Borovets is a sking resort on the slopes of the Rila Mountains
Travelling to Sofia
In the month of March we flew to Sofia from Manchester via Easy Jet. The journey from Sofia airport to Borovets is approximately 2 hours. We hired a private transfer which costs around £40 each (6 people were in our party). As we were going sking and it was winter the journey to Borovets was very stunning. The scenery on our journey was breath taking. With lovely lakes and mountains along the way.
Accommodation
We stayed at the Festa Winter Palace Hotel which is ideally situated in the center of Borovets close to ski runs and Ski lift. The hotel is one of the more expensive hotels in Borovets but it is also one of the best hotels. We stayed on a bed breakfast and evening meal basis. The food was buffet style service and always plenty to choose from. The hotel itself is beautiful inside and outside. The rooms are immaculate clean and decorated to a high standard. The service in the hotel was also excellent and nothing was too much trouble. When the hotel was lit up on an evening covered in snow it looked amazing. As we had gone at the end of the skiing season there was not as much snow as usually.
Skiing lessons in Manchester
This was our first time skiing therefore had taken a days lesson in an indoor ski and snowboard center in Manchester called “The Chill Factor”. It was a full day with lunch and refreshments provided which cost £175 each. As the snow is man made therefore is quite soft and light. The instructor was quite informative and seemed to teach us what we needed to know to give it a go on the slopes of Bulgaria. We were given a pack at the end of the course advising of what techniques we had learned and a Certificate of achievement.
Skiing in Borovets
We had gone to Borovets on the recommendation of a friend who had been skiing there on a number of occasions and was an excellent skier. Borovets is a lot cheaper than most popular skiing resorts with ski hire costing around £10 per day and lift pass around £5 per day.
Skiing lessons in Borovets
We were also introduced to a skiing instructor who was commonly known as “Mario” as he bares a strong resemblance to Mario of Mario brothers. He is an Olympic skier who represented Bulgaria in the 80’s. His real name is Christof. Kristof and his wife own the White Magic bar and restaurant. Mario also is a skiing and Snowboard instructor.
We had several lessons with Mario at £25 an hour for two of us which is excellent value. Although we had had a days lesson Mario took us back to basics and started from scratch. He did not agree with how we had been taught at the indoor ski slope. We had several lessons with Mario which helped us develop our skiing ability a lot quicker than our day lesson. As the snow in the indoor ski slope was man made it did not compare to the snow on the slopes which was often compounded to what was quite icy. The technique of the snow plough which was used in the indoor ski slope did not work on the icy snow.
Mario was an amazing instructor and made learning a lot of fun as he had a great sense of humour. We had a couple of hours lessons each day with Mario which was enough as it is quite hard work especially when you are learning.
Ski lifts
It was difficult to master the button lifts. They came round very fast and you had to sort of stand/sit on them but it was all good fun. The Gondola lift took you up to the top slopes where there were a lot of slopes for the more experienced skier and some smaller slopes.
Food and Drinks
We had a bailey’s/irish coffee/hot toddie in one of the cabins at the top of the slope which was delicious. It definitely warmed us up not sure how much alcohol was in there but did have a bit of an effect. Probably not the best thing to do when learning to ski. There were many cabin type bars that served food and drinks dotted about the slopes. One of the cabins served burger, chips and a pint of beer for £4. You could even change the beer for a glass of wine for the same price.
The apres-ski in Borovets is great with a lot of bars in a very short walking distance. During the seasons when the snow is a lot heavier you can ski from bar to bar. The age range of the people in the bars is predominantly people in their 20’s but that did not stop us having a great time. All the bars are very reasonably priced so does not cost a lot to have a good bar crawl. We often went to Mario’s bar “White Magic”. He would organize games in the bar which was great fun. One game was to hit a long nail into a large log with the wrong side of the hammer. May sound a bit strange but playing it in a big group after a few drinks was hilarious.
Night Skiing
For the more experienced skier’s you could do the night time ski which looked great but we were still only novices so had to give that a miss. You could also hire jet ski’s which looked great but due to going at the end of the season we were limited as to where you could use the jetski as there was not as much snow around.
Summary
At the end of our holiday in Borovets we were able to ski a lot better than before we went but still had to stick to the smaller slopes. We do intend to return to Borovets on another skiing holiday. It is a lovely place are far cheaper than a lot of other skiing resorts. We will also have more lessons from Mario (Kristof) if he is available.
Images
Things to do
- Obviously go skiing
- Try night skiing
- Go snowboarding
- Go Snowmobiling
- Apres Ski
Top tips
- Buy Ski wear pre worn for first time skiing as it may not be your thing.
- We bought on ebay and got good makes of ski wear at a very good cost.
- Base wear is cheap at many sports wear shops.
- Accommodation is very cheap in Borovets but standard and location does vary, do your research.
- We wasted our time with the indoor ski center at a cost of £175 each for a day which is not cheap. If possible go straight to an instructor in Borovets.
- Check out the skiing season which is mid December to Early March.
- Check out other destination we have visited in Bulgaria Sunny Beach
Snow Fall
Average Snow fall
December 13cm
January 26cm
February 22cm
March 33cm
