by “This is the ski boot room,” our coiffed hotel proudly announced. I looked around. To be precise, it was a car park-cum-construction site with no clue whether you meant to rest your shoes on the set of the old car seats – the vehicle they were never attached to – or the broken fridge.
Looking quickly at a graffitied figure on skis that revealed a side room (previously hidden by a whistling worker with a wheelbarrow), I was able to verify the truth of his statement. The car park in question sits under the Saint George’s Palace hotel complex in Bansko, Bulgaria’s main ski town.
My boyfriend and I came to Bansko for a low cost, high fun ski holiday. Price-wise, we’d nailed it. Our six night stay cost just £725 each, including flights, private transfers, lift passes and ski hire. Looking at similar packages in Austria and France, we would be paying almost double.
It’s easy to see why, for the past decade, Bulgaria’s ski resorts have topped the rankings as the most affordable in Europe, according to the Post Office Travel Money Annual Ski Resort Report (although this year they were beaten by Italy’s Bardonecchia ).
And although Bansko is about twice the distance from London as the Alps, the travel time was not much different. Our three-hour flight to Sofia and two-hour transfer was only an hour longer than flying to Grenoble or Geneva with thousands of other Britons, and then following the traffic to one of the major French resorts.
Sprawling appeal
We booked a one-bedroom apartment, which was clean, very spacious and included a full kitchen with oven and fridge, a sprawling bedroom and even a walk-in wardrobe bigger than some of the bedrooms I remember from childhood holidays in Val Thorens .
The complex also had its own spa, with a swimming pool, sauna, steam room and Jacuzzi – a luxury we certainly didn’t have anywhere else. Sure, the whole place seemed to be aiming for a 1970s Soviet sanatorium aesthetic, but even that place can hold its own. je ne sais quoi (if Brutality is generally your kind of thing)
The town center was only a 20 minute walk – or 5 minutes on the hotel shuttle bus, which ran morning and evening – so we were able to hit the slopes first.
Most of the runs sit between 1,500m and 2,600m – not as high as France’s high-end resorts in the giant Trois Vallées but on a par with many in Austria and Italy – and the snow cover was mid-January good (to add to the snow by chunks. cannons), with crisp mornings and bluebird evenings.
Over five days, we easily covered all 16 slopes of the resort. There was one whiskey black run (normally three but the rest were closed) and eight reds – some a bit short. The abundance of long cruising blues made it more suitable for families and beginners overall than hard skiers. Instructors were in heavy supply and ours, Xristo, was a 25-year-old bundle of enthusiasm.
Popular price tag
On the chairlifts, we heard a chorus of UK accents – from Scouse to South Welsh. Certainly, booking figures suggest good value and good snow are attracting British tourists. Data from ski company Heidi shows that sales of trips to Bulgaria are up 118 per cent year-on-year and some way outstrips the ‘classic’ European ski destinations.
New operators, such as loveholidays, have entered the market to meet the growing demand and more established operators, such as Snowmads, are increasing capacity.
I spoke to one 30-something Brit who told us he usually goes to France with friends to ski. “They said it was too expensive this year, so I decided to come here by myself,” he said.
A mother of four told me that they have been coming to Bansko for years because of the low prices. “Although it’s definitely gotten more expensive lately,” she admitted.
Personally, I was surprised by the prices I saw in the mountain restaurants. For a place known for its affordability, 9 Bulgarian lev (BGN) – almost £4 – felt like a steep Nescafé machine cappuccino, as did 27BGN (£11) for a medium-sized margherita pizza.
Booze, however, was cheap. You could pick up a good bottle of local wine (try the Melnik, a native grape similar to Pinot Noir) in the supermarket for around 12BGN (£5).
Finding the charm of Bankso
Of course, the joy of a ski holiday is not only in the snow. We went through town, passing licenses, “peep show” bars and kebab shops. I kept looking fruitlessly for the magic – for the cozy chalet restaurants and the local cheesemongers.
Then, almost imperceptibly, the town seemed to morph. Clubs pumping out Europop were replaced by pubs of the old world, where country music blared out closed windows, and bakeries piled high with golden castles of pastries.
Menu prices suddenly became much more affordable – around 15 BGN (£6) for a main dish. We found a wonderful Orthodox church (Holy Trinity) with huge chandeliers, rainbow frescoes and glittering icons.
Slipping into one of the pubs, Molerite, we were greeted by the vivacious owner, Malin, who regaled us with his tasty home Melnik and stories about the local forests where our meal came from. Among the plates of reindeer stew and foraged mushroom navel, a four-piece country band visited his aging cellar and his concerts.
The food and wine would fetch grenade prices in London – but a 1-litre carafe of wine costs just 21BGN (£9) and plates of succulent barbecued meat start at around 17BGN (£7).
At the end we asked our waiter, Stanislav, how much a taxi to our hotel would cost. Instead, he offered us a lift. In the car, I realized that I had found the charm I was looking for. Not necessarily in the restaurant itself (beautiful though it was) but in the people.
I remembered how my skis and bags were carried up the stairs in the ski rental shop (Pirin 2000) every day before I could even catch them and the care our ski instructor took to convince me down slide with a slab of ice.
Even during our tour of St. George’s “starter room” there were two members of staff of the wealthy hotel, who were desperate to show off their facilities.
The people of Bansko had that rare quality you rarely find in other European ski resorts these days: they want you to be there. And if good hospitality isn’t good value, I’m not sure what is.
Fundamentals
Marianna Hunt was a guest of Heidi ( heidi.com ). Heidi offers six nights self-catering for two at St George’s Palace Aparthotel from £725 per person, including flights to Sofia, private transfers, lift pass and equipment hire.
