Bansko Gondola Ski Lift — Attraction in Bansko

For a resort that is supposed to be dirt cheap, it is rather expensive, especially on the mountain. I paid 24 BGN for three sausages and about 8 chips. I would not pay this at home and would have given it back if I could have gone somewhere else. I wouldn't mind as much, but it was basically a canteen. We have since decamped to the 180 bar, which is fantastic and more fitting for the prices charged (I don't mind paying for something if I am getting good quality and value).

Now for the gondola. This is totally inadequate for the number of people wanting to get up the mountain. It was much better in the week, but woeful at the weekend, with 45-60 minute wait, even if you get there at 8am, which is 15 minutes before it opens. Also, there seems to be no etiquette and people are jumping queues left right and centre. To be fair, once you are up the mountain, the queues are OK.

Equipment rental service is good, but the quality is not good, with old skis and bent poles. We rented Advanced Skis and Poles, so was not going in at bargain basement. Again, I wouldn't mind if it was cheap, but it's not and I have rented better quality gear in the French Alps and it was slightly cheaper. On the plus side, they did not question when I took mine back for wax and edges.

The quality of skiing and boarding is generally quite poor. There are lots of beginners who really have no place on the some of the slopes. Ski patrol is almost none existant so they are left to their own devices. I know everyone has to learn, but nobody is going to learn anything side slipping, or falling leaf down a slope. The side effect of this is that etiquette is lacking, with people regularly shouting at you when they run into you. I stopped to wait at the bottom of a pitch just off to the side (not even on the piste) and not over a drop off and someone felt the need to shout at me. I asked him where he would like me to stop and he just skiied off.

The positive in all of this is that given that this place gets almost no snow, the quality of the snow is very very good, with excellent coverage and holds up very well, even into the town (the resort is North facing which helps in this respect). Light is rarely sunny (due to North facing), with the only real sun on the upper slopes in the morning. Again, there is a positive here as, while the light is mostly flat, it's never totally flat (unless there is...

Honestly, unless you live here I don’t see why you’d come here to ski.

Snow: The mountain got 2.5 snow storms in the entire season, and now it’s reaching 19 degrees in town. Yup, that’s probably it…

Lifts: Terrible bottlenecks and lines with people waiting 3+ hours during busy periods to get on the gondola.

Mountain: Great potential but without snow it’s very limited. The base is extremely thin, and pistes are poorly groomed and managed. The stats that Ulen provides are a complete fabrication. They include an entire chair/mountain that hasn’t ran for over 20 years. How they’re able to blatantly falsely advertise such things speaks volumes to the corruption related with this mafia-owned resort. It looks like a big mountain but in reality is quite small. The only way to ski down to town, Ski Road 1, is an absolute disaster and extremely dangerous! Skiing down double blacks is safer than going down that run during busy periods. That’s not a fault of the patrons - they’re all learning and there’s no other option, but it’s something to know.

Prices: Lift tickets/season passes are more expensive than most places in the Alps. And the experience is not even comparable. People come here because the accommodations/rentals/packages are cheaper - but you get what you pay for. Infrastructure is terrible and even considering that, prices are not so cheap anymore and the gap is closing fast.

Staff: Completely uninterested and rude. Where in other places of the world the staff at resorts are people with a passion for the sports, this is not the case here. A lot of the staff and operators are old men which are there just because it’s a job. The attitudes are not correct.

Patrons: Lots of inexperienced people going above their level and causing accidents. It’s a very common thing and you need to be diligent when skiing. Especially during peak season because there’s lots of drunk tourists skiing uncontrollably.

Overall, it’s a beautiful place and the town of Bansko is great. But to come here to ski? A...

Prices in Bansko are very high, but almost everything else remain the same as many years ago. If you are not skiing, but you like snow and walking throu the forest or higher paths, you cant use free van transport from your hotel, because that lift works only to tha start of ski lift or cabine. So you have to pay skipass, or you have to use own transport by car to higher spots, as Banderitza for example. So when you rich that spot, you can see long line waiting cars for entranse to parking of Banderitza ski plato, when you can use lower part snow paths for recreation. If you want waiting in the line of cars, and watching Banderitza staff how make exceptions for people who give them probably extra money for passing without waiting, after regular price for parking, (20 lev) I have not another explanations for this behavior of staff, you can passing on higher parking Shiligarnik, but I did not try this. Waiting in the line can be 2 hour or more. In the mintime you loose time if you are bay tickets for skilift for your children who want skiing only for Banderitza, because they beginers, and they are in your car, because you are afraid to lett them went by skilift alone to that spot. If you are not afraid for that, and you are lett your children to go by skilift from start from Bansko to Banderitza, because you are pay tickets, you can be in situation that your children come on Banderitza before you, with big time distance, and have to wait for you long time, tonrich you finaly parking on Banderitza, bacause number of parking place are so limited, or your children can start skiing without your monitoring. Which is definitely not safe. So....my dears, maby is some center for skiing in Europe, can be better choise. If you are inspite, decide to go to Bansko, I...