Bansko, Bulgaria

Dennis from UNITED KINGDOM writes:

Returned on 16th March. Had a great time in Bansko, despite a bit of trepidation about previous reports.
Bansko is a building site at the upper end around the gondola station, and some of the pavements and roads need some repairs, but it is perfectly accessible provided you look where you are going.
People are generally ok, go for a wander round the old part of the town. It is interesting and you get to see how the locals live. There are a few mournful looking souls and a few ignorant people about. In my experience you get that everywhere, including Britain.
There are a few dogs about, not many, and they are no problem, they look well fed and quite tame.
Queues to the gondola: about 45 mins on 1st and 2nd day. Get there about 8.30 - 9 and the queue is shorter: 5-10 mins.
We stayed in The Bansko Hotel, about 20 min walk from the gondola. Food was absolutely crap, but we expected that from previous experiences so we budgeted to eat out. Food in the Mehanas is good and well priced. Experiment a little. The local dishes won't poison you and you might be pleasantly surprised. You can eat and drink there at any budget. We had a pub crawl round the bars and cocktail bars one night with dinner in a newish place and spent about £100 between 2, another night we sat in a little mehana with the intention of eating local dishes and drinking local beer and spirits until we could drink no more, we only managed about 90 Lev which was under £40, and I can't remember getting back to our hotel. We had planned to stay in the Guinness hotel but didn't know if was in the town or away on the outskirts. It is 5 mins from gondola but you have to cross a building site access road. Again, no problem but watch where you're walking.
Snow on the mountain was fine on the upper slopes although a little slushy around the Blah Blah restaurant point and lower slopes.
Snowboard instructors from Ulen ski school are not very good and placing in intermediate classes is totally disorganised. We had booked 3 x 2 hour lessons but ended up with 4 x 2 hour sessions with different instructors and people in the group every day, most instructions consisted of 'you must lean forward and keep up' and nothing really constructive as the instructors were more interested in doing their own thing.
Certificate night: again really disorganised but used to that by this time, didn't let it spoil the holiday.
In conclusion;
would I go back to Bansko? ---- yes in a few years time.
Food----- Budget to eat out, if your hotel food is good you've won a watch.
Drink----- explore the pubs and bars, there is something to suit everyone.
People----- Just like anywhere else except most of them speak 2 or 3 languages, just like us eh!
Lessons----- Go to Pamporovo, much better organised especially for beginners.
Value for money----- Much better than the French Alps, but you do get what you pay for.
Holiday experience-----Great! Don't let the little things annoy you and you will have a fantastic time.
Oh and last thing, some people mentioned threatening mafia type characters, never saw any and felt safer than in our town centre on a Saturday night.
ENJOY!!!!!!!!!

2008-03-20