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Back from Pamporovo

Back from Pamporovo

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Started by Nuttynutnut in Ski Chatter - 2 Replies

Back from Pamporovo

Nuttynutnut posted Jan-2017

Back from Pamporovo and thought I'd do a bit of a review for you guys and gals.

Hopefully some of you will find it useful if you're going there.

Firstly the transfer times from Sofia were around 4hrs with a 30 minute stop en route. Not a bad journey in all honesty with some nice scenery on the way. The first couple of hours of the transfer are pretty boring so use this to catch up on some sleep.

Arrived in resort at around midnight and were given the key to our room. The room was on the 4th floor and was dreadfull.

The window in the bedroom didn't lock shut, had no barriers or any forms of restriction and with a sheer drop it wasn't ideal for a family.

The sofabed had a piece of wood sticking through the mattress so was impossible to get a decent nights rest.

The bathroom was very unthought out.

Hotel bar was nice, warm and friendly and because of lack of apres ski, we spent every night sitting by the fireplace.

Ski bus to the slopes each day was fine and fairly enjoyable actually. You will get pestered by Bulgarians selling little handmade bells pretty much everyday. After a while this really started annoying me but I counted to 10 and managed to keep out of trouble.

After a few days I got used to the hounding and bought some bells for my two children. Yep the Bell men are that pushy lol.

I didn't take ski school but the wife and children did. From what I saw of tuition, it wasnt much short of amazing. My wife had private lessons for 4 hours each day and they cost around £60 per day.

Lift passes were about £100 per adult and about £60 for the children.

Ski and snowboard hire seemed well maintained and had no problems.

Now the skiing bit.........

Personally I hated it which was mainly due to the fact that alot of the people skiing the white stuff had no etiquette or common sense. I found my constantly having to look behind me aswell as in front. I was unable to safely pass people down the mountain because they making very unpredictable slow long turns. I didn't want to bomb past unless it was safe to do so but the second I did try to overtake there was some idiot up the mountain who couldn't control speed or turn and I almost got wiped out a few times.

Another classic was people walking dogs across the ski runs.

The wife (behinner) loved it and so did the children.

Apres ski was pretty non existent so don't expect much apart from an Irish bar which seemed dead when we went in there at 8pm one night.

A large beer will set you back around £2.50 and a large pizza around £6.00 so it is cheap.

I don't think I would go back to Bulgaria personally and because I felt like I had been done out of a ski holiday, I am off to Austria next month.

PS. If you are planning on going to Pamporovo book you lessons etc through Bulgaria Hotels. These worked out around £400 cheaper than crystal.

If you are going make sure you get good insurance aswell
www  AVALANCHE EXPERT IF I PASS YOU AT SPEED ITS TIME TO PANIC

Edited 1 time. Last update at 25-Jan-2017

Ranchero_1979
reply to 'Back from Pamporovo '
posted Jan-2017

Sounds to me upon reflection you might quite like the place:
Wife and kids were happy
Nice bar with fireplace
Step in bathtub - in Western Europe someone would call that a jacuzzi bath
Looks like great weather and ample snow

Busy slopes are typically a function of the week you choose and am sure the poor quality of skiing was largely down to the number of Brits in resort. At least there is hope, definitely some of the best ski instructors around.

Edited 1 time. Last update at 25-Jan-2017

Nuttynutnut
reply to 'Back from Pamporovo '
posted Jan-2017

Generally I would say that I did enjoy bulgaria as a country and the people that lived/worked there.


It was nice coming back to the hotel bar for some beers in front of the fire.

I would say that brits were the minority though. Majority seemed to be Russian, Bulgarian and Irish.

From what I saw of ski instructors, I would say they were amazing. My little boy (9yrs old) did a red run on his snowboard on the 4th day of his lessons. He has been skateboarding since the age of 7 though which may have had something to do with it.

I just didn't really enjoy the skiing very much and wouldn't probably go again other than for the family.

Also I dont know whether it was a bulgarian thing but the food in the evening was only luke warm and found myself heating my dinner up in the microwave.

Like I say though a lovelly country and am glad to have given it a try but would rather do Austria next time.


www  AVALANCHE EXPERT IF I PASS YOU AT SPEED ITS TIME TO PANIC

Topic last updated on 25-January-2017 at 10:10