Learning to Ski in Borovets

The good, the bad, and the ugly of the Bulgarian ski resort.

The gondola in Borovets, Bulgaria. Taken by the author.

First things first. I had never skied before my trip to Bulgaria. I was not interested in skiing. The sad fact is that my husband snowboards. I was fed up with being left behind while he holidayed in magical snowy wonderlands. So we went on our first ski trip together, along with a couple of friends, one of whom had also never skied before.

We picked our resort based on three criteria:

1. It had to be ski in — ski out: the only request of our one experienced skiing friend.
2. It had to be good for beginners. Half of our group were complete newbies to the slopes. It was no good going for a resort that was all black runs.
3. It had to be cost-effective. This was a new experience, and I wasn’t keen on spending a lot of money.

We decided to book the hotel Yanakiev in Borovets, Bulgaria, through travel agent, Crystal Ski. The hotel was situated on a green slope. Crystal Ski offered a great package including flights, half board hotel, transfers, ski rental, lift pass, and six days of lessons. it was around £800 per person. Still a pricy trip, but by far the cheapest of the places we had looked at.