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Brief Overview of Bulgarian Ski Resorts There are 4 main ski areas in Bulgaria - Bansko in the Pirin mountains, Borovets in the Rila mountains, Vitosha mountain on the edge of Sofia and Pamporovo, in the Rhodope mountains. All have under gone tremendous development, far too much in most cases, while the ski areas themselves have yet to really develop in line with any of the major European resorts in say France, Austria or Italy. If considering purchasing in any of the ski areas you need to be VERY careful, do your research and make sure you visit the region before putting down any money on an apartment or other property there or signing any contract. There are also a number of smaller ski areas with just a couple of runs. These tend to mainly cater for Bulgarians but are great for a weekend in the snow. BANSKO Bansko tends to be the most popular of the ski areas in Bulgaria. This is mainly because of all the hype and coverage it has received in the British press and the huge amount of development that has turned the small, quaint farming village into Benidorm in the Mountains! There are hundreds, or more likely thousands of new apartments, hotels, complexes, all vying to get purchasers to invest in their development. There are rumours of some developments being built without proper planning, others being built to a poor standard and many are totally overpriced. However, that said the old part of Bansko is lovely with cobbled streets and traditional Bulgarian architecture and some fantastic Mehana's. The ski area has had a fair amount of investment with some new lifts and new style electronic ticket systems. However, the main draw back at the moment, is that there is only one bubble lift up the mountains and thus there can be long queues. There is also a shortage of parking around the main lift and not actually that many restaurants on the mountain and basically none around base of gondola except pizza bar charging extortionate prices (nearly 10 quid for 3 beers and a coffee). You need to walk into town and that is not easy with skis and boots and icy busy side pathways. Once up the mountain there were no real queues for any of the chair or drag lifts. Lift passes are priced at the same amounts for European resorts. The cost is 50 levs a day (26 Euros) plus 5 levs refundable deposit for electronic lift pass. For a week it was around 260 levs (135 Euros). I only paid 160 Euros in Austria for a week's pass which covered 3 decent ski areas.
The resort is also at least a 2 and a half hour transfer from Sofia, which is the nearest airport. The development around Bansko now stretches towards the municipality town of Razlog and around where the new golf course is being built as well as creeping closer to the nearby villages. There are serious problems with the management of these apartment blocks in many cases. The apartment block we stayed in was fairly nice on the surface and the apartments were spacious and well kitted out. But in the basement where the Jacuzzi was (which did not work for 3 days) there was damp and mold and holes in the ceiling. The restaurant was appalling and we had to wait over an hour for food and then orders were all wrong and we were the only ones eating. There was no proper ski room to dry boots and equipment, just lockers which filled with pooled water from the melted snow. There are also many stories of holiday makers renting apartments only to find the apartment block is not completed or they are put up in apartments where the owners do not even know they are being rented out. Dobrinishte 6km away has one old chair leading to a long ski run. Kulinoto is just 2km from Predel and 12km from Razlog, close to Bansko - there are two drag lifts and plans to increase the ski area but would not hold your breathe. Property: I used to get a handful of emails each week from people who had unfortunately bought into the hype and purchased an apartment in Bansko. They were facing problems with the developers (most notably and most often Bulgarian Dreams) - lack of planning permission, completion years late, refunds promised and never received..... Until there are definite plans to extend the ski area and work actually starts on this and until infrastructure is improved I do not feel Bansko is a good investment. You can read more about my earlier experiences with looking to invest in Bansko buy purchasing my eBook shown on the left. BOROVETS Much has been made of the Super Borovets Project but so far, despite talk for a few years, nothing much has happened. However, now there seems definite movement and thus the potential for an excellent ski resort, close to the capital and airport (with Easyjet flights from Gatwick and Manchester now available and WizzAir from Luton) and with stunning scenery. The Super Borovets project has caused much controversy since it was first mooted. It was the brain child of the former Bulgarian King, who managed to 'regain' a lot of forested land around Borovets and the head of DZI bank was financing the project. However, the King, who was also President for a time, lost power and the bank boss was shot and the project looked in jeopardy. However, the bank boss's wife, after much deliberation, sold her share in the project to Glavbolgarstroy- the leading construction company in Bulgaria. A British investment firm, Equest, then bought a stake also. The Sultan of Oman is apparently also involved. The plan is to build a further 80km of ski runs and 15,000 extra beds and the resort would have a capacity of 30,000 to 35,000 skiers a day. At the moment the resort has around 10 or 11 ski lifts with total capacity of about 14,000 skiers a day and 17 slopes with total length of around 26 km. The Super Borovets Project aims to build 19 new slopes with total length of around 95 km. There will be three distinct new areas: Samokov: A gondola from Samokov is to be the the first new lift and work has already begun on this just outside Samokov town. A long ski trail will allow skiers to ski back down to this new 'lower Borovets'. Various chalets and new developments will be built in the designated area around the new gondola station. The company behind the Super Borovets project own a fair amount of land around the gondola, so ensuring this area will be developed. The ground breaking ceremony for this first new Gondola was on the 8th October 2007. The first phase (40km of new runs) is expected to be completed within around 2 years. New hotels and apartments and infrastructure will the follow, to avoid the problems and over development that Bansko has suffered from. New Borovets: A new gondola will then join the area designated for the golf course and new luxury hotel and chalet area, although you will not be able to ski back to this area. The gondola will connect this new village to the main ski area, via a middle station, just down from the current resort centre. The area for this new village is right in the mountains with stunning views. Within the current resort, lifts will be improved and new ski runs created. A reservoir will be constructed to improve snow making capacity and new sports centres and eco trails built. Again the Super Borovets company own large plots of land around the new gondola station and so development here is guaranteed. Beli Iskar Area: The village of Beli Iskar lies in the mountains very close to Samokov and Borovets and has already seen a few new houses and small apartment blocks being built. On the plans for the Super Borovets project there is a new lift and ski runs connecting the village to the main Borovets area. However, the Super Borovets company does not own any land in this area and so this will likely be the last area to be connected to the current resort and is not as guaranteed as the two areas above. That said it is very beautiful and only a short 15 minute drive to the main resort centre or a 10 minute drive to where new Samokov Gondola will be. The nearby villages of Goverdartsi and Madzhare are also very pretty and only a 5 minute drive from Beli Iskar and 10 minutes from Samakov. To date Borovets has also under gone some development but not on the scale of Bansko and as it is a purpose built resort, nestled in the mountains and surrounded by forests, the new apartments and hotels are not as obvious as around Bansko. Borovets itself is a small collection of old communist style hotels and newer, smaller hotels with some new apartment blocks very close to the ski lifts. It is quite a tacky place with Karaoke bars, English style pubs and a couple of strip bars. Walking up the main road with all the bars is a fight to avoid people trying to entice you into their bar and you will struggle to find anywhere serving traditional Bulgarian food and not pizza, steak and chips or English breakfast! But that said it is a cheerful, fairly lively place, but again expensive with daily lift passes being 55 levs and food and drink much more expensive than else where in Bulgaria. The ski area at Borovets is currently only suited for beginners and intermediates and there is little to challenge a decent skier or boarder. There is no snowboard park and the lifts are mainly old chair lifts and drags. There are two separate areas connected by a fairly flat track - the area served by the 2 chair lifts in front of the large Rila hotel and the area served by the Gondola and then a four man chair and drag lifts. The resort is less than an hour from Sofia airport and only an hour and a half from Plovdiv airport. PAMPOROVO Pamporovo is the lowest of the Bulgarian ski resorts and thus famed for being the sunniest. I skied there once when I was very young and always remember it has a fantastic ski holiday. That said it has changed a lot and again there has been much new development and prices can still be artificially high. Pamporovo suffers from not having a proper centre or town and just being a collection of hotels and apartments in the trees and with lifts going from various areas, it has a very disjointed feel to it. It really caters for beginners and intermediates. There is nothing to really challenge a decent skier. But it is only an hour and half from Plovdiv airport and it is a very pretty area, good for walking in the summer as well. There are many pretty mountain villages not far from the ski resort, offering the opportunity to purchase a lovely holiday home suitable for skiing in the winter and relaxing and walking in the summer. VITOSHA MOUNTAIN Most of the development around Sofia focuses on city dwellings and business areas. The area around the ski resort of Vitosha (although to call it a resort might be stretching it a little) is very expensive and many of the wealthier Bulgarians who work in the city own property here. The ski area itself is fairly small with just 6 runs and access is only by road to the small car park and where there are one or two old hotels and a couple of antiquated chair lifts. I have only visited the area in autumn but it is a popular place for a day's skiing for Sofians but lacks the infrastructure and après ski for tourists. SMALLER SKI AREAS Buzludzha Buzludzha is a small ski area in the Balkans, just up from Kazanlak. There is no direct access from down in the valley and you have to drive to the top (4 wheel drive or snow chains advised). There you will find 2 poma lifts and a couple of smaller drag lifts with 2 or 3 main runs and maybe a couple of kilometres of pistes. The area is really for locals to pop up to on a weekend to get in a little skiing but it is a quiet place with a couple of hotels (one recently renovated and one not) and a basic hostel with dormitory style beds. The hotels are around 25 levs a night (13 Euros) and the hostel was 10 levs a bed (5 Euros) with cooking facilities and proper bathrooms. The area opens fully (depending on snow) just before Christmas and is quiet during the week but can get busier Sunday afternoons. Lovely place in the summer also for walks and cycling. Property: Villages around Kazanlak ideal for nipping up the mountain. Look at the Yagoda and Magleesh areas and Kazanlak areas. Chepalare & Momchilovitsi Located only a 10km kilometres from Pamporovo, the town of Chepalare itself lacks any real charm, although the position and scenery are lovely. Just outside the town there is one old chair lift with a couple of pistes down from it and a few drag lifts at the top. It boasts the longest ski run in Bulgaria (around 5 km long) and another of around 3km long. The height at the top lift station is 1873 metres. More information can be found here. Momchilovitsi is is 12km from Pamporovo and boasts a snowboard park a few kilometres away from the village. I have never been personally but understand it costs around 20 levs a day for lift pass and board hire. Uzana Located on the north side of Balkans, not far from Gabrovo, this is a small ski area, with a few hostels and the odd hotel. You can see details here. I visited this small ski area at New Year 2007/2008 and was sorely disappointed. It is really a collection of old run down hostels and a couple of newer hotels, all very spread out and up single lane, icey roads. It seems to take an age of driving up a windy, snowy and icey road from Gabrovo (about 15 to 20km) to reach the 'resort', but then you really have to choose which small icey lane to go up to get to which hostel or hotel. Each hostel or hotel has a small drag lift near it and this is the extent of the ski area. The runs are all very spread out and are short and there are 6 or so of them. You cannot ski or really walk from one to another. There is a longer run with a rope tow but how to access this run was not very apparent and we simply past it on the road up. I cannot comment on the hire 'shops' as we did not bother to ski or snowboard but to use one small drag lift was 7 levs for the day (no discounts for half days) and the lift was not really manned or supervised. Property: Houses close to Gabrovo and on road leading up to Uzana would be suitable for this area. Lake Batak (Tsigov chark) Another small ski area mainly used by Bulgarians and suitable really for beginners and boarders. There is some development going on in this area, including a new hotel with its own private ski runs, but nothing like the scale of Bansko. Others There are a number of other ski areas around Bulgaria, mainly in the Rila mountains. 17km from Belitsa you will find Semkovo with 7 runs (around 4km in total) serviced by 8 drag lifts and fairly developed tourism for a small ski area. Malyovitsa is 27km from Samokov and has 5 drag lifts, Govedartsi is situated just 80 kilometers from Sofia and only 26km from Borovets, Panichishte has around 5 runs and is on the edge of the Rila National Park. On the north of the Balkans, Berkovitsa 89km from Sofia currently only has a couple of drag lifts but there are plans to extend the ski area to around 20km of runs with a cabin lift. Parshevitsa is 25km from Vratsa and has one run.
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Autumn 2006
Winter 2008
We
were in Bansko mid January 2008, traditionally on of the quietest times
to go skiing and yet we still queued for nearly an hour to catch the
gondola. The only way to beat the queue was to be at the lift station
for half past 8 in the morning, but then all the hotel buses were
turning up, packed full of skiers so queue began to grow rapidly. 
The ski
area itself is quite small and mainly suited to beginners and
intermediates, although there are a couple of steeper runs and some
off-piste can be found. The restaurants on the mountain are basically
in two areas and there is only one or two separate places to eat higher
up. You do not get any of the cozy mountain bars that you do in say
Austria. And the drinks and food are horrendously expensive for
Bulgaria, on a par with prices in some parts of Europe. For a hot
chocolate or a beer it was 5 levs (2.60 Euros), a slice of pizza was a
whopping 6 levs (only costs 1 lv here in Stara Zagora), and anything
more extravagant like sausage and chips or soup and bread would set you
back 12 levs! 
