Printable View
i am travelling through bulgaria without skis on my way to istanbul and wouldn't mind sussing out bansko for next winter. does anyone know how far it is from sofia and what sort of transport is available? also is there anywhere relatively cheap to stay up there? thanks.
Try to PM Jiehkavarri.
He was in the tatra area (witch isnt even close,but he might no something/someone).
I´ll try to ask my friend tomorrow who was there couple of years ago.
He might not be in the country atm, so dont bet on it.
If it was the place that he told of it went something like this : Cheap ,mafiosos, quite lot of snow on a good year, on the year he was there it was only mud, mafiosos,mafiosos,corruption and nice people.Couple nice lines if you walk.
I might be totally wrong. Or not.I´ll let you know.
Roo has a stong opinion on the place. I almost planned to go there, but opted for Italy, Slovenia & Serbia instead. I believe that Bansko is about 45 minutes or a bit more from Sofia, relitively easy to get to from there, and Bulgaria is supposed to be mad cheap. My family in Serbia travels there to do some shopping occasionally.
From Bad_Roo's comments it sounds like there is a lot of corruption there as well as Mafia. I was also told the same thing about the Former Yugoslavia, and I found the Police were worse than the mafia.
Have fun, that part of the world is amazing. I can't wait till I go back in August.
i'm from bulgaria, though i haven't skied there in a few years.
bansko remains one of the top resorts there, but if you're going to visit in spring or summer you may want to go to better (read less-commercialized) places. the Rila Lakes for example.
bansko is ~80km from the capital. transport usually means buses, which are generally available. have a friend, just in case (bad roo will have more to say about the sketchiness of the area)...
send a message to the bulgarian extreme and freeride ski association, there's a good chance someone would volunteer to be a guide for a fellow maggot (they organized the Mad Goat Ride competition, which powder and a couple of other magazines wrote about in 2004). you'll find contact info on their web site:
http://befsa.com/uk/befsa_uk_main.htm
to whet your appetite:
http://bgphoto.net/photos/1058/o632421628178593750.jpg
edit: i'll be in banff next week for a conference mon to thursday. will ski sunshine on sunday (driving back to calgary) and monday until noon. if you're around and want to see the natives of the area you'll be visiting we can either have a couple of beers on the hill or do some pub in the pm. i can give you information about basic means of transportation in bulgaria, a couple of hints what to avoid and possibly the names of a few worthy places to visit.
would love to hook up but i'm on my way to bucharest tomorrow. you should PM idris, L7 or mtnlion, they are all around banff. I may check out rila lakes. have no real plan so its all open.
Tatra isn't that close to the Balkan mountains.
However the terrain seems pretty similar (= very nice on a good snow year, alot of 'mini golf' lines, some trees, steep but relatively short chutes etc.)
There was a great article in Powder last fall about Bansko. Definately made me want to check the area some day. They've invested quite alot to the lift systems, hotels etc. in recent years there.
I think there's also a segment in the latest(?)TGR film from Bulgaria...that crazy ice tower jib, Marc-Andre Belliveau and Jamie Pierre skiing some pow and dropping etc. Short segment but it still gives you some hint of the terrain.
the pic of the day at biglines.com is from the same guys from BEFSA mentioned in the above posts. it's a dragon-sponsored road gap:
http://www.biglines.com/photos_large.php?picid=37639
http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic37639.jpg
bansko is awesome man..
you can find info here. http://www.banskoski.com/index.xhtml.en
and here's a vid of me @ bansko
http://www.spectivedance.com/andrewk...adventures.mpg
Messner, quick feet at the end of that clip.
yep manQuote:
Originally Posted by INDY GS
it was tough
Where are you in Greece? I may be flying into Athens in August.
thessaloniki..
but who knows where i might be in august..maybe ios - santorini - mykonos - zakynthos and why not ibiza!!
u will come for vacations?
thessaloniki, not terribly far from my family in SCG...I would be heading to visit family in Nis, YU and then to the adriatic coast. We may or may not Fly into Athens, it all depends on price of flights to Belgrade. How is train service in Greece?
it's nice.. info here http://www.ose.gr/%28821703027604945...ome.asp?lang=2
wanna hook up for a beer in thessaloniki? going to be stopping there at least once on my way to visit my family in peleponnese. i will probably be through there in about 3 or 4 days from sofia then again on my way back from istanbul.Quote:
Originally Posted by messner
Indy - I'm in belgrade right now...any suggestions of things to do, places to see or girls to meet. I think i'm in love with serbian girls. it's been nothing but a string of pleasant surprises since i arrived here.
Check out the web cams! Seems like there's some pretty decent snow situation right now: http://www.banskoski.com/en/livecam-2.jpg
That's quite suprising I have to say...I thought the season is supposed to be quite short there!
Interesting.
Powslut, there is a street in Belgrade you should check out called Silicone Alley (for obvious reasons). I can find out more info if you haven't found it yet.
Indy GS and powslut if you find yourselves in Bosnia (Sarajevo) drop me a PM. I'll be back in Canada for part of July/August but i'll be back after that (with trips out to the coast). Might make a trip to Greece in about a month or so.
Powslut, if you like the girls in Belgrade...you'll love the girls in Sarajevo (not that i'm looking)
edit (spel)
bulgaria has had a weird year -- it only really started snowing in mid-January and didn't stop for a couple of months...Quote:
Originally Posted by Jiehkevarri
most of the other resorts there are closed already.
it started snowing during x-mas not mid - january and there is plenty of snow now @ bansko..
found it all in belgrade, what a great town. Experiencing Sofia for another night then off to Istanbul. I'm loving this corner of the world. Wish I could have made it to Sarajevo, heard nothing but good things about it from other travellers. It's looking like I'm going to be somewhere in Greece for the summer so PM me when you figure out where you're going to be.Quote:
Originally Posted by powfreak
Sorry I wasn't around to let you know what to do in Belgrade, but it is an awsome town. Kalamegdon (the fort) is really beautiful with great views of the river. See the New Orthodox Church as well as the old one. Mijhilova promanade, great shopping area near Kalamegdon, lots of hot women out walking around shopping. Also for great eats Skardaljia, which is an old beatnik hangout area oldtown type place, very scenic with cobblestone streets. Also check out the mansions and awsome homes in Dedinja.
Eat a lot of mixed grill and have some schlivovitz for me. Zivoli.
Forgive my spelling, on the Serbian words.
INDY
Powfreak, you live full time in Sarajevo? I wish I'd known, I was in Serbia for 8 Days in January, and wanted to make it to Sarajevo for at least a day, but didn't. I plan on traveling to Nis, Belgrade and then to the coast probobly Kotor Bay during either August or September. We are trying to have somewhat of a family reunion while over there.Quote:
Originally Posted by powfreak
If you find yourself in Indiana ever (probobly unlikely) feel free to drop me a PM.
INDY
ugggh. Schilvovitz is baaaaad. Mixed grill good. Cevapcici better!Quote:
Originally Posted by INDY GS
Indy, I'm full time in Sarajevo for the moment. Till the end of the year and hopefully beyond. Drop me a PM if you are around this summer. I'll be making trips to Dubrovnik, Split, Hvar among other stops throughout the summer so our paths might cross.
Cevapcici is usually in with the mixed grill, definately my favorite. Schlivovitz is a good kind of baaaaad, in that I like to drink moonshine till I'm blind kind of way. I like it in moderation.
Are you from Bosnia, or are you transplanted there. Maybe our paths will cross, I would love to visit Dubrovnik and Split. If I had time I would like to go allthe way up the Dalmation coast, but I don't think 2 weeks is enough time.
Later,
INDy
Just saw this thread now so it's a bit late! Anyway, for whomever is interested in Bansko for 05/06 season I have to say that it is a brilliant resort!
Very cheap, no cues, good nightlife and good runs. Snowboarding is excellent. The government has just spent 30M euros to upgrade all the facilities and they are now all first class. There's lots of into about the resort (and also accommodation) here: www.go-ski-bulgaria.co.uk
Bansko is about 2 hours south of Sofia.
Check it out and go there - you'll love it.
Since there isnt a lot of info about bankso I;ll post some. I was there in the summer of 02 on a backpacking trip. So my info is just about Bulgaria in general.
We started from the ski resort of Borovec which looked ok but not worth the trip. We hiked through to the rila lakes and rila. Then we ended up in Bansko.
Bansko was an awesome town with really cool old buildings that were all being fixed up and turned into "inns" restaurants and bars. It is very cheap to stay. (we payed about 10 bucks a night for one of the nicest hotel rooms that ive ever stayed in.
From there we hiked up into the Pirin mts national park. Which was then being ruined by the upgrade of the ski resort. The skiing did look pretty fun though. I've been wanting to go back and ski there for awhile and I think it may happen this winter.