Overall:
3.5.
Based on
90
votes
and
29
reviews.
Vote
Access: 3.4
(1) At least one overnight stop, (2) requires a whole day, (3) requires more than half a day – you may have time for a few turns (4) arrive by lunchtime and ski all afternoon, (5) there is a main airport within an hour of Bukovel.
Public Transport: 3.4
(1) There are no buses or taxis to Bukovel, (3) there are slow or infrequent buses / trains available, (5) getting to the resort is easy with frequent bus / train connections.
Scenery: 3.7
(1) An ugly resort in a bland setting, (3) average mountain views and resort, (5) a spectacular setting and a beautiful / historic resort town.
Accommodation: 4.2
(1) No places to stay in/near Bukovel, (3) a few places to stay in the resort, (5) a wide variety of accommodation suitable to suit all budgets.
Cheap Rooms: 3.0
(1) No budget accommodation available, (3) just one or two hostels so book ahead, (5) several cheap hostels and pensions available.
Luxury Hotels: 4.2
(1) No luxury accommodation available, (3) just one or two luxury hotels so book ahead, (5) several up-market hotels in Bukovel.
Ski in/Ski out: 3.8
(1) The ski area is located far from any accommodation, (3) a free ski bus takes you to the ski area in a short trip, (5) Ski-in ski-out accommodation is available.
Childcare: 3.3
(1) There are no child care facilities at Bukovel, (5) the resort has excellent child-care facilities including at least one reasonably priced creche.
Snowsure: 4.1
(1) Occasionally gets enough snow for skiing, (2) is often closed due to a lack of snow, (3) occasionally suffers from a lack of snow, (4) rarely suffers from a lack of snow, (5) Bukovel is snowsure even in the poorest seasons.
Snowmaking: 4.4
(1) Bukovel relies entirely on natural snow, (3) there are just a few snow cannons, (5) there are snowmaking facilities on all pistes.
Snow Grooming: 4.4
(1) There are no snow groomers at Bukovel, (3) occasionally some pistes are left ungroomed and in a poor state, (5) all the runs at Bukovel are groomed daily.
Shelter: 4.2
(1) there is nowhere to ski when it is windy or visibility is bad and lifts often shut, (3) there are some trees for poor visibility but main lifts sometimes close, (5) Bukovel is mostly in forest where you can ski in flat-light and windy days, lifts rarely close.
Nearby options: 2.4
(1) If snow conditions are poor at Bukovel, it will be poor everywhere nearby, (3) there are good alternatives within an hours drive, (5) other locations on the same lift pass provide a rich variety of snowsure ski conditions.
Regional rating: 4.2
(1) Bukovel usually has poor snow conditions compared to other resorts in region, (3) has average conditions for the region, (5) usually has the best snow conditions in the region.
Lift Staff: 3.4
(1) The staff at Bukovel are rude or unhelpful, (5) lift staff at Bukovel are pleasant, cheerful and eager to help.
Crowds/Queues: 2.7
(1) the resort is always busy and there are usually long lift queues, (3) it is quiet apart from occasional weekends and school holidays, (5) it is uncrowded and lift queues are very rare.
Ski Schools: 3.7
(1) No ski schools available, (2) one or two ski schools but local language only, (3) a few ski schools but book early for multi-lingual instructors, (4) plenty of ski schools and multi-lingual instructors available, (5) excellent ski schools with friendly multi-lingual ski instructors.
Hire and Repairs: 4.1
(1) Nothing can be sourced, not even ski-wax or ptex. (3) there are some ski shops but rentals need to be booked in advance, (5) good quality ski equipment can be purchased or hired and overnight repairs are possible.
Variety of pistes: 3.7
(1) The ski runs are featureless and unvaried, (3) the ski runs are varied but not extensive enough for a week, (5) Bukovel has diverse and interesting pistes including forests and high alpine terrain.
Beginners: 4.1
(1) Beginners can only watch others ski and snowboard, (3) a few gentle slopes but beginners will get bored in less than a week, (3) Vast areas of gentle terrain.
Intermediates: 4.1
(1) No intermediate terrain at Bukovel, (3) intermediate skiers will get bored after a few days, (5) vast areas of cruising runs.
Advanced: 3.4
(1) Nothing for advanced skiers and snowboarders, (3) enough steep terrain for a few days with some good offpiste, (5) Enough steep terrain and offpiste areas to entertain advanced skiers for at least a week.
Snow Park: 3.5
(1) Not even a kicker at Bukovel, (3) average sized park quite well looked after, (5) huge park area and expertly crafted pipes, jumps and boardercross trails.
Off-piste: 2.0
(1) No off-piste worth mentioning, (2) off piste is out-of-bounds, (3) some varied offpiste that stays fresh for one or two days, (5) a vast array of off-piste routes that can stay untracked for several days.
Cross-country: 2.3
(1) There is nowhere to go for cross-country skiing around Bukovel, (3) there are some cross country trails available, (5) the area features many spectacular and well maintained cross-country trails.
Luge/Toboggan: 2.2
(1) No designated luge or toboggan runs, (3) there are toboggan runs that open quite often, (5) Bukovel has long and well maintained luge / toboggan facilities suitable for all ages.
Mountain Dining: 3.7
(1) Nowhere to buy food by the pistes, (3) some places to eat up on the mountain but they are often busy and expensive, (5) there is a variety of excellent mountain eateries right next to the slopes to suit all budgets.
Eating: 3.9
(1) Bring your own food, there isn't even a shop. (5) A wide variety of places to eat and drink in the resort, from fast food to fancy restaurants.
Apres-Ski: 3.7
(1) Nothing to do, not even a bar, (3) there are a few bars in the resort but nothing special, (5) clubs and bars stay open until very late and have a friendly atmosphere.
Other Sports: 3.2
(1) No sports facilities at all apart from ski lifts, (3) resort has just a small public swimming pool, (5) resort has all kinds of sports facilities, including a full-size swimming pool.
Entertainment: 3.3
(1) Besides the snow and walking there is nothing to do here, (3) the non-skier will find things to do for few days but may become bored after a week, (5) the resort area is a fascinating place to visit, regardless of winter sports.
Winter Walks: 2.7
(1) Very limited walking and no snowshoe trails, (3) a couple of designated scenic walking/snowshoe trails, (5) extensive and diverse winter walking trails for all abilities.
Ski Pass Value: 3.3
(1) A 1 week ski pass is overpriced compared to the number of lifts available, (3) the ski pass is averagely priced and covers a reasonable number of lifts, (5) ski passes are excellent value for money and cover a lot of lifts spanning a big area.
Value (National): 3.4
(1) Overall, Bukovel is one of the most expensive ski resorts in the country and not worth the money, (3) overall represents average value for money, (5) overall offers the best value resort in the country.
Value (Global): 3.4
(1) Overall, Bukovel is one of the most expensive ski resorts in the world, (3) overall it offers pretty average value for money compared to resorts from other countries, (5) internationally the resort offers excellent value for money.
Bukovel has very good slopes, fine snow, crowded parking places and bad roads. The new parking houses are nearly ready. Everything is under construction. I hope by the end of this year they will finish the chaos at Bukovel and will have good road signs too, in order to find the parking place for the cars. Ski buses are necessary. Otherwise, this centrum will be the best in Central-East Europe.
Bukovel is worth a try for everybody.
The lifts and pistes at Bukovel are not bad. Accommodations and food is overly expensive. Some times the prices are higher than in France or Italy. Long way to be good. Overall, Bukovel gets 3 points of 5.
As for Eastern Europe the resort is huge. Brand new 4-chair lifts, well groomed slopes and virtually no queues
Ski passes are cheap and the hotel at the walking distance from the lifts are around 100 Euro a day for a double.
The drag is the resort is still developing and there is a lack of restaurants and cafes and the prices are quite high as for Ukraine. Also the level of skiers are fairly low. Not bad to sum up but still too young to be perfect.
Very good pistes and lifts at Bukovel but awful parking and roads around the area.
Not recommended to be visited at "high season" because of traffic and no parking.
Bukovel rocks. From the slopes to the pure air - this is high quality skiing. But the price of living and eating there is outrageous. I drove there but the traffic jam was incredibly bad. Like most Ukrainian things: it's very beautiful but impractical. I'd like to see Bukovel become a real resort with affordable prices for all classes of people. And then I'll bring all my friends.
Best lifts and good choice of trails. Some opportunities for skiing free--ride under lifts when it is allowed from mid-season. Real value for money if you buy ski-passes and book accommodation in advance. For permanent visitors the discount cards are available offering -50% for skipass and -20% discounts for accommodation.
Still the stuff must be trained. Anyway - best choice in Carpathians, incl Poland, Romania and Ukraine.
No one wrote about "flying crowbars" in Bukovel - there is no real punishment for brain-deficient people, who do dangerous piste descents and became out of control. They can collide with you. Be carefull. Watch out.
Have been going to Bukovel for 4 or 5 years, often multiple times per year. Why? Because it's relatively nearby (3 hours) when I go to visit my wife's family for the holidays. If it were not for that, I'd say, frankly, stay away. The skiing is "ok" and the lifts are of good quality, but there are many more reasons why you should spend your money elsewhere:
1. The staff at Bukovel are drawn from the local population. They are chronically rude, inept, and totally clueless. I was physically assaulted (actually hit) by the on-piste ski patrol without warning for conducting "un-authorized instruction" because I was helping a friend of mine step into skis for the first time. I have seen food vendors yell at foreign guests and threaten to cancel their ski-passes since they could not understand the menu quickly enough to the servers satisfaction. I have seen parking lot security in their paramilitary uniforms openly taking bribes for better parking spaces. Don't get me wrong - many of the staff are fine - such as the ski instructors. However, there are enough bad apples that it can be really miserable. The 'security' staff should be fired immediately.
2. Other guests: Bukovel is a place where people with more money than class aggregate. While in some sense this is true for many resort areas, it is especially true in Bukovel where you have the chintzy boorishness of the Russian and Kievan 'biznes' types and their usual sins of tacky conspicuous consumption. There's a reason why the first thing people do when checking out Tripadvisor for, say, Egypt is to see whether their resort is a Russian package resort destination. Bukovel is kind of like that, many times over.
3. Access: Bukovel is far from everywhere. And, just when you think you've made it, you get stuck in a traffic jam at the resort's one road. To put things in perspective, it is far, far quicker, from Kiev or Moscow to go to Chamonix (plane to Geneva, then 2 hour bus) than to Bukovel. Amazingly, in all the years the resort has been open, the geniuses who run the place have not thought to make a dedicated ski train from Lviv or Kiev to as near the resort as the train can go (a little past Yaremche). However, if you like riding in dilapidated 'marshritkas', then, well Bukovel is the place for you! I'm lucky in that I have my own vehicle in Ukraine, but even so, it's not pretty.
Accomodation and prices are overall ok by western standards, though extortionate by local standards. I have heard myriad stories of opportunism by local accommodation owners - such as kicking people out of their rooms while they were away skiing because others sauntered in offering to pay more.
Overall, if you are compelled to be in the area, you can get some ok skiing at Bukovel and the mountains can be nice and there are always some nice times there. However, despite any pretenses to modernity, this is still Ukraine. There is absolutely no reason to come here from abroad. You can get similar quality skiing for similar prices in, say, poland, where you will find nicer people and none of the post-soviet / nouveau-riche nonsense of Ukraine. I've come to navigate the place ok, but suggest that others don't bother making a special trip. Even if you are taking a trip to say, Lviv, it is simply too far and too much hassle to be worth the effort.
Perfect choice for family winter weekend or vacation; 60 km of pistes daily groomed and sheltered by forests from winds, variety of restaurants, SPA and hot open pools in summer and winter, prices in Euro quite friendly esp, if use preseason options.
Pros:
5 months of ski season
Close to Eastern European countries
Preseason prices
Apre-ski
Restaurants
Ski-in-ski-out
Redison Hotel
Voda Club (pools and SPA)
Buka Night Club
CONS
Holiday crowds. We stay Mon-Fri and enjoy uncrowded slopes.
Hungary
Canada
United Kingdom