If you’re looking for the short review version of what I plan to expand on in great detail for Bansko, then read on. Bansko is not a ski resort. Bansko is a city, hyper expended by venture capitalists, filled with shoddy quick builds, and serviced by a single overworked gondola feeding into three hours of slopes, boasting some of the dullest and underwhelming Apres Ski I have seen in all my years, and all for a similar price to somewhere like Les Trois Vallées.
I should mention, this is not my first resort. I am a well-seasoned mountain man.
Bansko is not a ski resort. It is a small mountain town that has been blown way out of proportion by foreign investment. The ‘Old Town’ is the brutalized stumps of budget backstreet Turkey teeth with the new builds sitting like the temporary, fragile caps on top.
It’s clear to see the enormous influx of money that has poured into Bansko in the past 20 years. Wander just a kilometer from the two centers, one in the old town and one below the gondola, and you will see the scars of unfinished projects.

Hundreds of apartment buildings lie rotting around Bansko. They are in various states of construction, some with windows but bare floors, others are hollow brick monstrosities. One thing runs true for all of them though, they’re all for sale.
The entire town of Bansko is the same, with the sudden rush of money, and subsequent vacuum due to overbuilding, visible everywhere. What is left are small pockets of the old simple brick and wood shacks of the mountain village, dwarfed by the ugly, concrete, shells.
Do I regret living here? No. Is Bansko a good ski resort? I would argue it isn’t even a ski resort at all.
What Is The Skiing Like In Bansko
If you’re able to actually get on the mountain, there are a few kilometers of nice slopes. They are well maintained for the most part, and within three or four hours the whole mountain can be conquered. It’s a nice place to get to know a certain run very well and get kinky with it.
Sadly, they have priced out 95% of people who live in the country, or neighboring Balkans. Bansko is not worth the money by any stretch of the imagination.
Gondola Hell
But, the core problem is the gondola. The city, as I said, is far from the actual mountain. Bansko is not a ski-in ski-out resort with a solid 20+ minute walk to the single lift from the old town. It’s further for many others.
The gondola is the only way to the mountain unless you want to pay for a taxi on top of the extortionate lift pass. During holidays the queues go way over two hours until about midday, which then leaves you with about 3 hours of skiing before the last lifts are called.

Outside of holiday times, they are a little better, but it’s still over twenty minutes in the Gondola until you’re even close to the snow. Bansko is not a skit resort. It is a feeder town for a lift that leads to a ski resort.
Greedy Greedy
As of late, perhaps due to their new EU membership, Bansko has hiked its lift prices up to extortionate levels. A single-day pass will now set you back 56 Euros, and a season pass is only 100 Euros less than Les Trois Vallées.
To put that into context, the three valleys have 600km of slopes, whereas Bansko has around 70. Going to Bansko is a no-brainer: Go elsewhere. The value for money is nowhere to be seen.
But, on the side of Bansko, the accommodation is cheap, and ski hire costs little. So, money can be saved there. You’ll hardly use your skis on the paltry KM of slopes, so you better make sure your accommodation is worth spending a week in.
Napres Ski
Bansko likes to sell itself on its Apres Ski, but finding it is near impossible. Once you’re up the mountain there are a few bars that shut up shop around 3.30. They play generic house music and have less atmosphere than a bingo hall. The staff seem more interested in getting their day done than anything else. There is little to no dancing which is a core of what Apres Ski is all about.
But, maybe the Bansko Apres Ski scene is better in the town. Sadly, no. One company owns the majority of the big bars and restaurants, and they’re soulless. The restaurants feel like a mountainside version of a Wetherspoons, and the bars are by far the most expensive in the area and feature the same generic DJs as the mountain.

If you’re used to the Apres Ski of somewhere like Switzerland or France you will be severely disappointed. A better, colder, night out could be had in Newcastle. It would probably cost the same too.
The Bansko old town isn’t Apres Ski but does have a lovely selection of restaurants you can eat and drink until you have to be dragged home on a sled for only a few quid.
There are a few independent bars and restaurants to be found. Most prefer cash, as do most places, because, you know, tax…
Snow-ish Slopes
In the month I have been here, there has been very little snow at all. This isn’t something I can hold against Bansko as a resort though. The changing seasons and rising temperatures are hitting all resorts just as hard. The town of Bansko itself has been blanketed once, and it was beautiful. The mountain suffers though.
The snow cannons do their best, but the ice cannot be helped. I have been up much less than I would like, not just because of the almost hour-long journey from home to the first list, but because of the conditions. The mountain sheet ice can be seen shining through the snow from miles away in Bansko town when the sun catches it.

The sun dips behind the hill by about 4 pm, and for the most part, a lot of the 70km of slopes are in the sun until then. There is a satisfying variety, with a couple of mild black pistes. There are one or two top-to-mid mountain runs that will have you travel through reds and blues and take around 10/15 minutes to finish.
They do their best to maintain the slopes, but without snow, they’re unbearable and hard. There isn’t much in the way of off-piste if any at all.
Comparable to bigger European resorts that charge the same amount for a lift pass, Bansko is a bunny slope.
But What About Bansko
Like I said, as a ski resort, Bansko is clapped. Not worth anyone’s time or money. But, as a place to stay, it has its charm. For £500 a month, I have a two-bedroom apartment with a decent kitchen, two balconies, and a short walk to the old town center.
I have time to write, I have clean mountain air to breathe, a beautiful view, and plenty of places to eat and drink for reasonable prices. It’s a contrast to the loud exciting cities I have been living in for the past few years. Being able to walk through the snow and look up at a towering frozen mountain every day does something to the mind. It’s gently humbling I think.

The Bulgarian people in Bansko are friendly and open. They make me feel welcome, and I rarely feel like an outsider. Their service in restaurants is hilariously rude, but at least it isn’t disingenuous. I can imagine they’re collectively sick of the influx of foreigners into somewhere I can faintly still see as previously serene and beautiful.
The charm of a quaint mountain village is all but destroyed by the influx of venture capitalists. The town has been named a Digital Nomad Capital, drawing in thousands of tech bros and finance dons throughout the year. There are numerous nomad work spots in the town, which I absolutely refuse to attend.
For the paltry price of 85 Euros a week, you can brush shoulders with other crypto investing, startup funding, NASDAQ traders in the simulation office they all seem to crave. I think it is the promise of thousands of rich digital nomads that has artificially swelled Bansko into the ugly, derelict, bubble it has now become.

So, with this claimed title of ‘Digital Nomad capital of Europe’, you would expect the usual Digital Nomad culture. I’m not a fan of it, but I am no stranger. However, it’s nowhere to be seen. There are no meet-ups, few nomad bars and cafes, and no events available. Despite the advertisement of Bansko being a Digital Nomad haven, it’s certainly not apparent. Perhaps it’s a summertime thing.
Banskos Days Are Numbered
With the hike in lift prices, incredibly limited slopes, phenomenally sub-par Apres Ski, and a town that is looking more and more like Chornobyl by the day I very much doubt Bansko will be on many people’s resort list in the coming years.
The general consensus I have heard from people coming here for ski holidays is that Bansko feels like a scam. Two hours in a queue, almost 60 Euros a day for 14 lifts, soulless Apres Ski, and no possibility of ski-in ski-out doesn’t really draw the returning crowds.
Sure, the accommodation is cheap, and the hire is a fraction of bigger resorts, but is that enough to make Bansko worth it? I wouldn’t say so.
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