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
January 05, 2008
emily from
Cyprus
emily from
Cyprus
Great mountain, shame about all else.
Bansko is an overbuilt building site. We stayed at the Royal Towers at the foot of the gondola. Great location but for the lack of pavements. The apartments were decent, one may forgive the lack of hangers in the closet and other such details, but breakfast was a disaster. Arrive after 8am and you are not guaranteed to find food! No concept about service at all. Christmas day dinner (obligatory!) was worse.
The ski rental people at the gondola area are rude and could do with an injection of common sense.
The gondola is a joke... 45 - 60 MINUTES WAITING tO get to it at peak times and no-one or no-system on how to embark, so people push and shove for a place on a gondola. Even at quiet times the lack of organisation made it difficult to get on the gondola.
The slopes are nice and long. However, some part of the blues are actually reds, so need to be careful. Signage is adequate, but could be a lot better. For some lifts there were lines, but nothing too bad.
The tavernas' have extensive lists but the item descriptions are useless. As most members of our party were vegetarians we ended up eating at the Casa di Mare 4 out of the 7 nights in resort. Smoking is also an issue... Everyone smokes everywhere and eating in a haze of smoke is disgusting.
A most annoying issue is their not accepting credit cards. Everything needs to be paid in cash. We found out later that the restaurants pay for 'protection' to the local mob and that is the reason.
December 27, 2007
Richard from
United Kingdom
Richard from
United Kingdom
We stayed just outside Bansko, in the next village of Dobrinishte, in Chalet Rozov. We had a fantastic time - nothing was too much trouble for our hosts (English) who ran a shuttle bus to take us to the slopes or into the town of Bansko, and the food was simply superb!
There is a lot of building going on in Bansko, but we were there for the skiing so it didn't really bother us and we knew that it was a developing resort before we booked.
I enjoyed the skiing, I found the conditions to be very good with a fairly good range of pistes for a small resort. Excellent for a low cost ski holiday. We also had the chance to ski in Dobrinishte on one of the busier days in Bansko, which was great - hardly a soul on the pistes and plenty of easy off-piste for us 'not so extreme skiers' to experiment on.
All in all, a wonderful holiday and we will be back.
December 16, 2007
carl potter from
United Kingdom
carl potter from
United Kingdom
Recently returned from another trip to Bansko. Plenty of snow so the skiing was much better than last year. Although the infrastructure has improved, the amount of construction still has to be seen to be believed!!
Is anyone in charge there? If it is the Mayor then he should hang his head in shame. This beautiful old, unique town is slowly being destroyed forever under a mountain of concrete.
What makes people buy here? Are they blind, do they actually visit here before they buy?
The food is still only just ok but it is quite cheap (for now) although over charging is evident almost everywhere. I will go again because I know what to expect and I have travelled a lot but if Bansko is to become successful it needs to attract returning tourists and I'm afraid people who visit expect the resort as advertised in the glossy travel brochures they are going to be very disappointed.
As a traveller my main reason for skiing here is the price. £46 for return flight, £79 for week in self catering apt (there were two of us so this cost was split), £50 for three day lift pass. If it remains cheap, Bansko has a chance - if not then it has no chance
December 14, 2007
George G from
Greece
George G from
Greece
I went to Bansko on 2 Dec 2007 for the first session of snowboarding this year. I must admit that the village is a construction site. Huge developments are currently taking place there. Maybe there's no need for that kind of building, but anyhow...
The mountain was empty of people but with good snow. I had a great time and for that reason I will go for Xmas week, this year.
The city centre is small with a lot of locals trying to sell you whatever you can imagine !!
It's not fair to compare Bansko, which counts just a few years of operation, with Alps which have more than 2-3 decades of operation.
Let's see what will happen there in 5-6 years time from now and then we can be more critical.
December 06, 2007
Ben_Turrell from
United Kingdom
Ben_Turrell from
United Kingdom
I personally loved Bulgaria and Bankso for one very simple reason. I got what I expected. I actually got a little more than I expected. I went over new years and the queue lengths were on par with the average European queue lengths. Towards the end of the week, when all of the Russian tourists had left, the lifts and the runs were quick and easy. Towards the end of the week after new years I never had to wait for a lift longer than 15 minutes. Contrary to what all the other reviews have reported, I found all staff, with perhaps the exception of the lift staff, to be helpful and were able to talk with me, even if it was in basic broken English. Nightlife was slightly disappointing but our group found a great bar near the town square called Graphite. I would recommend going here as the staff are wonderful and me and my friends were treated like gods the entire time we were there. The head barman JJ was a lovely bloke and kept everyone entertained with amazing bar flair that in London would cost a fortune to go see. The infrastructure in Bansko is dire. There are more pot-holes than tarmac on the 'roads'. I would recommend anyone to go to Bansko, but I would suggest going February time to avoid disappointing snowfall. x
December 03, 2007
zoki from
Bulgaria
zoki from
Bulgaria
If you are a person who likes:
-crowded places,
-walking with high heels in the mud,
-paying a lot of money for something worthless,
-waiting for the lift instead of skiing,
-getting service from rude rednecks,
-drinking fake alcohol all night long,
Welcome to Bansko and have a nice day:
Bansko WAS a great place for skiing and partying a few years ago but it's a great place for "WINSLOW","REAL ESTATE..." and nature destruction now.
Please write to me after 3 years if your investment is good!
"I'm sure it is"
November 28, 2007
Tony from
United Kingdom
Tony from
United Kingdom
I completely disagree! I have been skiing for 30 years and have been to about 200 resorts worldwide and Bansko has to be the worst I have ever been to. Expensive, despite advertising to the contrary, dirty, huge building site, overdeveloped, rude people and naff skiing. I will never go again and I would recommend spending your hard earned cash on a more civilised, organised country even if it is twice as much. Bansko; you do not live up to either your adverts or your reputation. You have been killed off by over development and very bad management.
October 11, 2007
Jim from
United Kingdom
Jim from
United Kingdom
I agree with Richard. I have been skiing for over 20 years and I can honestly say I experienced the worst queues ever. You have to queue for every single lift. Too many people and only one access point to the mountain. The major downside is that unlike most resorts in Europe, there are no neighbouring villages to take the people who seem to come from miles around. To be fair, the snow was good, the lift system was modern, the locals were pleasant and the food was fine- just not enough space - a bit like having 500 people in a swimming pool. I went there to ski, not spend half the day standing about.
There was actually a rumour going about that they were going to put in another lift from further in the town. This will just mean there will be even more people standing on the mountain instead of at resort level.
It's a shame really as it probably was a decent small resort years ago. I really feel sorry for anyone who has bought a property there. Good luck getting it rented or re-sold!
July 24, 2007
colin williams from
Spain
colin williams from
Spain
Have skiied in Bansko twice now and would highly recommend it. The village is rapidly maturing as infrastructure improves. New buildings, sympathetically, use local materials, unlike those ugly seventies monstrosities often seen in France. The slopes are groomed to American standards and there is plenty of space on them. Proposed new, more difficult, pistes will fulfill the needs of excellent skiers. Most accommodation is 4/5 star and at reasonable rates. Even as a vegetarian I had no problems eating in the Mehanas at night. However, on the slopes this was more difficult. The local council proposes to link runs with new ones in the area which will give greater variety. All in all, a young resort which is rapidly improving. I will definately be returning and recommend Bansko to all.
July 10, 2007
dawn from
United Kingdom
dawn from
United Kingdom
We visited Bansko in late May,on an investors knowledge trip. The weather was changeable on some days, but generally lovely. Not too hot and with the occasional downpour,it made for a lovely spring break. The
Srazhite hotel was only minutes from the gondola, with fantastic views of the mountain. The food was obviously very different from home, but you have to remember that you have traveled. People in other countries have different tastes, and if you want home cooking, stay at home.
The service was mixed, excellent and friendly in some, reserved and glum in others, but we never had any rudeness.
One guy from the UK who lives in Bankso most of the year explained to us that the local people are wary of us, as they think we are so rich. They're not sure how to approach us, although in comparison we are no different. The Bulgarians in general, I think, are very nice people, friendly and warm, you just have to get to know them.
If you want your money to go far then visit Bansko. Drink and food are so cheap, it's hard to spend your money. Not a lot else to buy. However, we found clothes of good quality quite expensive, in comparison to the UK.
Yes, it is a building site at the moment, but the place will not grow and improve without building and they are trying to get the place in order. If you visit the areas which have been finished then you will see how nice the finish is going to be.
We like it, the scenery is beautiful, with activities in the summer or a chill out zone for us stress heads. We shall be buying a lovely apartment in the mountains, so hold those slopes, here we come.
Nearest