Bansko

Bansko is the newest of Bulgaria’s ski resorts, so the lifts are all fairly modern, but the bad news is that the town itself is not. Bansko is the newest of Bulgaria’s ski resorts, so the lifts are all fairly modern, but the bad news is that the town itself is not. It’s rather run-down and sleazy, with sex shops and peep shows mingling with loads of caffs all serving English breakfast and chips and nonstop Sky Sports.

This is, after all, the budget capital of European skiing, and these days attracting a rather different audience as families and not-so-rich City boys trade down to here for their ski fix. That said, there is a bit of glitz with a luxury Kempinski hotel across from the gondola base station. And a new Small Luxury Hotel of the World is set to open.

Bansko’s skiing is absolutely fine for beginners and good intermediates, including some long top-to-bottom reds. But nothing for experts. There are great long queues for the gondola rst thing in the morning, so it’s wise to get there before 8am. It offers 75km of pistes and 35km of cross country tracks and the ski school, like all Bulgarian resorts, is fantastic.