Snowboarding in bansko bulgaria 2010

Posted on March 31st, 2010 by thiswayup.
Categories: fun.

Just got back from Bansko and I thought I detail as much of the experience for future reference as possible. I went with a buddy Donald Wokoma. We arrived in Sofia airport after getting a package holiday (costing about £270) which included a flight with Easyjet. The transfer from Sofia to Bansko was about 3 hours and by the time we arrived, it was nearly midnight at the Polaris Inn. The transfer (£53 each) we took was with the travel agent, a bit of a mistake given we could had found it cheaper just by going online.

One of the reason's I chose the Polaris Inn was the fact we wanted a place which was relatively close to the Gondola and also it said it had a spa. The walk was about 5mins away which was just great but unfortunately, being "lower" season, the spa was closed. Luckily, we found a couple of other places with a spa and the one we chose was a 30 sec walk from our place called the Winslow Highland Hotel. It hasa full pool, steam room and sauna with enough space to hold a few dozen odd people in the different parts of the spa. Costing us £7 a visit, it was relatively good value and had a on site masseuse doing special deals for March (low season thing again). Our apartment was pretty damn good though there was some confusion on the first night with only a double available then they brought in a second bed the next day plus they forgot the breaky!

One of the most amazing things about Basko was the price of the food. A big concern initially was the food and drinking cost compared to other ski resorts, paying something like 5-6 eur for a pint and some basic grub over 20 eur! As it turned out a beer was typically £2, a nice evening meal about £10-15 (main and starter) and a filling lunch on the slopes was about  £5. All in all, if you stretched the budgetI reckon you could probably survive on £20 a day comfortably, pinching the wallet, probably £10 a day! So basically, compared to other resorts your food/drink bill would be over halved!

We chose to get the snowboarding package which was £220 that included equipment (board, bindings and board), ski pass and lessons. Though initially we were told it was a 5 sets of 4 hours, turns out when the documentation arrived it was actually 3 sets of 2 hour lessons. Looking at it a 6 day pass would cost £134, hire from a local place was about £120 and lessons varied in cost. The lessons included was with one of the bigger schools ULEN. As I was a beginner-intermediate/improver (whatever) I got stuck on the nursery slopes on day 1. My instructor was a sweet Bulgarian named Jenny, who then told me that I was going to put in the 'advance' group after a couple of pointers. This actually just meant riding with an instructor on some of the slopes the next day. On the day 2, our 'advance'  group consisted of four people. The instructor Jenny, Shaun (an irish accountant from london, Mark (a expert skier trying boarding) and myself. My initial worry was that I was going to be stuck in a group of speed crazed fools. Turned out that I was the speed freak! Unfortunately I got a bit of a scolding for going a bit too fast and lacking in enough control for such speeds! Lol! Day 3 must've been the best lesson, as I actually felt the new instructor, Emil, really had a deep deep understanding of the board. He had been working for 4 years in Dubai in the indoor snow dome and riding for 17 years. During the summer time he had been training as a cage fighter!

Halfway through the holiday, we got invited to someone's 21st birthday bash. Don had decided to try some private tuition from one of the recommended British ski school, Method. They had been recommended by at least 3-4 different people and Don decided to take them up on their offer the thursday. At the party, I had a chance to chat to some different people including one crazy Saffa lass and engaged in a conversation on the merits of getting decent equipment, so the very next day I did! I went to Bansko ski hire to get a decent equipment, dumping my already hired equipment. I managed to snare myself a decent burton's board with some of those nifty toe bindings and after the initial run, I was surprised how much I could carve down the mountain! From this point on, I had decided to just take on some better equipment and extended my hire. The surprising thing was that if I had went for the 6 day hire from the beginning, it would have cost me 120 lev or £60! For premium equipment, that was a bargain I thought.

The actual experience on the slopes was was damn good. I stuck to 4 medium/longer runs, one of which was a nice blue run was from the top of the mountain. As mentioned previously, we were in the low season and it really felt like it. The main slopes was pretty much near empty enough for anyone to take their time and carve across the runs without too much fear of bumping into another person, apart from the last run of the day situation when people were heading back to the main base for the gondola down. The mix of slopes is definitely enough to keep beginners and intermediates happy, couple of blacks to challenge the experts. Though there wasnt a snow dump since the week before, the snow was kept relatively well groomed and there was too many bumps on the slopes to throw us boarders off.

When it comes to apre ski there was a some pretty good choices. I bumped into a couple of people around the place who had different stories on where they were staying but the common factor seem to be the price yet again. A party of 8 people was paying around £200 for a half board chalet including transfer to the slopes back and forth from the slopes. Another couple I bumped into paid £150 for an apartment which thee found on ebay. Next year I'll definitely do the same and book it all separately. Transfer would cost about £35 each and with enough people that could be further reduced. I would probably also get a loada flights through easyjet and whizz air since the earlier booking will make it cheaper.

Overall the experience was excellent! The price of the whole holiday and relative quality to that price meant that I would definitely recommend a few friends next year who have not tried boarding to head out there. Loved the range of choices for various things and defo head back!

Places of interest:

• Winslow Hotel - Had 1-2 bed apartments and was the place we went to use spa facilities
• Bansko mania - Hired quality gear. week rental would be £60
• Victoria restaurant - Higher end restaurant but a really nice meal for reasonable prices. Also serves pizza's!
• Friendly pub - nice pub/restaurant with loadsa choice and cover band that plays the same set ...every night!

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