First Time Skiing As A Family Of 6 with Amy M February 2025

 This year we decided to celebrate my son turning 13 with his dream holiday (snowboarding) this was completely out of our comfort zones and something we’ve never really considered before, but after really looking into it and getting a great deal we decided to take the plunge. My son Ryley (13) did the snowboarding and the rest of us (me and my husband, my daughter aged 15 and other two sons age 9 & 7) all skied.

The more we investigated the trip the more excited we got about it and trying something new. Bulgaria came in best with not only a great hotel with a great location to the gondola and slopes but also in terms of spending when we were away and the package we got for the hire of equipment, lift passes and lessons whilst there.

We stayed 7 nights at the Casa Karina on a half board basis and the hotel was only 250m distance from the gondola. There’s only 1 gondola in Bulgaria and people can que for up to 2 hours to get on, so I recommend doing the same as us and having a fast pass with your lift pass. Each day we literally went straight up the stairs and waited no more than 5 minutes to get on.

First day if your renting ski or snowboard equipment is quite an experience I won’t lie, but once it’s done it done. How it worked was you fill in a voucher that has a bar code on, once you’ve found the suitable footwear for you then you can get either your skis and poles or your snowboard. These are all individually itemised and scanned through the system linking to your barcode voucher, so each day you collect the same equipment by just scanning your voucher. The only equipment you take back to your hotel with you is your ski/snowboard boots and your helmet.

Getting on the gondola seems a bit daunting at first but it’s actually really easy, there space for 8 sets of skis and 2 snowboards on the outside of the gondola, you place what you’re using in, all poles go inside the gondola and it’s about a 20-minute journey up to the mountains with the best scenery along the way.

 At the top of the mountain there’s lots of bars/cafes/restaurants and all reasonably priced, however there are no bag searches to stop you from taking your own food and drink unto the slopes in a bag pack (there is nowhere to leave this so whatever you take remains with you all day)

Bansko has 15 runs which is a small number compared to a lot of other countries that can have anything between 60-80 runs. That being said there are plenty of black and red that intermediate and advanced skiers/boarders can enjoy. The runs take about 15-20 minutes to come down depending on the individuals speed and you’ll find you can veer of onto different runs and mix up the routes a little.

My son who did the snowboarding had 3 x 2 hour lessons over 3 consecutive days and after this he was doing road runs (green slopes that go into nursery slopes) confidently on his own. Our Ski lessons consisted of 2 hours of a morning and 2 hours of an afternoon over 6 days of the holiday. We got to day 3 and this became really tiring with having a 9 & 7 year old in the same group of us. However, both the 9 & 7 year old were skiing green runs, so they picked it all up really easily, they could also confidently take their skis on and off without any adult help. They were able to turn whilst skiing, stop themselves, use the button lift independently and were extremely proud of themselves for doing so. My husband had never skied before and was keen to get going so even with a few lessons he started to enjoy the bigger slopes and managed to accomplish green, blue and red slopes whilst there.

Bansko is a great place, it’s really made me want to go to Bulgaria on a summer holiday. The food was great, the drink was great, everything was reasonably priced everywhere. The bars were always full of a great atmosphere as you walked past each one. Ideal place for families and those who want nightlife swell as skiing.

Whilst we were there me and my daughter went horse riding through the forest, again saw some lovely views and enjoyed being of the slopes and seeing some more of the country. The Bulgarian people were really down to earth and helpful, they loved a bit of banter, and you could tell were grateful of the tourists. Bansko considering how busy it was is really clean and tidy on both the streets and the slopes. Overall, a great trip, we all thoroughly enjoyed as a family.

Top Tips:

·       Sun glasses- don’t be fooled by the snow the sun is blinding up there and these are a must

·       Vaseline- Your lips go really dry so a pocket tub of Vaseline is a must

·       Flasks- If you want hot drinks or soup and don’t mind carrying it with you these are ideal

·       Boots- Make sure these are comfortable because it’s not enjoyable if they hurt your feet all day

·       Lessons- If you can afford to and you have time before you go, go to a local snow dome and have few to get your bearings

·       Snood- we were all sweating like mad in layers of clothes, but a snood was the one piece of clothing we all kept on and felt the cold if we didn’t wear one.

·       Electronics- make sure these are charged, transfers for ski holidays are a jaunt so to keep yourselves entertained download a few films for the kids.

·       Clothing- Ski socks and ski gloves are a must as well as salopettes and ski jackets

·       Ski Jackets- Its ideal especially for kids to have a jacket with a zip on the wrist/arm. The scanners for the lifts will read these through the jacket so they don’t need to come out and get lost.  

If you think this trip is in your family’s bucket list, please don’t hesitate to contact me for a quote today!

Amy M x