Borovets |map|

Borovets Properties in the area: apartments, houses and villas, lands

Borovets and properties
Located in the heart of the Rila Mountains, Borovets is Bulgaria's oldest ski resort, established by the royal family at the end of the 19-th century and developed rapidly during the Communist era. Known for its lively nightlife, there is also a good choice of restaurants and family entertainment. The ski runs are ideal for beginners, although they need modernishing. Property prices in Borovets are relatively cheap now, but are rising as Borovets upgrades its facilities. Take a look of our exclusive Bulgarian properties in Borovets.

Why Borovets Properties?

Only 73 km from Sofia, lies Borovets, the biggest and the oldest Bulgarian ski resort. It was established in 1896 and since then it has become a very popular ski destination on the Balkans. Situated in Rila mountain, at 1,350 m above sea level, Borovets offers a dramatic scenery. It is located at the foot of peak Musala ( 2,925 m), the highest mountain summit on the peninsula, attracting mountaineers from the entire continent.

Borovets ski resort offers over 45 km of ski runs, kept in excellent condition. Borovets also boasts a very good ski program - it has more than 200 instructors, who teach at 5 difficulty levels.

In Borovets visitors can find numerous hiking trials that, depending on season, can lead tourists to multiple picturesque mountain spots.

Borovets is also known for its great tourist attractions.

 

Borovets
Near the turn of the century, Prince Ferdinand of Bulgaria built three villas and a hunting lodge among the aromatic pine woods covering the northern slopes of Mt Musala, a mile above sea level. The Mamrikoff family - after whom a verb meaning "to steal from an exalted position" was coined - and other wealthy folk did likewise, founding an exclusive colony, Tchamkoria, from which BOROVETS has developed. Effectively nationalized for the benefit of union and Party members in 1949, Borovets became a major winter ski resort in the 1960s, and is now largely geared towards package tourism. Lifts to a number of beginners' and intermediates' slopes are stationed right in the middle of the resort, so in terms of convenience, Borovets has got a lot going for it. It is also a popular place for Bulgarians to escape the heat during July and August, but pretty quiet during the intermediate months before and after the skiing season.

Competitively priced package holidays ensure that you get lodgings, skiing equipment and tuition - none of which is assured if you just turn up on spec. Also, most package operators offer lift-passes and "ski packs" (including equipment rental) for a lower cost than you pay on the spot, making package holidays even more worthwhile.

Modern Borovets is a rather artificial place, with the monstrous Hotel Rila acting as its main point of orientation. You'd be well advised to escape to the mountains as soon as possible unless asphalt walkways lined with souvenir stalls are your cup of tea. The one worthwhile sight in the resort is the Bistritsa Palace (Tues-Sun 9am-noon & 12.30-5pm), fifteen minutes' walk northwest from the Hotel Rila along the Malyovitsa road. A rambling whitewashed mansion with carved wooden balconies, it was built as a hunting lodge for Tsar Ferdinand (who entertained Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany here in 1913) and used by his son, Boris, before passing into the hands of Bulgaria's Communist elite, and back again to Ferdinand's grandson, Simeon of Saxe-Coburg Gotha. The interior is decorated in a mix of High Victoriana and Samokov woodcarvings, and bristles with animal heads and pelts, while heraldic lions crown the lampposts outside.

Skiing in Borovets
The official skiing season lasts from mid-December to mid-April, though the snow-cover is most reliable in late February and early March. Immediately in front of the Hotel Rila, the nursery slopes are served by ten drag lifts (daily in winter; 9.30am-4.50pm), and overlooked by a steep slope topped by the Sitnyakovo chalet, once one of Ferdinand's villas, that's accessible by chair lift (same hours; winter only) from behind the Hotel Rila. Experienced skiers favour the pistes on the western ridge of the mountain, which can be reached by a five-kilometre-long gondola (daily in winter, summer opening times depend on how full the resort is; 9am-5.30pm) running from near the Hotel Samokov up to Yastrebets, a former royal hunting lodge (now a hotel). Another chair lift serves the two ski jumps (55m & 75m long), while there are also shuttle-buses to the start of three cross-country runs at Shiroka Polyana, 2km away.

Hiking around Borovets
The Yastrebets hotel (4hr 30min walk or 35min by gondola) is the starting point for the ascent of Mt Musala, the highest peak in Bulgaria (2925m). The first leg (1hr) brings you to the Musala hut at the foot of the mountain, whence it's an hour and forty minutes' walk to the summit. From Mt Musala it's six hours' trek southwards to the Granchar hut, where one path leads down to Yakoruda on the narrow-gauge railway line to Bansko; the other to the Fish Lakes (5hr) where, after sleeping at the Ribnite Ezera hut, hikers can push on to Rila Monastery (5-6hr).

If these sound too much effort, you could try an easy, ninety-minute walk to the Black Rocks (Chevemi skali), east of Borovets. A row of crags with sheer drops on both sides, they were used by the secret police in the late 1940s as a killing ground for "enemies of the people", who were simply pushed off to their deaths. The trail begins after the Hotel St Ivan Rilski, entering the woods beside a cross-braced fence. Bear right at the fork 100m later, then left down hill and left at the next fork; when you reach the farm buildings take the middle, gravelled route and turn left at the fork onto a sandy track that gets narrower and stonier en route to a picnic area near the Black Rocks.

Borovets accommodation
Borovets has many hotels, all of which are grouped around the central bus terminal, but finding accommodation from December through to early April can still be a problem if you're not on a package or haven't booked in advance. At any other time of year, there should be plenty of beds, although places may close for a while off-season. Remember, however, that rooms cost sugnificantly more if you arrive on spec - about 30 EURO per person for a double room - than if you come on a package. Alternatively, you could try one of the two "vacation villages" at the northeastern end of the resort: Yagoda (00359/712 8343), a huddle of wooden villas with pointed roofs, or Malina (00359/712 8435), where you can rent your own log cabin, many of which have saunas, for 40 EURO per person, per night (based on four people sharing). Of the hotels, you could do worse than the Alpin, bang in the centre of the resort (07128/201, alpin@mbox.infotel.bg; summer, winter), a modern building with mock-gothic turrets and chintzy, well-equipped ensuites inside. Slightly uphill from here, the Flora (07128/520; summer, winter) goes for dowdier colour schemes, but is a reliable mid-range choice.

There are innumerable places to eat and drink in the vicinity of the Hotel Rila, mostly hastily erected huts serving up pizzas, burgers, grilled chicken and beer. There are a number of places serving decent and inexpensive Bulgarian fare, including the Belija Kon and the Zeleniya Kral - both on a pedestrianized strip leading off from the Hotel Rila. Drinking joints come and go from one season to the next: Bonkers is a particularly raucous venue for (usually awful) local dance bands.

Borovets |map|

Borovets Properties in the area: apartments, houses and villas, lands