-aid

I’ve just got back & can say that it was much better than I expected. Enough to Ski over 3-4 days without getting bored. It’s a pretty big town so try & stay close to the main lift. Locals friendly too.

We rented a 2 bed apartment about 500m from the main lift. It was pretty basic but was OK for our needs.

Didn’t have to wait more that 30-min to get on the Gondola (walked straight on at 10am on the Saturday) Once you were on the mountain there was no waiting at all for the lifts.

Slopes were good, the blue runs from the top fairly steep but really wide so great for a beginner to gain some confidence. They were pretty well groomed too, a little icy in patches but all OK. Some nice little unofficial runs through the tress too. There was a big dump of snow on the Friday & Saturday’s conditions were great. Only downside was that the wind picked up & the upper chair lifts closed for the day but there was still enough to do.

Nightlife was good with a few bars having pretty decent live music. The Happy End was good fun but pricey. The Lion & Friendly Pub were OK too.

There is a cracking little open air bar on the the side of the ski road, open fire pit, cheap beers…good atmosphere.

Food ranged from £7 to £25 for a meal & a few beers. The cheaper was fine, the more expensive was really good!

Already planned to go back…

Hope that helps??

Mixed reviews on SCUK too.

You might want to consider Jasna in Slovakia?
Also cheap. I’m looking there at the mo for a trip in March.

We’re (probably) staying at http://www.chaletslovakia.com/

Met my missus in Bansko!

Pisted stuff is OK, and there is a reasonable amount of it for a relatively small area. Some nice and techy tree runs in the mid section of the mountain.

The back country is also very good, and guides are easy to find and cheap. Make sure they do know exactly what they’re doing (and you too) though as the other side of the valley is avalanche prone.

Good, fun and cheap week. Drive to the town does go through some of the most depressing towns and villages I have ever seen though.

Here’s the SCUK thread about Bansko:
http://www.snowboardclub.co.uk/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=49695

I snowboarded in Bansko about 3 years ago.

We went because it was cheap… and therefore i guess we weren’t expecting a ‘three valleys’ experience.

I thought that it was fine, food good and cheap. Lifts relatively modern. Avoid the rush hour on the gondola. Pretty much as has already been said.

I went out as an intermediate, happy on red runs, would tackle black. The other two in my party were beginners. To be honest having read the blurb about the resort I assumed that I would get bored in a few days, but in reality it was probably the best thing possible for my boarding. As there were fewer runs I found that I ‘sessioned’ any good bits that I could find, setting tasks like ‘how many/few turns can you make btwn A and B’… and my technique came on leaps and bounds.

When we went out it was relatively cheap (pizza for £4) and not anything like the French resorts, but still good for a week as long as you know what you are going to.

Been to Pamporovo, and this year Borovets, I haven’t been to Bansko.
I went with my Wife and Son (12) We all enjoyed it, the skiing is challenging enough for us ! The ski schools have been excellent.

Yes the food is generally ‘ok’ the hotels that we have been to have been quite smart, new and clean… even Mrs LC wasn’t looking for different accomodation on arrival 🙂

And……….. I think really good value !

(Chamonix a few years ago took the p**s)

Don’t forget to pack some Febreze…everyone seems to smoke (they were dishing out free promo packs of fags in a club!) & its still allowed in the pubs/restaurants!!

GrahamS – will you let us know what Slovakia is like??