Skiing in Borovets, worried by forum reviews, should I cancel and go to Alpes

I went to Borovets last Feb...IMO do not go I have nothing positive to say about the place. I chose Soldeu for New Year (on a budget again) It was fabulous in everyway compared to Borovets. So if I were you, and you fancy somewhere other than France and Italy and you're on a budget then you won't go wrong with soldeu in Andorra. :D

I've been to Borovets for the last 3 seasons, and will probably be there again in March. Although prices are increasing year on year, it is still far cheaper than any French resort. I remember paying £8.50 for a pint of guiness in Meribel 10 years ago!
I book flights early (£70 return) and book accomodation late. There is always plenty of availability and so if you email owners direct you will find that you can negotiate a good deal. last year we paid £350 for a two bedroomed apartment for 8 days. Although there was room for 6 people, we shared the cost between the four of us (£90 each) Two of us booked a studio apartment for £150.
Being in an apartment means you can save money by making your own meals. Take a taxi down to Samakov and shop at 'T-Market'...it's cheap. The best BG beer 'Zagorka' will cost you about 2.25levs (£1) for a 1.5 litre bottle.
There are also several good restaurants in Samakov which will be far cheaper than at the resort.
I have always been there for the first week in March, when the weather is usually warm and sunny. There has never been too much of a problem with crowds, and i have never seen girls of the night hanging around outside. If you want to see them, you just enter one of their clubs.
There are some nice people in Borovets, but there are also plenty of miserable ones who are not exactly willing to help.
It's a case of keeping a sense of humour, and actually finding any rudeness fairly amusing. There was a lady who used to glare at me every time i walked past her shop and i just gave her a big silly smile every time and by the end of the week she was almost smiling back at me! I don't know what she thought but who cares?
I have experienced equally miserable people in french resorts who don't seem to enjoy sharing 'their' mountain with the British.
All in all, you can get a very cheap holiday in Borovets which you can't do easily at other resorts. If you are tolerent, have a sense of humour, and are on a tight budget, you may be pleasantly surprised with Borovets...

I went there last year and stayed in the samokov hotel. during the second week of march when there was a heatwave! last day was 20 degrees in borovest town!
This was my first outing ont he snow outside scotland.
Hotel was basic but fine, there was always lots of hot water. The rooms at the back are quieter. The breakfasts were fine the dinner was as bit ropy. stay away from the meet stews and you will be fine. A few people had dicky bellies who ate the stews. I am veggie and I was fine!. The bar opposite the gondola on the junction does great cheap pizza with accompanying free drinks and the lady who runs it is so friendly. The rest of the hotel was fine but smoky (everywhere was). I SAW NO LADIES OF THE NIGHT hanging around the hotel.
The twon is rough and ready, you do have to look past the absolute poverty of the women selling socks from boxes in starc contrast to the maffia who drive past in their hummers. They don't bother the tourists as they bring in the money - it is perfectly safe. There are some nice bars (the blue bar near the rila is very friendly)
The slopes are quite limited and there are lots of drags. We were confined to the musala area at the top because of the lack of snow, the pistes were croweded as a result but the offpiste poweder between the runs was untouched and fanatastic especilly right at the top. The gondala howevere will stop if its gets even a little windy! The ski instructors vary but are genarlly good, my snowbaord instructor lexy ws out of this world and had us in the powder by the first morning!
I will not go back to bulgaria as it sadened me to see s much poverty on the transfer, it is clear theat capatalism has bough riches to only a few in bulgaria and tourism only lines their pockets further unfortunatly. I enjoyed my week a lot my girlfriend who has been the flane did not. If you go, go with an open mind and you may be surprised. It is not like a french or italin resort however. The people are friendly on the whole and they try their best with what they have.

hope that helps....

mystyc wrote:I went there last year and stayed in the samokov hotel. during the second week of march when there was a heatwave! last day was 20 degrees in borovest town!
This was my first outing ont he snow outside scotland.
Hotel was basic but fine, there was always lots of hot water. The rooms at the back are quieter. The breakfasts were fine the dinner was as bit ropy. stay away from the meet stews and you will be fine. A few people had dicky bellies who ate the stews. I am veggie and I was fine!. The bar opposite the gondola on the junction does great cheap pizza with accompanying free drinks and the lady who runs it is so friendly. The rest of the hotel was fine but smoky (everywhere was). I SAW NO LADIES OF THE NIGHT hanging around the hotel.
The twon is rough and ready, you do have to look past the absolute poverty of the women selling socks from boxes in starc contrast to the maffia who drive past in their hummers. They don't bother the tourists as they bring in the money - it is perfectly safe. There are some nice bars (the blue bar near the rila is very friendly)
The slopes are quite limited and there are lots of drags. We were confined to the musala area at the top because of the lack of snow, the pistes were croweded as a result but the offpiste poweder between the runs was untouched and fanatastic especilly right at the top. The gondala howevere will stop if its gets even a little windy! The ski instructors vary but are genarlly good, my snowbaord instructor lexy ws out of this world and had us in the powder by the first morning!
I will not go back to bulgaria as it sadened me to see s much poverty on the transfer, it is clear theat capatalism has bough riches to only a few in bulgaria and tourism only lines their pockets further unfortunatly. I enjoyed my week a lot my girlfriend who has been the flane did not. If you go, go with an open mind and you may be surprised. It is not like a french or italin resort however. The people are friendly on the whole and they try their best with what they have.

hope that helps....

Mystyc, if you are concerned at the poverty then don't bury your head in the sand and decide never to go back! Those old ladies selling their knitted socks etc rely on us to buy their goods. We should be supporting them! I always try to buy from the smaller shops and from roadside sellers who clearly need the cash.
BTW, i too enjoyed that week of sunshine last year! The week before was better skiing though as most of the lower slopes were still open. You just never know....

I understand you point but if I felt my money was going to do some good then I would return.... possibly! However it all pretty much goes straight into the pockets of the men in the hummers apart from the few levs left in my pocket which i did indeed exchange for said interesting (and slightly scratchy)wooly socks :mrgreen:

I did however notice a thread somewhere that mentioned Borovets may iminantly run out of gas due to the russia / ukraine pipeline row. This may have more of an impact on your holiday - it may be rumour but could be worth checking beofre you book.....

Hi

My family and myself went to Borovets 2 years ago, first time skiing so wanted a rather cheap holiday (just in case we all hated it). Anyway back to Borovets, we stayed at the Hotel Rila, very very smoky, waiting on staff not very friendly, food was ok actually, kids ate something every day and I'm a veggie and I had no problem. Heard lots of peopel saying that food was warm but did not come across this problem. Ladies of the night - yes there were many but of no real concern. A lot of strip clubs which meant a bit of explaining to my children but there you go. Safety - now that is a different matter - fire in Hotel, no fire alarm or anything, we had a knock on our door saying there was a fire which was quite evident when there was all smoke in the corridor. Neilson reps were absolutely awful, no answers to any of our questions about why fire alarm wasn't activated etc. This was the last thing really as kids were then very afraid to be in the hotel. Last year went to Neiderau what a contrast - will not go through all the good points as there are loads on the J2SKI forum relating to these. Would I go back to Borovets - NO but I may try another part of Bulgaria. Hope this sort of helps :-o

Took our two girls to Pamporovo, Bulgaria 4 seasons ago (6 & 9 at time).
We stayed in Malina Chalets which were basic but fun for the girls - the food at the hotel was reasonable even for veggies and the food on the mountian was lovely!. Ski lessons were not good - there was no grading so beginners were with quite experienced skiers and you had stay together and eat where the instructor took you. The children had to go to kindergarten and had minimal/no ski lessons. We paid for private lessons in the end for the kids which were excellent (when the instructor turned up).

We wouldn't go back to Bulgaria as a main ski holiday but would recommend Andorra for a budget ski holiday.
Went to La Massana/Pal the year when there was no snow anywhere and altho' not much to ski the instructors were very good. Last year was Soldeu which prides itself on native-English speaking instructors - again very good. Mountain food slightly better in Soldeu.

For more onfo on Bulgaria skiing try www.bulgariaski.com.

Trying Ellmau in Austria this year!

Went to Borovets with family last year, and for a cheap holiday thought it was brilliant. I didn't see any ladies of the night, and at 25 i would have noticed!

I think if you want great skiing without worrying about cost, then go to the Alps, if you want good skiing on the cheap then Bulgaria is great. Yes the prices have gone up this near - but it is still cheaper than any Resort in France or Italy.

I understand that they have spent a lot on updating their lifts over the summer, but last year the lift system was fine. Think they had one power outage on the gondola the time we were there. Queues can be long, but only when the bottom slopes aren't useable. The skiing isn't extensive but if you are taking children on their first ski trip - how much can you do anyway?

personally i would say go for it!