6 day Bansko snow forecast

Andy Flanagan-Mosely from United Kingdom writes:

I have been out here all season as a seasonnaire and I wanted to share my views on the place.

Reading a lot of other reviews on this site, I think, gives an very unfair and undeservedly bad image of the resort as nearly everyone that has left them has come for New Year, half-term or the Greek holiday (I think this is the last week in Feb). At those times the queues on the gondola can be up to 2 hours and the pistes are quite crowded. The only way around this is to book specialist accommodation (there are plenty of small family hotels, British run chalets and guest houses) that includes lifts up to the chairlifts (not tour operaters!) Either that or to get there by 8am and you'll walk straight on. Some reviews seem to contain outright lies (like the one saying there was no snow in January) and it made me wonder who wrote them and why? I was here all January and the snow was great and the temperatures never went above -2.

Apart from those weeks I never queued more than 15 minutes for the gondola and never, ever on the chairlifts on the mountain. The season is 16 weeks long. That's 13 weeks where the mountain is like a dream and 3 when big companies have overbooked the resort. Speaking to local business owners it has been this way for the last 6 years.

There is a big problem here with Brits coming to Bansko having paid very little for the holiday and then complaining that everything is very expensive. I have done two other seasons in France (Megeve) and Andorra and believe me, if you think 5 Leva (2.5 Euros) is expensive on the pistes for a drink/sandwich then you'll soon be back here after trying the Alps. In Andorra the sandwiches were at least 6 Euros and in France you can't get a drink under 7 Euros anywhere! I felt embarrassed to see people from my own country moaning how expensive 55 Euros a week was for ski hire! This is the price for 2 days hire in Megeve!

Every lift in resort is brand new, the pistes are empty out of holiday times and the off-piste is fantastic. The roads in town are interesting to say the least but this isn't Whistler!

I came here with an open mind, a fun loving attitude and stayed in the old town on a little cobbled road (most package tourists never even know this exists) and fell in love with the place and the people. If you go and stay in one of the soulless giant modern hotels for New Year week and expect empty pistes and Swiss level efficiency for a third of the price then you've already put an unrealistic level of expectation on the place.

Shop around. There are places in Bansko that are amazing for 50% of the price of the packages.

They just had the permission for the second gondola passed last month so I don't know what this will do to the resort. I don't know when it will happen though but it might help things for New Year and half-term weeks with the stupid queues.

Anyway, just off to go skiing now. Bit of new snow at the top so should be great for the powder!