Borovets is the second largest ski resort in Bulgaria, an area now open for investment and exploitation of its huge potential due to Bulgaria's recent joining of the European Union. However, beware fellow skiiers that you cannot use Euros, but Bulgarian Levs.
Now, the ski resort itself has ... Read review
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Advantages: it's skiing! Disadvantages: not enough culture
Borovets is the second largest ski resort in Bulgaria, an area now open for investment and exploitation of its huge potential due to Bulgaria's recent joining of the European Union. However, beware fellow skiiers that you cannot use Euros, but Bulgarian Levs.
Now, the ski resort itself has several parts:
The Hotels
The food
The nightlife
The slopes/skiing
Facilities/equipment
... ...vast variety of hotels, which are within 15 minutes walking distance of each other and the slopes at fartherst, all of which can be reached by taxi or horse and cart(a nice traditional element, if slightly smelly). The hotels range from the imposing communist styled 'Samako' to the quaint little 2/3 star ones further away. The ones like the Samako have everything from a bar to a shooting range, whereas if all you want is a few drinks before a quiet ... more
Borovets is the second largest ski resort in Bulgaria, an area now open for investment and exploitation of its huge potential due to Bulgaria's recent joining of the European Union. However, beware fellow skiiers that you cannot use Euros, but Bulgarian Levs.
Now, the ski resort itself has several parts:
The Hotels The food The nightlife The slopes/skiing Facilities/equipment
The hotels:
There are a vast variety of hotels, which are within 15 minutes walking distance of each other and the slopes at fartherst, all of which can be reached by taxi or horse and cart(a nice traditional element, if slightly smelly). The hotels range from the imposing communist styled 'Samako' to the quaint little 2/3 star ones further away. The ones like the Samako have everything from a bar to a shooting range, whereas if all you want is a few drinks before a quiet night I would recommend one of the smaller ones. I cannot remember the name of the one I stayed in(it was a year ago), however it was one of the smaller ones, the service and the cleanliness was good, however less could be said of the food.
The food at the hotels generally is what could be described as 'Bulgarian food trying to be English', slightly odd cakes, strangely shaped sausages etc, the hotel I stayed in had it all in a buffet, which didn't taste very good, but was at least convenient. Outside the hotel there was a couple of mini-marches where you could all your biscuits etc, a smaller version of tescos. The restaurants themselves seemed to sell mostly pizza and beer, as I said, trying to be english.
The nightlife itself, there wasn't any clubs, there were however plenty of bars, but to be honest, apart from old men and the odd group of english chavs looking for cheap drink and a cheap holiday, nothing much happened. It was however nicer to look out on a ski slope while drinking than on an English city centre.
The slopes could be divided up into parts, the mountain which took 30 minutes to get up to by Gondola, but however was a nice ride back down again with a variety of slopes for you to try out.
Then the 'bottom bit', which took a few minutes on the chair lift to reach the top of, there was a good variety for all levels here, with 2 or 3 slopes for each grading. However, I never saw much for the off pister, and when I tried I just ended up in hip waist snow which obviously wasn't meant for skiing at all. So don't try it.
There was snow machines, but I never saw them switched, the week I went had a good layer of snow, so I guess I was lucky.
Most of the skis to be rented are generally quite old, but completely usable, for first timers, watch out for the wet floor!
There are lessons if you want them, the teachers are all friendly enough, but after a couple of days the lessons get quite boring and you can just go off by yourself, I suppose it depends what ability your off, there is classes for all abilities, and I guarantee you'll learn something, however for the more advanced skiiers, it will quickly tire having to wait for the slower people. BUt it is a good socialising opportunity as there are drink stops.
Overall a good place, the Bulgarians are great, and this little resort is a haven compared to the rest of the country, however I think it's too angliscied and you don't really get to see a lot of the Bulgarian culture which is a shame.
For those interested in the linguistic aspect, I recommend learning at least a few phrases, you might even be lucky enough to be given some free food, after all, who knows Bulgarian?
Bulgarian is a slavic language and does NOT use the roman alphabet, so it would probably be better learning of a tape, unless you want to be fluent, in that case, move there ;)
In conclusion, it was good enough for me to going back there in a couple of weeks time.
Advantages: Cheap, cheap cheap and the people are nice. Disadvantages: Food in the hotels was really bad.
...Ski.
The snow in Borovets isn't amazing. They can be reluctant to switch the snow machines on the lower slopes which can be annoying, but if you stay up on the higher slopes there isn't usually a problem. We went last January and got 3 good days of snow. The year before we went in March and there was very little snow on the lower slopes, but was better higher up. This was when we found out they don't switch the snow machines on very often. There ... ...favourite of mine is a run beneath the gondola lifts, but you have to look out for the pylons! In the evenings you can purchase a night lift pass that allows you on the lit runs until about 10 pm. If you get tired of skiing or boarding there are plenty of other activities such as toboganing, snow mobiles etc.
The food is good if you know where to go. Do not eat in any of the hotels, I'll repeat that, DO NOT EAT IN ANY OF THE HOTELS! Between my friends ...
ChemicalAl 25.03.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Borovets
Advantages: prices, excellent skiing Disadvantages: not perceived as glamorous skiing
Who wants to be a millionaire - we all do don't we. Try a package skiing holiday to this resort and you can get a taste of what a millionaire's lifestyle must be like. The packages to Bulgaria still rank amongst the cheapest skiing around, and once in the resort the prices make your money go slower than a beginner down a nursery slope. Food, drinks (alcohol and soft) and cigarettes are dirt cheap and the night clubs welcome and treat like royalty ... ...for the best service at only slightly higher prices.
The skiing is excellent with good relaiable snow and the lift network is suficent for all levels of skiers.
Certainly it not all glamour - the airport and transfer are experiences probably best forgotten, why not stop skiing a day early and head to Sofia before your return, you'll gain a truer picture of the real Eastern Europe that you do not experience whilst in Borovets. ...
winprizes2000 16.12.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Borovets
Advantages: Value, friendliness, superb ski school Disadvantages: Food bad
...times or so now, and Borovets without doubt offered me the best value for money of all.
About 2.5 hours away by plane, try to fly to Sofia rather than Plovdiv. The airport is a lot better and transfer times a lot shorter. When choosing a hotel, it is well worth paying the extra for a resort "centre" hotel- the hotels Samakov and Rila are the best (1999). The out of resort hotels are cheaper, but can be awkward when there is a lot of snow.
Bulgarian ... ...serve- we complained about it.
Borovets itself is now mainly purpose built, with two main skiing areas. The Mount Moussala area is higher, served by a Gondola lift, and almost snow sure. The Baraki area is lower, generally easier runs, but less snow sure, and is served by a number of chairlifts.
I was concerned about getting bored, and skiing all the runs, but there is a good choice of pistes. I must mention here that the local ski school is EXCELLENT. ...
skimanant 01.01.2001 (03.01.2001)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Borovets
Advantages: The people, the country, the experience! the value of the pound!! Disadvantages: The food, the limited variety of nightlife
...those more advanced. The Borovets mountains were incredibly beautiful, with some nice mountain swiss chalet style bars and restaurants high up in the mountains. The chair lifts I felt though were a bit rickety looking and quite hair raising.
The hotel was great and easily looked after our hired gear, overnight, and very conveniently located.
Mainly though - I loved the the Bulgarian people, who, if you get the chance to get to know them, are INCREDIBLY ... ...nice, and they really do seem to like us Brits. I have been to a number of countries now, and no-one has beaten them for their willingness to have fun and have a laugh, and the general kindness and patience they showed. Another incident I must talk about: At the end of the week, I went out on my own, but I got completely stuck on one very difficult slope where I unfortunately lost my bottle, but I was "rescued" by a snow plough driver, who couldnt ...
Deck 19.02.2001 (02.03.2001)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Borovets
Advantages: Cheap, great ski school, faily compact town Disadvantages: Hard to get to, food quality in hotels is low, many queujumpers
Having visited Borovets ski resort on a college trip in January 2000, I discovered that the place wasn't as bad as I had expected. Firstly, don't be put off by how cheap the holiday is compared to other countires - they keep the prices low to compete with places like Canada, the Swiss Alps, and Hillingdon! (only Londonders will get that). There are two main airports in Bulgaria, and Borovets is roughly in the middle of the two. It has 11 hotels, ... ...ones like Bor and Edelweiss (where I stayed!). The skiing itself is quite good with an excellent English speaking ski school, and slopes for all levels of ability. There are also some cross-coutry runs which most beginners will be able to handle after four or five days of learning. There are shows and events during the week throughout the evening, inlcuding an excellent ski display with ski-batics (acrobatics on snow!) and fireworks. The food in ...
philltowns 10.07.2000 (07.05.2002)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Borovets
Advantages: brilliant skiing, alpine village prettiness,great English speaking ski school, Close to Italy and other resorts. Disadvantages: Not to great for veggies and nightlife fairly low key.
So far i have only skied 4 times, in Flaine (France), Serre Chevalier (France.....obviously!!), Borovets (Bulgaria) and Bad Hofgetein (Austria).
Serre Chevalier has been the most enjoyable for the following reasons:
Many of France's ski resorts are high altidude and therefore purpose built, usually with concrete grey buildings and not much else. Serre Chevalier is a pretty alpine style village with tree lined sking back to the village. We stayed in self catering apts right in the centre, and whilst not brilliant, they were certainly fine as a place to eat and sleep (coz as skiers know, u won't be spending a lot of time in your accommodation). They were brillaintly positioned facing the world cup downhill run, and sitting on the balcony late afternoon and watching skier after skier fall in sucession was great entertainment.
Ski school ...
Advantages: real Bulgarian feel, value for money Disadvantages: Low altitude
combine your skiing with some culture, but not a resort for professionals! The major tour operator is Balkan Holidays. Ideal as a two centre break.
See also my review on Borovets. ...
skimanant 01.01.2001 (04.01.2001)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Bansko
