 Poster: A snowHead
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Ski Trip Report, Pamporovo, Bulgaria. March 2024
I’ve been skiing 32 years and visited over 40 ski areas across France, Italy, Austria, Andorra, Scotland and Canada but had never tried Bulgaria partly as I assumed the resorts would be small with poor infastructure and snow quality.
A deal came up through Ski Holidays Ireland for £600.00 Incl Flights from Belfast, coach transfer, H/B accommodation, Lift Pass and ski hire. Only another £100 for 6 days of lessons. An absolute bargain, so Rhonda and I decided to go for it!
Now, most of European Ski Resorts have been baking with warm temps all winter and Bulgaria was no exception, but the weather gods delivered and we had mostly sub zero temps with 2 moderate dumps of snow through the week, down to village level. Prob around 30cm of new snow.
There are only 42 km of pistes across the area which is mostly in Pamporovo, but the lift pass also covers Mechi Chal a few miles away. All the runs are tree lined and most have modern snow making. Although it is small by Alpine standards it feels bigger as you are always in the trees, I was never bored and usually ski 40+km per day, so cover the whole resort. You don’t get the same sense of travel like some of the big French resorts and the mountains are small so not the same high mountain scenery, but it is very pretty with forests as far as the eye can see, right across to Greece!
It seems to be marketed as a beginners resort but I found some lovely black, red and off piste runs to keep me busy and the bonus was they were deserted as the ski schools stick to the green tracks. Snow quality was good throughout the week and improved as temps dropped to -4C. Most of the chairlifts are high speed and fairly new, 1 T-Bar and a Poma, there is 1 dinky single person chair that must be from the communist era, but was a real novelty!
We stayed in the 3 star, Snezhanka Hotel, which is basic, but I found the food grand, just a bit limited at breakfast, it also has a really nice swimming pool. Like most ski hotels it is really warm and I usually slept with the door open! There is a shuttle bus from the hotel to the slopes which is very efficient.
The shuttle delivers you to part of the resort called Malina. This is where the ski rental shop is and you leave your skis and boots there at the end of the day which is so handy as no carting skis back to the hotel etc! You don’t even need to hunt for your skis, you give the man your number and he hands them to you!
A Northern Irish company called Travel Solutions runs the trips. We had 2 school groups in our hotel but the kids were all great craic and well behaved. The Malina area is the hub at lunchtime and most congregate around “Alex’s Pub”, the food there is excellent and very cheap! Eg Rhonda and I had a main meal and a drink for a total of £18.00!!!!!!
There are loads of other cafes and restaurants on the mountain, I didn’t have a bad meal all week. The Bulgarian’s are a very friendly people and seem to have a similar humour to the Northern Irish. There is a local legend called “Belfast Dave” who randomly wears a Belfast City Council coat and hat and sells Bells and Souvenirs. Completely random!
Now, I can only describe the place as a bit random, the bulidings look cheaply constructed, there are half built apartment blocks , abandoned hotels and by the looks of it no planning policy, but if you go with the flow you can accept the flaws!!
In conclusion, I was treating this trip as an experiment and went with low expectations! Rhonda and I had a great time, had great skiing, probably better than our last trip to Italy at Christmas, so yes I would go back to Pamporovo!
I will say that my impression of a ski resort is mostly based on the conditions during the week and we were lucky with cold temps and fresh snow, I may not have been so positive had it been raining or a slush fest! That said I have seen rain in the French Alps at 2800m in January. You pays your money and takes your chance!!!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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That is a fab and most interesting report.
And thanks, ya big gobshoite 
Much love
Last edited by Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person on Wed 13-03-24 13:17; edited 2 times in total
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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That is a fab and must interesting report.
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+1 And how nice to have people NOT moan about kids!!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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That is a fab and must interesting report.
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+2
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Excellent
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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I can't believe that old single dinky chair is still running - it's close to 20 years since I was last in Pamporovo, and it was certainly a novelty chair back then.
Much like you, we had a ball and the group I was with (mainly beginners apart from me) loved it, we had quite a few trips to Bankso for the next 3 or 4 years.
Nice report, cheers
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Thanks folks, great place for beginners, but still worth a look for experienced skiers if a deal can be found and snow gods play ball.
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First place I ever went skiing, on a school trip in 1990.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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My parents took a school trip to Pamporovo back in the 70s when it was still behind the iron curtain. It wasn't the first choice but the original option became unavailable for some reason so they agreed to switch to Pamporovo. They still tell stories of landing at the shared civilian / military airport and desperately trying to stop the kids taking photos of the MIGs, the cheap but good food and them all coming back with tea sets in the local brown pottery style. When my parents were there, the army were also there skiing in there great coats. My mum is only about 5ft and still fondly remembers being skiing along when two soldiers in great coats put an arm each under hers and skied down with her dangling between them  On the flip side, they also remember the locals begging to buy their clothes and sunglasses etc as they had money but nothing to spend it on.
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@sugarmoma666, wow, what a great story.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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A friend recently told a story about has first trip there in the 1990s. A Belfast tour company had chartered an aircraft from Eastern Europe. It arrived into Belfast late and as the Airline was unknown to the ground staff, the airport would not fuel it, the tour operator had to drive to their office, lift cash from the safe to pay the airport to fuel the plane!
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