The truth about Europe’s cheapest destination for skiing

“Here’s the ski boot room,” our impeccably coiffed hotelier proclaimed proudly. I looked around. To be precise, it was a car-park-cum-building site with no indication whether you were meant to rest your boots on the set of old car seats – the vehicle they were once attached to nowhere in sight – or the broken fridge.

Spotting a hastily graffiti-ed figure on skis that indicated a side room (previously hidden by a whistling workman with a wheelbarrow), I was able to verify the truth of her statement. The car park in question sat underneath the Saint George Palace Aparthotel in Bansko, Bulgaria’s premier ski town.

My boyfriend and I had come to Bansko for a low-cost, high-fun ski holiday. Price-wise, we’d nailed it. Our six-night stay, including flights, private transfers, lift passes and ski hire, had cost just £725 each. Looking at similar packages in Austria and France, we would have been paying almost double.

It’s easy to see why, for the past decade, Bulgarian ski resorts have topped the rankings of the most affordable in Europe, according to Post Office Travel Money’s annual Ski Resort Report (although this year they were pipped by Bardonecchia in Italy).

And while Bansko is around double the distance from London than the Alps, the travel time wasn’t much different. Our three-hour flight to Sofia and two-hour transfer was only an hour longer than flying to Grenoble or Geneva with thousands of other Britons, and then following the traffic to one of the big French resorts.

Sprawling appeal

We’d booked a one-bedroom apartment, which was clean, surprisingly spacious and included a kitchen complete with oven and fridge, sprawling bedroom and even a walk-in wardrobe bigger than some of the bedrooms I remember from childhood holidays in Val Thorens.

The complex also had its own spa, with a pool, sauna, steam room and jacuzzi – a luxury we definitely could not have afforded elsewhere. Sure, the whole place seemed to be channelling the aesthetic of a 1970s Soviet sanatorium, but even that can have its own je ne sais quoi (if Brutalism is generally your kind of thing)

The town centre was only a 20-minute walk away – or 5 minutes on the hotel’s shuttle bus, which ran in the morning and afternoon – so we were able to hit the slopes first thing.

Most of the runs sit between 1,500m and 2,600m – not quite as high as soaring French resorts in the giant Trois Vallées but on a par with many in Austria and Italy – and snow cover in mid-January was good (supplemented by chugging snow cannons), with crisp mornings and bluebird afternoons.

Over five days, we easily covered all of the resort’s 16 slopes. There was one whizzy black run (usually three but the rest were closed) and eight reds – some a little short. The wealth of long, cruisey blues meant overall it felt better suited to families and beginners than hard-core skiers. Instructors were in heavy supply and ours, Xristo, was a bundle of 25-year-old enthusiasm.

Popular price tag

On the chairlifts, we heard a chorus of UK accents – from Scouse to South Welsh. Certainly, booking figures suggest the good value and good snow have been drawing in British tourists. Data from ski company Heidi show that sales of trips to Bulgaria are up 118 per cent year-on-year and outstripping the ‘classic’ European ski destinations by some way.

New operators, such as loveholidays, have entered the market to cater to the growing demand while more established ones, like Snowmads, have been scaling up capacity.

I spoke to one 30-something Briton who told us he usually goes to France with friends to ski. “This year they said it was too expensive, so I decided to come here by myself,” he said.

A mum of four told me they’d been coming to Bansko for years because of the low prices. “Although it has definitely become more expensive recently,” she admitted.

Personally, I was surprised by the prices I saw in the mountain restaurants. For somewhere famed for its affordability, 9 Bulgarian lev (BGN) – almost £4 – for a Nescafé machine cappuccino felt steep, as did 27BGN (£11) for a distinctly average margherita pizza.

Booze, however, was cheap. You could pick up a good bottle of local wine (try the Melnik, a native grape similar to Pinot Noir) in the supermarket for about 12BGN (£5).

Finding Bankso’s charm

Of course, the joy of a ski holiday lies not just in the snow. We tramped through town, passing off licenses, “peep show” bars and kebab shops. I kept looking fruitlessly for the charm – for the cosy chalet restaurants and local cheesemongers.

Then, almost imperceptibly, the town seemed to morph. Clubs pumping out Europop were replaced by olde-worlde taverns, where folk music meddled out shuttered windows, and bakeries piled high with golden castles of pastry.

Menu prices suddenly became much more affordable – around 15 BGN (£6) for a main dish. We also found a stunning Orthodox church (St Trinity) with enormous chandeliers, rainbow frescoes and glittering icons.

Sliding into one of the taverns, Molerite, we were greeted by the effusive owner, Malin, who plied us with his delicious homemade Melnik and stories of the local forests our meal had come from. Platters of reindeer stew and buttery foraged mushrooms were interspersed with visits to his ageing cellar and serenades by a four-piece folk band.

The food and wine would command gourmet prices in London – yet 1-litre carafes of wine cost just 21BGN (£9) and plates of succulent barbecued meat started from around 17BGN (£7).

At the end we asked our waiter, Stanislav, how much a taxi to our hotel would cost. Instead, he offered us a lift. In the car, I realised I’d found the charm I was looking for. Not necessarily in the restaurant itself (lovely though it was) but in the people.

I remembered how my skis and bags had been carried up the stairs in the ski hire shop (Pirin 2000) every day before I could even grab them and the care our ski instructor had taken in coaxing me down a run slick with ice.

Even our tour of the Saint George “boot room” had been accompanied by two affable hotel staff, desperate to show off their facilities.

The people of Bansko had that rare virtue you rarely find in other European ski resorts these days: they actually want you to be there. And if good hospitality doesn’t equal good value, I’m not quite sure what does.

Essentials

Marianna Hunt was a guest of Heidi (heidi.com).  Heidi offers six nights self-catered for two at Saint George Palace Aparthotel from £725 per person, including flights to Sofia, private transfers, lift pass and equipment hire.