Borovets, Rila Hotel

Ok the food is not British in most of the hotels but then who would want it to be. The culture of the village with the excellent salads and meats on offer and other foods is great, sometimes there is little choice in the rila and the same in the samakov.

Hotel was clean tidy and security were always about to insure safety.

Ive been 6 times now and never once been approached by a prostitute although there is a few strip clubs in town.

If you a relaxed chilled out person that enjoys going away to take time out from the british stress and rat race this is the place.

Yeah things arnt organised that well no one is in a rush but its a holiday whats the rush.

There has been a new notice board put up in the rila and all runs marked open or closed.

Shame all the moaning snobs from britain have to go there apart from that borovets is my home il be doing the season there again.

Laid back attitude with none of the pretentiousness of France and Switzerland. Bad point, The occasional snobby Brit. If you want 5* resorts with all the sloane rangers that go with that then stick to Val d'isere where £15 for lunch would be cheap.

>Borovets - Third World Skiing.>I was staying at the hotel RILA. Until I moved out. I'm here in Borovets now at a different hotel -the Ela, much nicer. I moved out because 4 of us were sharing a 'studio' and it was way too cramped. A 'studio' is a standard size hotel room with a set of bunk beds shoehorned in. When I explained this to the (Nilson) rep his best efforts from the RILA amounted to an offer of a room for 5 nights for 375 pounds (thats about 550 euros). They did get me into the Ela for 25 pounds a night, and although its 200 yards down the road its MUCH nicer than the RILA which gets by on a reputation for 4 stars, although I can't see why. It's one of those hotels where you hear every chair scrape and toilet flush and 2 out of 4 lifts don't work. Oh, and its smoky all the time in the public areas. The food is passable - just.>The Boro ski school is a joke. The ski instructors are not that at all. They are local lads who make good money in the winter by donning a ski instructor outfit. They do little more than take you on the chair-lifts. At my daughters snowboard school the guy stands around smoking while the class does virtually nothing. The ski class started on the first day as usual with the grading into groups. Except that the instructors didn't watch me - they asked me how many times I have been skiing, and on the basis of my answer (3) they put me in an upper intermediate group. We went straight up to the top of the mountain and down - fast - a very hard red. I fell and tore a rotator cuff and tendon insertion in my shoulder. After a 2 hour walk down I went to see the instructor. He laughed and bid me join them for lunch. I declined and went to the medical center where I was relieved of 50 pounds for what was very good treatment. Seems like they are used to injuries? The 4 hour lesson (nothing more than repeated chair-lifts to the top of the mountain and a hard and boring ski down a narrow, icy tree-lined 'run') is broken by lunch at a restaurant. This is so that the instructor can get a commission from the restaurant. Lunch costs about 15 pounds sterling and is mediocre. I had chicken that was red and bloody in the middle and fried potatoes. With a coke it came to 15 pounds. The ski instructor gets something that does not seem to be on the menu and is free. Skiing on the slopes is a free for all. There is no attention to safety, and the locals send people flying all over the place. The reality is it's downright unpleasant most of the time. If you are a beginner, watch out. In Borovets, you are constantly hounded in the street to go into restaurants and bars. There are beggars on the street and in the hotel. It is not family friendly. I'm with my teenage daughters, and there are 2 unavoidable girly bars, and an 'erotik' show next door. My advice? Don't even think about Borovets. The runs are narrow, icy and dangerous, the locals are out to squeeze every last penny off you and the hotels and service are derisory. In short, its horrible.

I had a great holiday in Bulgaria. I went with my girlfriend and we stayed at the Borovets Rila Hotel. The hotel was right at the bottom of the slopes! The snow was great, but in some places it was sheet ice, but apart from that, we had a brilliant holiday!

Borovets and the Rila will be the Ski Holiday Aiya Napa of the world before long.

The sad thing is that the holiday was spoiled by the couldn't care less attitude of the staff. Ask a question and the answer is a shrug or 'I don't know' before they walk off. Couldn't help feeling they were worked like dogs and were depressed.

Many scams, one that I had read about on a site like this, after I had booked: if you get a safety deposit box pay at the end of your stay because if you pay at the beginning and they don't give you a receipt they will make you pay again - I saw them withhold someone's passport until they paid up again- in the review I read, the receptionist got some of the security guys over -of which there are many all over the hotel.

Don't expect change when you pay for something - they never have it and it's a scam. I always tip but was never given the choice.

I too had a bad stomach (previous review) as did some people I met - who is monitoring this?

I have never seen so many walking wounded. So many accidents - wrists, hand, knee legs - mostly I am sure done in the town where the floor streets are not treated and it is impossible not to fall - who is monitoring this?

The excursions made people feel ripped off and the reps were only interested in pushing them - changing the subject back to them continually when you wanted to talk to them about something.

In some of the rooms the heating wouldn't turn down or off so my friends felt ill every morning.

The ski groups were large - twelve or so. This means if you are not waiting for your turn - you are waiting in the queue to go back up the slope. Arrange private lessons when you get there- about £20 for two hours- much better value for money. For snowboard lessons try Peter

Never any information on which lifts were open or closed.

The Ski Depot was robbed while we were there - another half a day lost, as we couldn't get our equipment. Trust me - the hire skis / snowboards weren't touched - you can imagine why not!

The food was just like school dinners. No 'canteen' management and my guess was that the bread that ran out every morning just after nine was probably slipped out the back door and sold off.

Had to vacate areas when VIP with bodyguards were around. Told to clear corridors and go into your bedrooms.

Last but by no means least had to listen to house/ disco music morning noon and night - at breakfast, in reception everywhere. It's not about the guests at all.

Prostitutes and Go Go bars discos unsuitable for a family resort.

What a waste of what could be a lovely resort.

The tour operators are either ignoring all this or don't care. They are responsible for not encouraging and condoning all the above and miss selling the holiday. They should be insisting on improving standards for both guests and staff. Its all totally unprofessional and they should be ashamed for not helping the Bulgarians retain their culture and encouraging them to take advantage of each other and us because they have no choice but to join in.

Swimming Pool was nice though!