Borovets is often touted as one of the cheapest ski resorts in Europe but what does that actually mean when it comes to cost? Well, I headed to Bulgaria to ask ‘how much does it cost to ski in Borovets?’ and find out whether the cheap ski life is for me.
Is Bulgaria Cheap for Skiing?
Borovets often finds itself on top of the leader baord for the cheapest ski resort in Europe – that’s how it got my attention! But yes, Bulgaria is well accepted as a great destination for a cheap ski trip.
Is Borovets the Cheapest Ski Resort in Europe?
Borovets is up there with some of the cheapest ski resorts in Europe. Other budget friendly resorts are located in Slovakia, Slovenia and Austria. We broke down the cheapest place to ski in Europe in our article below:
Is Borovets Good for Skiing?
Nestled in the heart of the Rila Mountains, Borovets is one of Bulgaria’s largest ski resorts. With 58 km of slopes, the longest stretching over 12 km, the resort offers some great skiing options.
Now, will those who have been skiing all their lives at top European resorts turn their nose up at the slopes on offer at Borovets?!? Yes they will! But if you’re just starting out, or wanting to go as a friendship or family group then I think you’ll be more than satisfied with what’s on offer.
For more experienced skiers, you can choose between 5 kmof black, 27 km of red and 20 km of blue pistes.
Is Borovets Good for Apres Ski and Other Activities?
Beyond the slopes, there’s some top après-ski fun and diverse activities like snowmobile rental and horse riding.
For drinks, there’s numerous bars around the piste and also down the strip in Borovets itself. Food and drink are super affordable, and there’s plenty of places to head to after skiing. Let’s just say, there were a lot of sore heads in the group next to us on day 2 of our skiing!
The Costs For My Cheap Ski Trip to Borovets
I went to Borovets in Bulgaria for 3 days in January 2024. I went with my brother, Christian, and we skied for 2 days as part of our trip.
Here’s the costs!
Booking the trip
Flights – £28 return
I scored my return flight from London Stansted to Sofia with Ryanair for £28! Talk about a bargain.
Car Hire – £10.29 each
After realising our flight would get in too late to get a public bus or a shared transfer, we decided to hire a car instead. I was so glad we did as it was a total bargain – only £6.86 a day for an SUV! That means that between 2 people for 3 days, it only cost £10.29 each.
Accommodation – £175.50 each
As I was sharing with my brother, I was on the lookout for a Twin Room. We ended up at Hotel ELA which cost us £58.50 each a day and that price included our breakfast and dinner. If we had been after a double bed, I could have booked us into an Economy Double room which would have only been £49 each a day. Gutted!
Ski Package – £176.90 each
You can sort this out when you arrive – there’s a lot of ski equipment places to choose from – I saved a bit of money by booking ahead. Plus it made it super easy to sort! I booked through Traventuria and opted for a 2 day ski package for £176.90 which included a lift pass, 4 hours of ski lessons a day, and also boots, skis, poles, helmet and goggle hire for the duration too.
If you ski for longer, the daily price does come down a bit!
Insurance – £19.45
This was actually the whole reason I was heading to Borovets – because I was making some videos to remind people to buy or add on winter sports cover insurance before their next ski trip! My insurance plus winter sports cover cost me £19.45.
Total bookings cost = £410.14pp
Daily Costs
Food – £21.38 each
As we had our breakfast and food included in our hotel price, our food costs were really low! Whilst skiing, we did have a lunch break where I got a coffee (£2.19) and a soup (£4.38) on both days. I also bought some refreshments from the supermarket too, such as a ‘Corny’ bar (£2.29) and a bottle of water (£1.09). We also got a pizza to share on the way home after drinks (£1.75 each) and coffees and water on the final morning (£3.11 each). Luckily I have a Priority Pass that lets me and a guest in airport lounges for free so me and Christian stocked up on food there too!
Drinks – £8.96 each
Now, if you’ve followed by travels for a while you’ll know I love a drink and so you may be surprised that I wasn’t on it every single night – ha! But on the final evening, we did go out to sample the apres ski and found ourselves at John Smiths bar. We had a shot which we thought was free (£2.19 – it was not!), a pint of beer (£2.63) and we also had a cocktail since they were 2 for 1 and so it would have been rude not to (£8.28 for 2). Worth saying that local spirits were also on the same deal and happy hour went on for many hours!
Tips – £10.94
I know this isn’t the case for all ski resorts, but a general understanding is that you will tip your ski instructors in Bulgaria – as long as they’re good of course! I read that between 10-20% was more than fair and firstly because I didn’t have any change (this was literally the only money I had to get out for the whole trip) and secondly because our instructor really helped me out, we tipped 20% of the ski lesson cost.
Petrol – £7.50 each
Fuel is cheaper in Bulgaria compared to the UK and since we only drove 1 hour 20 mins to the resort and then back, we didn’t use much! In fact, we actually overfilled the tank versus what we were given when we picked up our hire car.
Other – £0
We didn’t end up doing this but I wanted to mention that there is a thermal pool which many hotels offer trips to. These tend to be around €40 each, including transfers, but this is where having a hire car has it’s perks! You can travel the 40 minutes yourself to Kotvata Thermal Pools and only pay around £8.70 each to enter.
We ended up just using the pool and steam rooms at our hotel for free instead!
Total daily costs = £48.78pp
Overall
Adding everything up, my final cost for the entire trip was £458.92.
I thought Borovets was a really well priced ski resort and the perfect place for a beginner who just wants to find out if skiing is for them.
Whilst we didn’t get too spendy, I do actually think you could do this trip even cheaper! Our hotel was LUSH and I’m really glad we chose it, but if we had wanted to save even more money we could have booked a cheaper hotel, or even booked an apartment and cooked food ourselves.
I think it’s completely realistic that we could have done this entire trip for around £350pp, and I do think your average daily cost would get cheaper the longer you stayed.
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