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ls12styler 
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Post subject: Bulgaria 2011 - Ideas? Advice?
 Posted: Aug 16, 2010 - 02:10 PM
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First post: Aug 16, 2010
Total posts: 11
Status: Offline
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Hi All,
Myself and three friends plan on visiting Europe for a boarding holiday this January.
Have any of you been to Bulgaria?
What are your thoughts?
Where abouts?
Where would you recommend?
Any other advice/ideas/comments are welcomed!
Thanks,
Ash |
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atbboy
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Post subject: RE: Bulgaria 2011 - Ideas? Advice?
Posted: Aug 16, 2010 - 03:26 PM
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First post: Oct 19, 2009
Total posts: 19
Status: Offline
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I went last January to Bansko, it was our first boarding holiday and it was a pretty good place for it. It depends what you're after, we didn't think much of the park but I think it may have been re-done shortly after we left. Lots of tight powdery tree runs if you look for them, some fun stuff following the line of the lifts, and I think there's some good open freeride, but there was a lot of avalanche warnings when we were out there. There's a couple of black runs, but mostly blues and reds.
The town was pretty cool, we didn't venture much off the beaten track, because our hotel was at the bottom of the main road and the gondola station was at the top, but there's a million places to eat, some good and some not so much, but it's all pretty cheap. Eight of us went out there and it cost us around £50 to eat pretty well and have a few drinks every night.
The only warning I would give is this: Don't drink the hot punch/mulled wine at the top restaurant and then head off into the trees when it's getting dark and snowing. We just got horribly lost and had to trek back uphill for about an hour in the dark, which is pretty terrifying when there's no-one else on the mountain and you're on your first boarding holiday! |
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ls12styler
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Post subject: RE: Bulgaria 2011 - Ideas? Advice?
Posted: Aug 16, 2010 - 03:29 PM
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First post: Aug 16, 2010
Total posts: 11
Status: Offline
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Thanks! Bulgaria - Bansko does seem pretty cheap for a weeks jollies.
SNO!Bar at CasVegas recommends it too! (They had something on a screen about it) |
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tomtea
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Post subject:
Posted: Aug 16, 2010 - 04:03 PM
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First post: May 02, 2010
Total posts: 267
Status: Offline
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| Anyone recommend anywhere to stay or book though in Bansko? The girlfriend would prefer to get some lessons whilst we're out there so I'm tempted to book a week on one of the Bansko Snowboard Coach weeks. |
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ls12styler
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Post subject:
Posted: Aug 16, 2010 - 04:10 PM
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First post: Aug 16, 2010
Total posts: 11
Status: Offline
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tomtea
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Post subject:
Posted: Aug 16, 2010 - 04:32 PM
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First post: May 02, 2010
Total posts: 267
Status: Offline
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| Yeah, I had a look at Thomson holidays last week, looks pretty cheap! Stupid question but Thomson have the option to buy lift passes for £99 but off the banskoski site, lift passes are about £118. Will they cover the same areas/lifts? |
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atbboy
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Post subject:
Posted: Aug 16, 2010 - 04:44 PM
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First post: Oct 19, 2009
Total posts: 19
Status: Offline
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| Should do, there is only the one area, and I can't remember any passes that only did certain lifts. |
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DereksDontRun
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Post subject:
Posted: Aug 16, 2010 - 06:09 PM
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First post: Mar 09, 2009
Total posts: 1723
Location: The port of Stock
Status: Offline
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pm WFM if he doesn't post here later - he's the Bankso-king and a wealth of good info.
I went in march and had a great time - but you have to go with the right mind-set. If you look for reviews of the place the only negative ones are those that try and compare it against posher and far more expensive French/Alps resorts, and understandably it's not equal. It's an up and coming resort and improving, as such there's a LOT of building work in the town and sadly, probably due to the global recession, there's quite a lot of 1/2 finished buildings left standing. Around the gondola it's certainly not one of the prettiest of towns and be careful walking the streets at night 'cos we found a few man-holes without their covers... Also, they seem to have v little respect for animals - seemed to be lots of stray dogs around the place, know that's upset quite a few ppl in the past.
The transfer from the airport is a mental 3.5hr game of chicken and dodge the pot-hole, so certainly wakes you up ready for the 1st night's entertainment. The town is nice and v cheap (especially for a ski-resort) - a 2 liter bottle of beer is about £2 from the shops and from memory a pint is about £1.50 (think you can get cheaper if you head out of town, but in the center I seem to remember £1.50-£1.80 being the norm - either way, cheaper than here). If you like meat then the traditional restaurants are ace, LOADS of meat, massive fillet steak for about £6 - but would suggest avoiding the traditional places if you're veggie... There's an ace Italian opposite the gondola, can't remember the name, but v popular and v good.
The locals are nice, especially in the town. The workers/staff on the mountain are also v nice, but found some of the local skiers a little harsh/twatish and tended to ignore queues (v un-british  ) e.g. was in a turnstyle swiping my lift-pass and got elbowed in the side and pulled back by someone, I stood my ground and got shouted at plus another elbow and a kick to my knee from his ski-boot - he then did the same and barged past the person in the next turnstyle (to everyone's open-mouthed amazement). Know I'm not the biggest of ppl at 5'11 but was still quite surprised by this...
The mountain itself is nice and great for boarding - went with my skiing bro who i think found it a little small and limiting after a while. He was wanting to go as fast as possible down the pistes and it's not suited for those who are after ticking off piste-runs, it's just not big enough. For a week away it's fine, especially for a 1st holiday and beginner-intermediate riders, but could be too small and unchallenging for an experienced rider (on their tod and can't really explore the off-piste). For boarding there's some nice tree runs between runs 5 and 10 and some gentle (ace for 1st time) off-piste around the park. Speaking of the park - forget about it - 1 kicker, 1 small pipe, 1 low box and about 5 rails - all falling apart with side-walls pealing away from the metal structure - think i tried 1 rail and left it. They BADLY need a park-crew and until something happens better than last year, I'd forget about it.
I'd happily go back, and certainly worth the price - it's obviously got its drawbacks but it's a fraction of the price of a western-European resort. If I can get the cash together I'd love to do the BASI 2 course with snowboard-coach and that's something like 10-12 weeks over there - if the place was sh1t they wouldn't have set themselves up there and ppl wouldn't go...
Know this all probably sounds a little negative, but honestly had a great time there. So go with the right mindset and you'll have a blast |
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ChasKi
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Post subject:
Posted: Aug 16, 2010 - 06:21 PM
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First post: Mar 04, 2009
Total posts: 2481
Location: Plymouth/Stroud
Status: Offline
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WFM = Winterfunman, by the way  |
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liggins
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Post subject:
Posted: Aug 16, 2010 - 06:44 PM
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First post: Jan 16, 2010
Total posts: 764
Location: Sunny Sunny South East
Status: Offline
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I went earlier in the year (29th of jan for 9 days)...
I had a great time, the place is cheap and there are too many beds for tha amount of people there..!!
I went over with a group of lads of were loving the pubs and clubs, I went more for the riding and needed some proper sleep. so ended up getting a hotel just down from the gondala for about 27 euro a night, including breakfast 
Only thing that did my head in was the lift queues..! if you get to the gondala for 8 you're laughing. If you wait until 08:15/08:30 you'll be queueing for flippings hours.
On the 7th day i needed to leave early and managed to swap my flights for the next morning, bit of a weird one but i ended up paying about 50 quid for a local lad to drive me to sofia in an (roughly) 94 vauxall astra turbo and then find me a hotel for the night.
If you get in a trouble danny fixer is a good bloke to know out there |
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DereksDontRun
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Post subject:
Posted: Aug 16, 2010 - 09:30 PM
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First post: Mar 09, 2009
Total posts: 1723
Location: The port of Stock
Status: Offline
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forgot to say - when I went in March I booked through Co-operative Travel (not co-op). was about £300 for flights and s/c, plus £19 for transfer with Bansko Express.
you can get Bansko/Bulgaria deals with most ppl (Iglu Ski, Crystal Ski, Thomson, Neilson, Directline, etc) |
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winterfunman
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Post subject:
Posted: Aug 16, 2010 - 09:56 PM
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First post: Apr 20, 2008
Total posts: 8914
Location: BANSKO ..........Bulgaria
Status: Offline
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Q------------WFM ( winterfunman ) lol .....i know nothing hahah ...anyone wants inside info on all thi9ngs Bansko pm me so i can give you my personal attention .
i TAKE ZARGORAK BEER TOKENS FOR MY EFFORTS IF I SEE YOU OVER HERE  |
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LIFE IS FOR LIVING SO GO FORTH AND LIVE IT....after all we r here for a good time , not here for a long time
http://www.alexander-apartment-bansko.com
info@alexander-apartment-bansko.com
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pedderz
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Post subject:
Posted: Aug 17, 2010 - 08:23 AM
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First post: Feb 20, 2006
Total posts: 455
Location: manchester
Status: Offline
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ITS AN AWESOME PLACE FOR THE BEGINNERS AND ALL THAT - WE WENT THREE YEARS RUNNING AND WOULD HAVE GONE BACK AGAIN BUT RAN INTO THE BANSKO MAFIA IN THE LION HOTEL.
THE BAR HERE ISNT RUN BY THE HOTEL, BUT NOBODY TOLD US!!!
MY MATE SPENT TWO HOURS IN THE BOOT OF A "POLICE" CAR WHILST WE TRIED TO SORT OUT WHY WE WERE HAVING OUR ROOMS PACKED!!!
OTHER THAN THAT - ITS AN AWESOME PLACE. GOOD TIMES !!! |
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Rome Artifact 1985 or Never Summer Evo | Union Force | Nike Zoom Force 1
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stu83
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Post subject:
Posted: Aug 17, 2010 - 09:30 AM
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First post: Apr 27, 2010
Total posts: 149
Location: Northampton
Status: Offline
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Went to Borovets in March and had an excellent time. Very picturesque with snow-covered wooden shacks and dirt tracks.
I thought there were plenty of runs for a week, although that was only my second snowboard/ski holiday.
Anyone know how the piste sizes compare between Boro and Bankso? |
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will16valver
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Post subject:
Posted: Aug 17, 2010 - 04:22 PM
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First post: Aug 21, 2009
Total posts: 247
Location: Country Durham, Sedgefield
Status: Offline
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I was in Bansko for my 1st boarding holiday and i loved it!!
personally i think if your more of an advanced rider then you could get bored on your own unless playing off piste and tree runs.
As a novice it was brill, some lovely blues to get ready for some very exciting reds. i was cacking my self on my first long red.
But yea..... for a novice brilliant place to go... have a look in the Apre ski bar at the bottom of the gondola, lovely place, although alot more expensive than all the other bars in town.
we booked all our own stuff and our chalet was with http://www.christopherchalets.co.uk we had the Rozov... the chef/owner there, Marty was an awsome cook and the rest of the guys there were really nice
Im hoping to go back there again next feb/march time i think. |
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149 Burton Dominant (For Sale)
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