When you are sipping an ice-cold apres-ski beer – for the princely sum of £1.84 – at your cosy hotel bar in the Bulgarian ski resort of Bansko, feeling a tad smug is perhaps understandable.
For as you gaze across the retro furniture towards the gently flickering fireplace, it’s hard not to pinch yourself at how little your ski holiday is costing.
Because it won’t be much: a week in this pleasant setting with flights, transfers and breakfasts included can start as low as £53 a day base rate, and from £109 with a lift pass, rental equipment and daily food.
Yes, a £53 base rate… less than a night in your average Travelodge or Premier Inn by a roundabout on an A-road back in the UK.
This was the cheapest that could be found in Europe this winter. So I’m giving it a try – and already I like it.
Tom Chesshyre relaxing by the Alpine Bar during his budget-friendly ski break
I’m staying at Hotel Mura (with the £53 daily rate), having checked into a spacious, warm, comfortable room – admittedly slightly beige in decor, though that’s nitpicking.
There’s a large bathroom, a minibar stocked with beers and brandy miniatures (both £3.10), plus a wide armchair by a balcony offering splendid snow-capped mountain views.
In the basement is a free spa. I have already tested the large gurgling hot tub, mosaic-tiled steam room and sauna, which smells pleasingly of eucalyptus.
There are treatment rooms with massages – at a rate of £40 for 50 minutes – and a chill-out zone with loungers.
Not bad at all. And having booked a week-long break, I’m planning to make the most of it.
The resort enjoys 75km of well-groomed slopes mainly suited to intermediates and beginners, with the odd black (expert) run.
I’m aiming to regain confidence on the white stuff after an absence, while sampling the resort’s great-value restaurants and bars that recently saw it ranked number one in Europe in the easyJet Cheap Ski Index based on the cost of lift passes, ski hire and hotels.
Bulgarian ski resort Bansko has excellent slopes, as well as a pretty town to explore
How did it all add up?
At it’s cheapest this season…
B&B hotel with transfers – £368Six-day lift pass and equipment hire – £358Food – (£30 per day x 7 = £210)Two Coca-Colas, a coffee and two beers at cheapest venues – (£9 per day x 7 = £63)TOTAL: £999… or £143 a day, all-in
Bansko also happens to be quite lovely, surrounded by thick pine forest in Pirin National Park. This sublime location, with pyramid-shaped peaks all around, is happily protected from overdevelopment by park authorities.
This, however, comes at a price. Morning queues for the main gondola – rising from 936m to 1,635m – can take an hour unless you turn up early to beat the rush.
You soon slip into the rhythm of the resort. Up at 7am, excellent buffet breakfast at Hotel Mura, then a free shuttle to the gondola at 8am.
A coffee break at 11am (£3 at the popular tent-like Alpine Bar). Lunch around 2pm at The Barrels restaurant by the top of the gondola (£6 for a bowl of chunky chicken soup or £10 for grilled pork skewers with rice).
The epicentre of apres-ski is the Happy End bar. Here, it’s £6 a beer, pricey locally, but worth it for the spectacle of hedonists in ski gear dancing on tables to Euro hits like they’re in Ibiza.
Bansko can, at times, also feel like another party place closer to home – Blackpool. There’s also almost constant Premier League at the Queen’s Pub (entered via a British phone box-shaped door).
Bingo is held at the Penguins Bar. You can drink Guinness and listen to live music at the Amigo Pub, where drinking games are overseen by Butlins-style tour reps.
It’s all a bit British seaside on the slopes – and there’s also a seedy side with ‘adultz erotic shows’ and pole-dancing venues.
But then you have Bansko’s old town to explore, with cobbled streets, 100-year-old timber buildings, distinguished orthodox churches, flagstone squares and a poignant museum to the tragic life of the renowned local poet, Nikola Vaptsarov (1909-1942) – a peace campaigner whose life was cut short by a firing squad after resistance against the Nazis.
This is definitely not just Blackpool with altitude, it’s a real city, founded in the 9th century, with a rich, proud history. There are many a mehana (traditional taverna-like restaurants) in the old centre. At Obetsanova Mehana, I feast on veal stew with Shopska salad (cheese, tomato, onion and cucumber) and garlicky flatbread.
The soundtrack is a clarinettist playing folk tunes. The setting is wooden panels with old pistols and rifles hanging from walls, a blazing fire, low beams and sheepskin-covered seating. The food is delicious.
The price? £29 with a drink. This is steep for Bansko. It’s £20 at other spots. But with beers for a pound, you can afford to ‘splurge’ every now and then.
Bulgaria adopted the euro last month and the lev ceased to be legal tender on January 31, which pushed up prices slightly but not all that much.
Talking to Brits on chairlifts, they all mention the resort’s good-value food and drink. And it’s just as popular with Bulgarians – another good sign.
Back at the bar at Hotel Mura on my final night, I raise a glass to what might just be Europe’s cheapest ski holiday. Bravo to bargain Bansko!
TRAVEL FACTS
A week’s stay at Hotel Mura starts at £566pp with Heathrow flights and transfers this season (igluski.com) – £81 a night. Iglu Ski also offers Four Points by Sheraton Bansko from £793pp B&B for seven nights departing from Gatwick or Birmingham with transfers, next season (2026/2027).
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