Bansko

Unless you want to spend the whole ski season in an outdated, tiny, crowded and poorly manage ski resort and terrible town and atmosphere, there’s nothing worth noting to do in Bansko.

Food is horrible, with no real healthy options to eat outside. Very limited and low quality products supermarket. Almost all restaurants have typical ski resort offers for all the British you will find here. Yes, tons of them come for vacations and the resort gets so crowded that even in the best days only a couple of hours have good enough conditions. And that’s if you can make it in the first hours. Even the “fast line” gets packed with tourists with “vip tickets” bought from some hotels and agencies. Long waiting hours await you not only in the gondola but almost every lift.

People are unfriendly, service is bad. You’re supposed to pay for a coworking to be involved in any social event. The “coworking Bansko” cult led by its weird founder is specially known for being extra exclusive and unfriendly with people outside of the coworking space.

The gyms are small and only one has good enough quality. It’s cheap, but it gets crowded easily due to its small size and limited capabilities. You won’t be able to workout properly if you want to do advance stuff.

Bansko’s overall price of living compared to its value it’s very high, not only because prices are not as cheap as you could imagine but because quality is terribly low. In my whole life of travelling I haven’t found a place where the standards for everything are so low.

An absolute dump of a place. The ski resort itself is small, limited and very poorly managed. I hope you have a season pass because otherwise you're queueing for 3 hours to ride the gondola during busy weeks. It's also not a particularly high mountain so you have less chance of good snow.

With a season pass you get to use the so-called "Fast Lane" that may still be packed (because some tour operators give away special passes as part of package holidays) and it can still take an hour to get up. "Queuing" is not how I would describe the experience of waiting in line here. More of an amorphous blob of bodies pushing into a small area from every direction. At one point a fight broke out. The ski resort doesn't even bother with proper crowd control.

The town itself has a weird, unfriendly atmosphere. The food is pretty mediocre. The service staff hate you with every atom of their being. The nomads here are a bit odd and all seem to all be heavily into board games. There's a troubling cult of personality built around Matthias (the owner of Coworking Bansko) who even has a picture of himself on a sign as you approach the town.

Bansko is a fairly grim Soviet ski resort.
It's famously unfriendly - and not nearly as cheap as you'd imagine.
The ski resort is extremely limited and represents poor value.
A season pass is around 750 euros - whereas 811 euros gets you 26 huge Austrian resorts.
I don't think the economics of a ski season here make any sense.
And the entire vibe is grey and unfriendly.
We'll do France or Austria next year instead.

Bansko is the only place in the world where you're expected to "buy your friends"
The Coworking spaces (Coworking Bansko) in particular is owned by an overweight Austrian,
that created this cliquey - segregated society from the people who pay his coworking space,
Therefore, you might see a group of them playing volleyball in the park, or in the pool,
but you won't be welcomed nor invited,
Since you don't pay the monthly fee of the coworking space.
Such a disgusting behavior for foreigners,
stick to Banskolab where there's no membership free and people are real.

I stayed in Bansko during the summer, this is important as your experience does change according to the season.
During the peak of the summer Bansko is a call destination, with incredible nature all around, decent services, good coworking spaces (Nest - Business coworking, Altspaces- Boutique coworking and Coworking Bansko).

Positive:
Good coworking spaces, good gym, access to nature and good weather.
The prices are low, specially for accommodation.
Some private pools are reachable inside the town but you will need transportation to explore the lakes and the nature.
Good community and a lot of events.

Negative:
Lack of breakfast places, only 1 big supermarket.
A little too hot during July. (31 degrees)
Events are usually only for the specific coworking members, which is weird.

Top tips:
Join a coworking space as most events are private.
During the summer stay around the city center.
Go out and explore the mountains during the weekends.

In general a nice location with growth potential.

Bansko is a special place. You can get everything in this one little town and it is pretty unique being a coworking town in the country side. Several coworkings which all expanded (4), coliving options now starting. Several gyms, restaurants, bars with great food at low prices, lots of activities.

I liked nature, the mountains, lots of hiking, skiing in winter if you do that. If you don't ski, you can swim in the many hot spring public pool places and you can always go for walks or to the gym or yoga. It is best to be member of at least one coworking, so you meet other nomads and expats. The expat scene is quite large, friendly, expanding but many British people.

Some people expect a huge night life. Not anymore here. It is a village, not a city. But more and more things are happening. There is always something, always a BBQ or a get together with coworkers or Expats. If you are open, you will be amazed, how many different parallel groups of people exist in Bansko which live in their respective bubbles. Give it some time, and you will meet interesting people.

Overall Bansko is great value for little money, nice place to make friends and work quietly, it is still a village, everyone knows everyone, certain things are a bit limited, but its growing and if you want a relaxed smaller place to live long term, its a good and affordable option. You need to like mountains though! And hot springs.

(I have lived in Bansko for 1 year)

Bansko is much overrated. In summertime it feels like a ghost town in the residential apartments. The center is quite animated but it is not very expatfriendly. I did not see any digital nomad scenes. Not heard any other language than Bulgarian around. It is more a family oriented national village. Big supermarkets closed in summertime so you take a taxi to shop outside the town. I can imagine that in wintertime there is much more activity but avoid summertime, unless you want to be quite and enjoy nature. Internet was ok, but I found better speed in Sofia. Overall score: boring and not so friendly locals.

There is nothing to do in Bansko, The place is empty in he summer, most shops are closed. The nature is nice and it is cheap. But all small places with nothing to do are cheap. I walked around the place yesterday and I hardly saw foreigners only locals. Housing is cheap but most apartments have cheap and uncomfortable furniture. I don't know why people buy into the story of booming Bansko.

Bansko is booming! Some of the reviews and scores are well and truly outdated. In 'cons' - "very hard to make friends"!!! HA!!! Perhaps a few years ago. Bansko is now teeming with hundreds of remote workers (on top of the large number of tourists), with an extremely active and welcoming social scene. There are now 4 different coworking companies in Bansko (up from 1 less than a year ago), with the largest 'Coworking Bansko' having 100+ members and locations around Bansko. The town itself is also developing quickly, with new restaurants/bars/gyms (and coworking offices!) popping up seemingly daily. It's a great place, and is truly turning itself around from being an 'Austrian ski vacation on a budget' to a year round nomad paradise!

Bansko is one of the best places for digital nomads in Europe (and I'd argue, anywhere). It is incredibly affordable and a great alternative for those who prefer mountains to the beach. There are now 3 active co-working spaces and the internet is fast and cheap all over town. It isn't as much of a party scene but if you enjoy nature and quality of life you can't beat it. There are options for all price points - from super cheap apartments at about $130/month, to really lux apartments for $5-600 that are an incredible value for what you get (spa, pool etc). During the ski season prices are higher but we really liked it best in the spring and fall when it was pretty quiet and nature was the star of the show.

I stayed in Bansko one month in September and nearly 2 in the winter (January and February).
One of the biggest nomad community in Europe. Very cheap rent even in the Ski season.
Good ski resort, but sometimes busy especially at the weekend. So I recommend to buy a 20 day pass (or season pass), because you don't need to wait in the line at the Gondola.

Spent a week here during the summer. It's extremely affordable and Coworking Bansko does a great job at getting people together. Surrounded by awesome nature. Restaurants are okay. If you are into skiing/snowboarding, it can be the ultimate place for you during the winter. Otherwise, Bansko might get boring quickly, but it's great if you want to optimize for cost of living and still have plenty of nomands around you, while staying in Europe.

Great nomad community there, always something to do every night, and of course the mountain if you're into winter sports or hiking, mountain biking, etc.

Bansko — my favorite place to stay in the middle of season. Nice air condition, beautiful mountains and hospitality — that’s all about Razlog Valley.

Bansko is a great place. I purposely visited in the shoulder season as it is likely to be the worst time of year and even then it was still fun. Coworking Bansko has a great community and there are extra curricular events organised most nights, with willing participants. Think board games, hot springs, Movies, poker etc. They are also starting a skills list to enable nomads to find those who they might like to collaborate with.
The town itself is nice, and reasonably priced. Couple that with the low tax rate for Bulgaria and its a place to consider as a base.
Go there. You'll love it,