Bansko is a lovely, charming town with a population of about 10 000, a summer jazz festival, and a paradise for winter sports and relaxation. And that’s not to mention the upcoming golf club and the futures for building that present themselves.
The Blagoevgrad region, and the city of Bansko in particular, has the most expensive land for building in the country. According to area realtors and investors, there has been an almost 10-times increase in price since 2005. There are about 400 parcels with areas of up to two decares, according to imot.bg. Near 90 per cent of the land in the region is in Bansko and near the Pirin Golf Holidays Club that is under construction. Prices range form 40 to 150 euro a sq m. For instance, near the future course, 45 euro a sq m would purchase a plot of 1300sq m with views toward Rila and Pirin mountains, Standart news reported on July 24.
Such prices are due to the fact that the property in the area around the golf club is a few kilometres outside of Bansko. However, for property that is at the entrance to the course, prices for a sq m reach 130 euro.
According to area brokers, the area around the future golf course assures investor interest, particularly as concerns apartment complexes. Razlog municipality has already given about 100 building permits in this zone for the construction of such complexes.
The Pirin Golf Holidays Club, with its course designed and overseen by international golf champion Ian Woosnam, is a project of Balkanstroy AD and Barage & Co EOOD. The two companies’ investments for the 120 000 sq m facility total about 62 million euro.
Located in the Razlog Valley at the foot of the Pirin Mountains, just kilometres from the ski resort of Bansko, the holiday village, which is laid out over 900 decares, will include a hotel complex, permanent residential space, spa and sports centres, villas, shops, a horse-riding centre and, of course, a professional 18-hole, par 72 golf course.
In the town of Bansko itself, 30 decares have been designated for the construction of a sports complex around the city stadium. Included in the projected facility are the 5000-seat stadium (covered and uncovered), an eight-lane track, two tennis courts and a covered pool. Plans also foresee a commercial centre, playground, a hotel and spa centre, and under- and above-ground parking for 200 vehicles.
Landscaping for the complex envisions decorative pavement and preservation of the existing trees in the square in front of the stadium, and a park area to the south, with a promenade and seating. In the front square will also be the playground and an uncovered children’s pool.
The 10 000 sq m complex is to cost about 12 million euro.
Bansko’s municipal council decided in early June that construction in the town should be more regulated. Bansko will be divided into three zones: one where construction is forbidden; another, where construction is limited; and a villa area (typically located on the outskirts of the city and home to villa-type houses), which will also be under surveillance.
At present, Bansko has bed-places for 30 000.
The infrastructure of Bansko as a whole is being improved. High-speed internet access through Bulgarian Telecommunications Company’s (BTC) ADSL network is now available, as is digital telephone service with CLIP and CLIR capabilities. BTC is investing more than two million leva in the country’s three main winter resorts (Bansko, Borovets and Pamporovo).
With its five-month season due to its 2000m to 2600m piste elevation (it’s typically possible to hit the slopes from December to May), the Bansko resort area has about 65km of ski and snowboard runs split between two main ski areas - Chalin Valog (1100m-1600m) and Shiligarnika (1700m-2500m). This is also the location of the first snowboard fun park in the Balkans.
And how does one get up the mountains? With an eight-seat gondola cable car by Doppelmayr, five modern Doppelmayr four-seat lifts, one three-seat lift by Poma, seven drags and 10 baby drags. The total length of the wire equipment in the resort is 26km. All ski equipment can be used by one chip-card from SkiData.
All these pistes offer an load of options. In order to make choosing easier, there are huge monitors showing pictures from the different pistes at the starting station of the gondola lift. They provide current information on the wind and temperature conditions before ascending.
Given the quality and extent of the pistes, the modern equipment and the mountain’s helicopter rescue service, Bansko has also been chosen as home to the Bulgarian Ski Federation (BFSki).
To attain such world-class skills, a simple solution exists: ski school. And Bansko’s ski schools offer much more than just experienced ski and snowboard instructors who teach individuals and groups of all levels. There are instruction and guides in areas such as extreme skiing, trekking, beginners’ mountain climbing, fishing, bird watching and other nature observation techniques.
Bansko also offers a cross-country ski track with a total length of five km. A three km ski run Rollbahn track is situated two km from the town.
In addition to winter sports, the town offers a rich year-round concert schedule, 32 architectural sites of note, seven museums and museum-houses, and over 100 restaurants and traditional-style taverns. Accommodation choices range from authentic Bansko spirit in the form of rooms rented in private residences, to vacation chalets, to four- and five-star hotels.
