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, ranging from the massive Samokov and Rila to other smaller 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 the hotels is not of a high quality, so it may be worth eatng out in the evening - one restaurant offers delicious, gigantic pizzas for roughly £2 - an entire meal in itself. You can also buy luxuries such a Coca-Cola, chocloate, Solero ice-creams, and fruit juice in the hotels for very low prices.
My only criticisms of the holiday were the hotel food, the trauma of trying to get your skis and boots on the first day (there's a lot of pushing and shoving, so you must be assertive), and the cheek of other holidaymakers (I think the British are the only Europeans who don't practice queue-jumping as a sport at school!) but the last one isn't the fault of the tour operator.
General informaion: Currency is the Lev, although it is a 'soft currency', so it is illegal to take it out of the country, although nobody really checks. Use shoes/boots with a lot of grip when walking - ice is a big problem if you have the wrong type of footwear. No immunisations needed when travelling to Bulgaria. Two international airports are Sofia and Plovdiv.
Well that's about it - if you decide to go, say hello to my instructor 'Mimi', and don't forget to enoy yourself.
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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.
Fiona_Tims 15.12.2000 ·
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