“Here is the ski boot room,” our immaculately coiffed hotelier proudly exclaimed. I looked around. To be precise, it was a parking lot-cum-construction site with no indication as to whether you were supposed to rest your boots on the old car seats – the vehicle they were once attached to, nowhere in sight – or on the broken refrigerator.
Hastily spotting a figure with graffiti on skis indicating a side room (previously hidden by a whistling workman with a wheelbarrow), I was able to verify the truth of her statement. The parking lot in question was located beneath the Saint George Palace Aparthotel in Bansko, Bulgaria’s main ski town.
My boyfriend and I had come to Bansko for a cheap, fun skiing holiday. Price wise, we did well. Our six-night stay, including flights, private transfers, ski passes and ski hire, had cost just £725 each. If we looked at similar packages in Austria and France we would have paid almost double.
It’s easy to see why Bulgaria’s ski resorts have topped the rankings of the most affordable in Europe over the past decade, according to Post Office Travel Money’s annual Ski Resort Report (although this year they were picked by Bardonecchia in Italy).
And although Bansko is about double the distance from London than the Alps, the journey time wasn’t much different. Our three-hour flight to Sofia and two-hour transfer was just an hour longer than flying to Grenoble or Geneva with thousands of other Brits, and then following the traffic to one of the big French resorts.
Extensive appeal
We had booked a one-bedroom apartment, which was clean and surprisingly spacious and had a kitchen complete with oven and fridge, an expansive bedroom and even a walk-in wardrobe that was bigger than some of the bedrooms I remember from my 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 wouldn’t have been able to afford elsewhere. Sure, the whole building seemed to channel the aesthetic of a 1970s Soviet sanatorium, but even that can have its own style. je ne sais quoi (if brutalism is generally your thing)
The town center was just a 20-minute walk away – or 5 minutes on the hotel shuttle bus, which ran mornings and afternoons – so we could hit the slopes straight away.
Most pistes are between 1,500 and 2,600 meters – not as high as the high-flying French resorts in the gigantic Trois Vallées, but comparable to many pistes in Austria and Italy – and snow cover in mid-January was good (supplemented by deep snow cannons), with fresh mornings and bluebird afternoons.
Over five days we easily covered all 16 of the resort’s slopes. There was one black run (usually three, but the rest were closed) and eight red runs – some a bit short. The wealth of long, cruisey blues meant that overall it felt better suited to families and beginners than to hardcore skiers. There was a wide range of instructors and ours, Xristo, was a bundle of 25 year old enthusiasm.
Popular price tag
On the chairlifts we heard a chorus of British accents – from Scouse to South Welsh. Certainly the booking figures suggest that the good price and good snow are attracting many British tourists. Data from ski company Heidi shows that sales of trips to Bulgaria have increased by 118 percent year-on-year, somehow surpassing ‘classic’ European ski destinations.
New operators, such as loveholidays, have entered the market to meet growing demand, while more established operators, such as Snowmads, have scaled up their capacity.
I spoke to a Brit in his 30s who told us he usually goes to France to ski with friends. “This year they said it was too expensive, so I decided to come here alone,” he said.
A mother of four told me that they had been coming to Bansko for years because of the low prices. “Though it has 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 – for a cappuccino from a Nescafé machine felt steep, as did 27 BGN (£11) for a decidedly average margherita pizza.
The drinks were cheap though. You can buy a good bottle of local wine (try the Melnik, a native grape similar to Pinot Noir) in the supermarket for around 12 BGN (£5).
Finding Bankso’s charm
Of course, the fun of a ski holiday does not only lie in the snow. We walked around the city passing permits, ‘peep show’ bars and kebab shops. I kept looking in vain for the charm – for the cozy chalet restaurants and local cheesemongers.
Then the city seemed to change, almost imperceptibly. Clubs that pumped out Europop were replaced by old-fashioned taverns, where folk music played between shuttered windows, and bakeries stocked with golden pastries.
Menu prices suddenly became much more affordable: around 15 BGN (£6) for a main course. We also found a beautiful Orthodox church (St Trinity) with huge chandeliers, rainbow frescoes and glittering icons.
As we entered one of the taverns, Molerite, we were greeted by the effusive owner, Malin, who served us his delicious home-made Melnik and stories about the local forests where our meal came from. Bowls of reindeer stew and buttery mushrooms were interspersed with visits to his aging cellar and serenades from a four-piece folk band.
The food and wine would fetch gourmet prices in London – but 1-litre carafes of wine cost just 21 BGN (£9) and plates of succulent barbecue meat started from around 17 BGN (£7).
At the end we asked our waiter, Stanislav, how much a taxi to our hotel would cost. Instead he offered us a ride. In the car I realized I had found the charm I was looking for. Not necessarily in the restaurant itself (as delicious as it was), but in the people.
I remembered how my skis and bags were carried up the stairs every day at the ski rental shop (Pirin 2000) before I could even get them, and the care our ski instructor had taken to coax me down a slippery piste.
Even our tour of Saint George’s “boot room” was guided by two friendly hotel staff, desperate to show off their facilities.
The people of Bansko had that rare virtue rarely found in other European ski resorts these days: they actually want you to be there. And if good hospitality doesn’t equal good value, I’m not sure what does.
Essentials
Marianna Hunt was a guest of Heidi (heidi.com). Heidi offers six nights for two people at the Saint George Palace Aparthotel from £725 per person, including flights to Sofia, private transfers, ski pass and equipment hire.