Borvets, the new found frounteer - A review by Claude Keogh (Borovets)

Member Name: JCofLangwith

Product:	Borovets
Date:	12/07/05 (2817 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Price, Value for money, Nightlife, Friendly locals

Disadvantages: Occational Scams, Corruption, Lack of information prior to travel

Let me preface this by saying that although many Europeans visit Borovets(Borovetz) for the ski/boarding, the vast number of British seem to return for its other activities with ski/boarding something to do while your waiting for a bar to open.
The resort lies 2hours by bus from the capital city Sofia(location of the airport)

Hotels :
There are currently 3 major hotels in use in the resort.

Rila;
The Rila hotel is by far the best hotel to stay at for many reasons. First and foremost its location. It is situated smack bang at the bottom of the main ski slope. It is adorned by its own shops and services and is easily on international hotel. Stepping out side the front door, you find the town, the ski hire shops, restaurants, drag and chair lifts.

Samokov;
Named after the nearest main city(about 20km away) it too is a very nice hotel with its own facilities. Although only 5 minutes walk from the Rila, it is best situated for the gondola(more of that later), supermarket and cash points. It too is on one corner of the town but remains my second choice.

Olymp;
This hotel is situated on the lower part of a green run and affords good access from the slopes on your way down the mountain. This is the hotels only good point. Glossy photos and brochures do not do this place justice. It is a pre-cold war hole of a hotel. I stayed at this hotel and was glad to leave it when ever possible. Food, smell, facilities, rooms etc, were a joke. Personally in not sure how it managed the 2 star status but I would struggle to give it 1. I will not be visiting this hotel again.

Other;
The town is entering a bid for the 2014 winter games and as such is revamping and building lots and lots. There are already several apartments and some much smaller guesthouse style hotels.


FOOD :
Currently by western standards, this resort is very cheep indeed and still is very expensive on a national basis.
If you are English, you will undoubtedly be enticed into the restaurants by men outside shouting "steak and pizza", as this is the only food apparently that they believe we eat.
At the 'Blue Bar' [personal favourite] an 18oz steak with trimmings and sides, plus 2 or 3 drinks cost in the region of £5 and was excellent indeed.

There seems to be several local oddities however. The Bulgarians invariably eat most of there food cold. This is to say that the cook it then leave it to cool before serving. Odd!! Most places however, realise that this is not the way we like it and normally serve hot food.
A second strange thing that we noticed was, that at the 14lev (£4 at the time of our visit) mark, most menu items come served alone. i.e. you pay 14lev for a steak, you get a huge lump of steak and nothing else - you have to order garnish/side etc separate.


DRINK(alcohol):
Drink is very cheap to English standards but due to the tourist nature of the place, is not the cheapest in Europe. £0.50 per pint of "local" beer.

Avoid where possible ordering anything you recognise from home, in the hotel bars at least. A pint of Guinness in the Rila cost almost £6.

Wine is extremely cheep and the local vintages are often very nice.


NIGHT LIFE :
Borovets is a big party town. Tour groups and package holiday firms rule as a consequence. Dues to this, do not expect a quiet night out... ever!!


MAFIA :
It is a fact that a high proportion of goings on and activities in Borovets have some sort of mafia inclusion. This ranges from corruption of officials the street traders. My experience is that there is nothing to fear as these people rely on western tourists to a very large extent. The most common thing to look out for is scams but these are mostly opportunistic at best(i.e. getting police to come into the strip clubs saying that you have not paid for drinks, when in fact you have, making you pay twice) and not very common. On the whole not talked about and not really an issue. It turned out that our ski instructor was involved in the mafia but said that the only business worth doing was fake goods, a thing which has no laws against it as far as can be discerned due to the prolific nature of Okenly sunglasses and Tommy Hilfiga cloths etc, on sale literally everywhere.

ADULT ENTERTAINMENT :
The adult industry deserves its own mention due to its high activity level. The town is formed loosely around 3 street forming a triangle or sorts. This circuit measure less than a mile and has several branched streets, which bring the total road length to about 1.5 mile. In this distance, there are at least 40 restaurant/bars, about 20 shops(outside the hotels) and a minimum of 11 strip clubs. I wont go into too much detail but some(about 1/3) are mafia, remember the scams. The others are independents. All offer lap dancing(£10-£15). Most offer private dances(80lev/£30ish), some offer other services on negotiated price basis. These places are not as seedy as you may think and often locals meet up inside for a quiet drink. The ladies are very friendly, intelligent and genuinely enjoy their jobs apparently, so our mafia friend told us, purely due to the relatively large amount of money they can make.
Prostitution on the other hand is another business entirely. Girls will walk around hotel lobbies plying their trades. Very strangely, they will also drive round the streets trying to pick up stray men to take back to their apartments. Prostitution, although illegal, is accepted and very few laws relating to it are enforced unless a scam is active.


SNOW :
The snow season starts relatively late. Although dustings are common throughout the winter, in mid January, the real snow had yet to fall. We were told that the high season was around April.
There are 2, 4 chair man lifts currently in operation on the town side of the gondola, with several short drag lifts. The first of the chair lifts is directly outside the Rila hotel and cannot be missed. It is a little old and tends to throw you out at the top so beginners may be better to carry skies or boards. It tops out to a green run which in most places is unsuitable for boarding unless you like to walk, also a red run. These runs cross each other often and provide the opportunity to attack the black runs. In borovets, we found that black referred to ice due to low snowfall and made boarding tricky at best. Most skiers would not attempt. This is unfortunate for boarders new to the sport. If you have to stop to give way to a black/red run which happens to cross the boardable sections of green, you will not have enough momentum to continue down the green to the bottom without walking for over a mile. Alternatively, you can attempt anyone of the other 3 run-outs, directly to the lift. Unfortunately, these are all black runs.

A second 4-chair man lift can be found by going left out of the rila. A much better lift which actually breaks at the top. This is a better location for boarders and has a cafe just down the first bit of the run on the left but tends to be a little pricey. This run has a couple of choices but the black run offer a natural tube with a right hand turn which is quite fun and a bit of a change of scene. On top of which, it seems to be used exclusively by boarders. To find it, just keep right after the cafe. Unfortunatly it is unlikely that you will be able to keep momentum(due mainly to skiers and the narrow green) and will have to walk about 1/4 mile before being able to board again. Shortly after this, you will be faced with a choice, either rejoin the other runs from the other lift, or attempt the "wall". It is shear in places and has more mogel that a mogel factory. Try it, it fun but be sure you have good insurance.

There is a second area, which is only accessible via the gondola and almost double your altitude. It is well worth the 15-minute walk, the 5-minute wait and the 20-minute ride time. The gondola is situated outside the samokov hotel and is on top of a small supermarket. There are three stations, top, middle and bottom. Top is where we want to go to but remember the middle. Travel to the top and find a cafe or 2 toilets, access to many fantastic runs and a 40 wait to get back on to go down, as many people toward to end of the day ride up, just to have a look around. The some of the runs are green at best with access to reds and the odd black. As a border, there are really only 2 runs you should consider. The first is the main route direct to the middle station(told you to remember it) this run is very fast in places and is as most 3 miles long. It offers both very narrow section for speeding past skiers and worrying them ;p and relatively wide areas for carving. The middle station is off the right hand side of the bottom section of a black run. From here you can either go back to the top or avoid the long queues to get to the bottom.
The other run is not strictly a run at all but rather the gap made the feet of the gondola supports. This is known as "forest garden" much like any off slope area. The path is distinctive but not for beginners at all. It takes you direct to the mid station.

It can be hard to get back up to the mid station if you stray to far below it and will result in you taking a 6-8mile walk along winding green runs only to enter nowhere. A friend of mine did this and in a surreal moment, found a clearing in the forest in which stood a gypsy with a horse and cart(these people offer "taxi" rides). It cost him £10 to get back to the town. He added that he had never felt so scared for his life due to poor driving in his life.


OVERVIEW :
I learned a few lessons while in Bulgaria; firstly a DIY shop wouldn't go a miss. Secondly tip your ski instructor. Ours was very good so I tipped him 50lev/£20ish and he was so elated that he gave me 3 more days personal tuition showed me some more advance techniques. It turned out 50lev was about the same amount he was being paid to teach our group of 9 for 6 hours over 3 days.
Thirdly, every one has an angle to work on you. It’s a very commercial place.
Fourth, snickers bars cost more than beer.
Fifth, don’t expect to always be given the correct change. There are 100 stotinkies to a lev and they worth very little indeed. Combine this with prices like 1.37lev(all very odd prices), pay with 2lev and only get 0.5lev back if your lucky.
People throw stotinkies away.
Sixth, The rich are really rich, the poor are really poor and there is nobody between them.

Naturally I learned much more than this and could write double what I have. My greatest fear is that Borovets will loose is frontier charm very soon. Bulgaria is set to join the EU and will probably adopt the Euro, bringing prices right up. Also, they are going for the 2014 winter Olympics which will mean the place will become a sterile tourist hotspot with the only advantage from my point of view being the large amount of money being spent to modernise and double to size of the resort.

Hope you enjoy and keep the dream alive.
Claude Keogh

Summary: Indepth review based on time spent in the resort january 2005