Anything you need to know about Borovets

Hello everyone, my first post :)

I went to Borovets last February with very low expectations having read many of the dire reviews that exist, I have to say it exceeded my expectations, admitedly the conditions were superb, some days we had 2 foot of powder :shock:

We were a group of 3 families 13 in total and stayed in a village about 15 minutes drive from Borovets, in a brand new villa, that cost us £900 for the week (half term), I found food and drink in the village extremely cheep, but in Borovets it doubled even there though (for comparison) you could get a pint for under £2.00.

The ski infrastructure was very good I would say with only a few "Pomas" on the shorter runs and the majority of lifts modern 4 man many with soft starts. the scenery is superb.

If you are after piste milage then you will run out after a few days but I believe the off piste is good, although I never took the oppertunity apart from taking some lines through the forest. But for family skiing with the occaisional solo foray it is a smashing resort. The runs vary from exposed mountain reds and blacks to sedate treelined runs from top to bottom, enough variation for all levels and ideal progression slopes for learners.

I found the place clean (what isnt when its covered with snow) and the locals friendly.

We ate either on the mountain or in the resort most days and never had a bad meal, we tried many of the local dishes, (my favourite dish was banski sash)

For half term last Feb I paid 3K in total for Lufthansa flights, accomodation, lift pass, ski hire and food/drink budget for my family of 5, which is value for money in my opinion.

I have no agenda in providing this information but simply want to give you my perspective as someone who feared the worst and was very pleasantly surprised.

My posting virginity is lost. :oops:

Verglas,
Congratulations on being brave enough to write, and submit, your first post :D :D.

I'm glad you enjoyed your holiday to Borovets. How did you get to and from your villa? Did they provide a shuttle bus?

For comparison, 3 of us have booked to go to Courchevel by train during Feb half-term, staying in self-catering accommodation, and it's going to cost around £1100 per person for the train, the transfers, the accommodation, ski passes, ski and boot hire, and ski lessons.

Ally

A warm welcome to j2ski verglas. :wink:

Hello verglass, welcome. I am a bit of a nooby here too.

Well done for standing up for a resort which most others seem to be negative on for your first post. If we all wanted/liked exactly the same thing the world would be a very boring place indeed )

Thank you for the welcome, I have lurked here for a while, so feel I know you all already!

AllyG I enjoy doing DIY on all my holidays and lots of Googling usually finds a bargain, the guy that owned the Villa put us in touch with a couple of chaps who look after various properties and have a couple of mini bus's, one of them owned the pub in the village the other owned the shop!

I am off to Mayrhofen this Feb and looking forward to comparing and contrasting.

Thanks for the review verglas - I was beginning to think I was alone on the Borovets viewpoint :)

Don't get me wrong, I certainly wouldn't chose Borovets over elsewhere if money wasn't an issue ... but it is :)

I've skiied all over the world and it's certainly not comparable for many things but it's good enough to get on the snow for week without breaking the bank.

For instance, we paid £20 train from Newcastle to Manchester - £35 flights Manchester to Sofia & 70€ return transfer from Sofia - Borovets

Home to ski resort - under £100 :)

verglas wrote:My Borovets,just to clarify, it was 3k for 5 people (my family) all in, Ally is paying 3.3k for 3 without grub, so whilst there is a significant difference its not quite what you state.

Cheers.

Ahh OK. Post edited

My Borovets,just to clarify, it was 3k for 5 people (my family) all in, Ally is paying 3.3k for 3 without grub, so whilst there is a significant difference its not quite what you state.

Cheers.

Verglas,
I should have also said, that our first family ski holiday was to Borovets, 7 years ago. We went there because it was the only place we could afford, at the time. I got a special last minute offer from Airtours for the first week in Jan, and it was only £820 for myself and the 2 children - half board, flights, transfers, ski hire, passes, and lessons! So it cost a lot less for the 3 of us, than we're paying now per person to go to Courchevel (although we are going in Feb half-term).

Unfortunately I never got to ski at Borovets myself, because I'd broken my shoulder practising on the dry ski slope, but I did get to go up the mountain on the chair lift and walk down the pistes, and the kids skied.

I did find quite a few bad things about the resort, but at least it started my younger daughter ski-ing, and we've been to other resorts pretty much every year since then. If Borovets hadn't been so cheap we wouldn't have been able to afford a ski holiday at all, that first year.


Ally