Snowsure: 3.9
- Occasionally gets enough snow for skiing
- Is often closed due to a lack of snow
- Occasionally suffers from a lack of snow
- Rarely suffers from a lack of snow
- Bansko is snowsure even in the poorest seasons
Visitor reviews for Bansko Ski Resort
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(NOTE: Reviews may be edited by our content team for the purposes of ensuring accurate and relevant information)
(NOTE: Reviews may be edited by our content team for the purposes of ensuring accurate and relevant information)
Latest
February 08, 2010
Shred-dude from
United Kingdom
Shred-dude from
United Kingdom
My partner and I went to Bansko for the first time, Jan 2nd to 9th 2010. We had a great time and really enjoyed our snowboarding. This was our third time in Bulgaria having been to Pamporovo twice before. Bansko is much better as far as the runs are concerned. Longer, steeper and much more challenging. We had a blast.
To echo some of the other comments and reviews on here, yes the queues for the gondola and the lifts were shocking. No-one wants to pay for a lift-pass to stand around in a queue for as long as 2 or 3 hours (for the gondola) or 45 minutes for a chair.
However, we were lead to believe that these queues were exceptional. Some people at our hotel (Strazhite - which was excellent by the way!), said that it was due to a lack of snow over this period at the other resorts. Consequently, people were being bussed in as only Bansko had enough snow!
We're going back to Bansko at the beginning of March so I will be interested to see what it is like then and compare our experiences.We should all remember that we are the paying customers and we can take our money elsewhere if we're not happy. Also, we MUST make sure we pass on our gripes and complaints to tour operators and companies in resort, otherwise how are they going to find out and make improvements?
If they get enough complaints (especially the tour operators) and people don't re-book, then they'll be forced to do something about it.
Otherwise, don't let these things spoil the holiday you've probably waited most of the year for. Try to have the best time you can and make the most of your slope time.
Keep shredding dudes !
February 06, 2010
Christine from
United Kingdom
Christine from
United Kingdom
Have just returned from Bansko. Stayed at Predela 2 which was excellent. Skiing was excellent with loads of snow. No problems with the gondola - just went up later in the morning. Restaurants were excellent, found some near Predela 2 which were fantastic value. We just love the old town which has a charm of its own. Look for the stork's nest on top of the church tower! Can't wait to go to Bansko again.
February 04, 2010
Daveedo from
United Kingdom
Daveedo from
United Kingdom
Just about to go back to Bansko, and the snow looks great.
Regarding the negatives and how to play things, a few pointers:-
1. Just don't go to this resort if you're expecting the full on Jacksons Hole experience for pennies. It's a developing resort.
2. Any high prices in bars/restaurants are a direct import from any other resort, worldwide - you are a captive market
3. I've yet to be spiked in any queue in Bansko, unlike several in the Alps!!
4. Be courteous, smile, and eat local. It's a lot more fun and hugely cheaper.
5. Remember you're on holiday and meant to be having fun. Be positive; lots of poor so and so's aren't in the high mountains doing something they enjoy (which is presumably why you bought a skiing holiday in the first place!!).
Bon ski, mes amis
February 02, 2010
powder_freak from
Bulgaria
powder_freak from
Bulgaria
February 02, 2010
Costas Voukelatos from
Greece
Costas Voukelatos from
Greece
There's a new ski-school and rental shop in Bansko this year.
The skis and boots are brand new - Kneissl. They speak English, Russian and Greek so the language barrier is smaller than in the other schools. Personally, I am Greek so this was a relief for me as well as the other Greek people I was with.
The instructors are very bright and helpful.
That's what I think and if you try their services you won't regret it at all. Bye.
January 29, 2010
Civkar
Civkar
I love the place. Slopes are very well maintained, lifts are pretty new and in good shape, there are more good than bad days weather wise, if there's nowhere else with snow, there is on Bansko slopes. The town itself is live, many places to go, many things to see, good and cheap places to stay, like The Old House place, Starata Kashta, neat, clean, close to the center and the gondola, full support from the owners - natives (you can look it up on the net). The region itself is very rich with cultures, part of Pirin Macedonia, next to Macedonia, Serbia and Greece, so you meet different interesting people. Only a few km away there are 72 hot mineral water springs and several spa hotels, where you can relax in the evenings in a hot water outdoor pool, chlorine free - running water, while snow falls around it. You can also find every type of amusement and day care for kids, coffee shops and restaurants, tours and ATV s for non - skiers etc. All in all, Bansko is a great place to visit, both experienced and non experienced skiers and snowboarders. Additional information and live web cams on banskoski.
January 28, 2010
Georgina from
United Kingdom
Georgina from
United Kingdom
I have just come back from a fantastic haliday in Bansko and was surprised by some of these bad reviews. I stayed in a chalet called 'Devonshire Lodge' which was clean, warm and well run with friendly hosts, a hot tub, and generous portions or hearty food!
I did have to queue for about 20mins for the gondola in the morning but it wasn't that bad and the ski lifts had practically no queues at the end of January when I went (which was a good job when I fell off at the other end).
My ski instructor was friendly, had a sense of humour and spoke excellent English. I was a beginner but by day three I was on the blue runs doing parallel turns. The snow seemed fine although there were a couple of icy patches and the slopes were good for my level of skiing.
The town isn't particuarly pretty but there is a nice cobbled area and we got a good meal at a local restaurant (ask the locals for a good recommendation). The food at the restuarant was cheap with enormous portions and they have stews and big platters of meat and veg that are worth a try.
For drinking at Bansko try Bash Bar and Lion's Pub if you're in your 20's but the nightclub we went to was a bit interresting - the floor was covered in loo roll (intentionally!) and I discovered I'm not keen on Bulgarian house music....
January 20, 2010
Marilyn from
United Kingdom
Marilyn from
United Kingdom
We were in Bansko for the New Year and although we found the queues large, it is nothing that we haven't seen in France. This time we went with beginners so we chose Bansko as a cheaper resort, the lessons and hire were much cheaper - great for our beginners and our spending money went a lot further than it normally does.
We found that by making sure we were at the gondola station first thing it wasn't too bad and a couple of days we got a lift up to the gondola mid-station with some ex-pats we met, which took away all the queueing from the gondola.
We did only manage to get to the top one day, which was a shame but there's not much you can do about the weather!
If we could avoid school holidays I would give Bansko another try during off-peak times when I have heard that there are practically no queues!
January 18, 2010
Elisabeth from
France
Elisabeth from
France
Hello,
We were also in Bansko the first week of January. Although we're very open-minded travellers, we did not enjoy our holidays. We are used to travel in Africa (developing countries!) by public transport and can deal with a lot of unexpected situations.
The hotel (Stazithe) was great. A nice room, the food was fine and the people were friendly. The way people react depends (of course) on your own attitude. We even found out that a lot of people in the shops seem to be a little bit shy or humble, maybe because their English is not so good.
For that part, the holidays were absolutely fine. Ok, we will not talk about the disturbing Ice Rink in front of the hotel with loud music 'till 10 pm. We asked for another room but the hotel was overbooked. So far....
Our impression of Bansko is that of an overcrowded resort. It was really an extreme situation. And indeed people are getting rude in the queues and of course you will get annoyed because there wasn't any improvement. We tried to go 1 hour later to the gondola and had to wait 3 hours before we could go to the slopes. And yes, you will start getting annoyed of people that are smoking a lot.
We can imagine that if you are in the position to stay 2 weeks and the last week was less crowded that you will be milder in your comments. But you can't say that people are not open minded because they are complaining about long queues. These situations at Bansko are extreme!
January 14, 2010
Henry Cumberbatch from
United Kingdom
Henry Cumberbatch from
United Kingdom
I have just returned from Bansko and enjoyed the benefits of the recent snowfall. I have stayed over the last two weeks so have seen the difference between the week experienced by other people and the fantastic week I have just had. I think the comments are astoundingly zenephobic and narrow minded. I understand that the queues were horrendous last week (as I was in them myself) but this week I have not queued more than 3 minutes for any lift. The reasons for the queues at the start of January were:
-Bulgaria's other resort Borovets was closed all week and most of the skiers from there were bussed over to Bansko each morning
-They had had a very poor start to the season in terms of snowfall and had to close the top runs for the week until the coverage was better. This increased the queues on all the other lifts
-This was combined with New Year week and Russian Christmas (7th January) which is notoriously the busiest week of the year in Bulgaria.
This was a freak occurance that probably wasn't dealt with that effeciently because, and listen carefully here: Bulgaria is not the UK. To complain about people smoking and health and safety issues is just moronic. You have come to a developing country to ski in a resort that, outside these freak conditions, is surprisingly modern, well run and above all...cheap. You have to have a little intelligence and look around a little but I was eating each night in the beautifully traditional old town (try finding character like that in a lot of Alpine resorts) for 6 pounds a head and drinking beer for just over 1 Euro (6 Euros a bottle in Morzine, France). Open your mind a little bit and accept that there is a big wide world outside the Home Counties and you may start to enjoy life more.
Nearest