14 reasons for holiday in Bansko

The southern part of Bulgaria is close to Greece, so if the travelers love the style of the Greek relationship to guests in Bansko they will find an equally warm welcome.

Built by Austrian experts more than ten years ago, to this day Bansko are under the management of "founder": the service here is similar to the famous alpine slopes, the resort has a modern infrastructure, equipped with the latest generation of ski lifts.

Bansko - a unique combination of excellent conditions for winter holidays, traditions and customs of Bulgaria's cultural and historical heritage of the region. The famous resort offers a variety of modern hotels, comfortable and cozy apartments with its special architecture, large and small mehanas (traditional cuisine) and restaurants where guests can enjoy very tasty and nourishing food of local, European and Greek cuisine. All this combined with excellent service and beautiful nature of Pirin Mountains makes the holiday unforgettable. In addition to opportunities for skiing, Bansko is interesting for its nature, because it is a protected monument of the World Cultural Heritage by UNESCO and a nature reserve.

The town of Bansko is small: only 2 main streets. The city is divided into two parts: the historic and the new, modern, tourism, with hotels, located on a little distant from the old town (within 1 km).

Every winter the resort is a place of various status competitions so your trip may well coincide with the dates of important sporting events.

1. Combined tour

Opportunity to visit in one trip two countries: Greece + Bulgaria.

2.  Bansko in numbers

• The length of marked and well-groomed pistes - 75 km
• Pistes of different levels difficulty: 5 blue, 9 red and 2 black
• A cross-country skiing - 9 km
• The highest point - 2600m, the lowest - 990 m
• Modern lifts: 8-passenger gondola lift in Bansko-Banderishka (2400 persons per hour), 8 chair lifts, 6 drag lifts, several lifts- traps for children.
• 161 snow guns – it is provided 80% snow-cover slopes; support state of slopes is made by snowcat.

3. Higher mountains - lower prices!

Bansko - one of the most budget ski resorts not only in the Balkans but also Europe. There are low prices for ski-pass, equipment rental. The cost of renting ski equipment is EUR 7.5: easy to understand pricing format, taking to compare the cost of similar services in the resort of Krasnaya Polyana (Russia), which will have to pay about 28 euros, not to mention the pricing on the Austrian, Italian and French resorts.

In Bansko you can learn how to ski or snowboarding for just 27 euros with a group training for 2 hours under the guidance of a professional instructor.

Dinners in mechanas will cost near 8-10 euros per person, and the bonus will be big portions, traditional for Bulgarian cuisine.

4. A wide choice of hotels

You can choose an accommodation according the possibilities and preferences in hotels from budget 2 * to luxury 5*.  In this compact resort most of the hotels are conveniently located near the ski lifts; where transfer to the lift still needs it provides free ski-bus on schedule.

In Bansko you can combine a ski vacation and health treatments: several hotels located at the thermal springs, and offer a variety of SPA-programs. Almost all hotels have a SPA-center (sauna, hammam - for guests free of charge; guests can also visit the SPA-centers of any hotel at a charge).

5. Continuous ski season

Snowy slopes are available for skiers and snowboarders from 15 December to 15 April. Slopes are oriented generally in the north that guarantees a steady snow cover; snow guns allow to continue skiing even with above-zero temperature. The resort has a mild climate: average temperature in January in Bansko is from +1 ° C to +9 ° C, in the mountains on the slopes from 0 ° C to -16 ° C.

6. The lack of a language barrier

For English-speaking tourists the stay at the resort does not interfere with the language barrier: staffs of hotels, restaurants, qualified instructors for skiing and snowboarding, and even most of the locals speak English. Hospitality - it warms on snow resort, and winter days are extremely positive and homely!

7. For the youngest visitors

The resort operates a very good children's ski school, for the kids from 3 years. There is an ice rink - one of the biggest in Bulgaria; installed new attractions for children - directly in front of the office "Mouzenidis Travel".

8. Quality après ski

In Bansko, there are a lot of bars and night clubs: after a day of skating, entertainment and recreation can be continued until the next morning. So, the entrance ticket to the disco in the popular Jack's House is 2,5 euros; there are also a casino, a bowling center, a pool, an ice skating rink. Every season the resort opens new and interesting places. There are many mehanas - the traditional national cuisine restaurants, the most popular "Funny Village," "Veranda", "Salt and Pepper". Inexpensive meals are served in the restaurant The Med, where you can choose buffet dishes, paying for the entrance only 7 euros.

9. Excursion programs

Interesting excursion trips and walks perfectly complement the sporty vacation. Bansko - this is not only a ski resort, but also a colorful old town with museums, cultural and historical attractions. Region of Pirin National Park, which is located on the slopes of the resort, offers a variety of routes for fans of relaxation from discoveries.

Top 3 popular excursions: "To the Bulgarian clairvoyant Vanga" (Rupite - Rozhen Monastery - Melnik), Rila Monastery, Sofia.

10. Holiday shopping

Many sports brand shops, souvenir shops are opened in Bansko during the winter months. You can buy ski clothes, helmets, glasses, snowboards, skis and boots at attractive prices (much cheaper than in other countries).

Walking along the souvenir shop, buy in a gift to family and friends jam of roses, Bulgarian wine, warm knitted little things. Cosmetics boutiques offer the care products necessary at the rest and cosmetics based on traditional Bulgarian rose.

11. Consultations with Olympic athletes

Exclusive service of sports shop and equipment rentals in Bansko TSAKIRIS Ski & Snowboard Rental, managed by Olympic athletes Athanassios Tsakiris and his daughter Panayota: special bonuses for tourists of "Mouzenidis Travel", expert advices on choosing and fixed price, regardless of the season.

Bonus! Possibility of storage, cleaning and drying personal ski and snowboard equipment next to the ski lift in only 3 euros exclusively for tourists of "Mouzenidis Travel".

12. Comfortable transfer

Transfers are provided in comfortable buses from our own fleet of "Mouzenidis Travel" with free Wi-Fi.

Transfer Thessaloniki - Bansko with length of 220 km we overcome for 3-3.5 hours on high-speed highway! For comparison: on quite busy and full of serpentines road Sofia - Bansko with distance only 150 km, driving time is 6-7 hours.

13. The Greek Schengen visa

The entrance to the resort is allowed with the Greek Schengen visa (double-entry visa or multi visa, Bulgarian national visa is not necessary).

14. Free transportation of skis and snowboards

For tourists of "Mouzenidis Travel", traveling to Thessaloniki on Ellinair flights, transportation of ski and snowboard equipment is free.