2.54/5
353 reviews
Photo by Rat Ski via Unsplash

Bansko

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coworking

ski

season

town

cheap

good

nature

great

resort

limited

small

pass

year

summer

mountains

nice

quality

hours

unfriendly

Bansko is a popular spot among digital nomads in Europe, known for its affordability and access to nature. It offers a strong coworking infrastructure with multiple spaces including Coworking Bansko, Altspaces, and Nest. These spaces help foster a relatively large and active nomad community, especially during the winter and shoulder seasons. The overall cost of living is low, and housing options range from basic cheap rentals to more luxurious but still affordable apartments. The area is especially appealing to those who enjoy skiing or mountain activities, with plenty of hiking and hot springs also available year-round.

However, experiences vary significantly by season. During summer, the town can feel deserted outside the center, with many shops and supermarkets closed. Reviews also consistently note that the locals are perceived as unfriendly, and service quality at restaurants and stores is low. The ski resort, while affordable, receives criticism for poor management, crowded gondolas, and limited terrain. Social opportunities often hinge on coworking memberships, creating a sense of exclusivity and even fostering divisions in the community.

Overall, Bansko can be a great option for budget-conscious nomads who enjoy nature and skiing, but be aware of the seasonal fluctuations and some cultural friction around the coworking scene and local interactions.

AI-generated summary of reviews
4 months ago

Unless you want to spend the whole ski season in an outdated, tiny, crowded and poorly manage ski resort and terrible town and atmosphere, there’s nothing worth noting to do in Bansko.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

3 years ago

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.

3 years ago

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.

3 years ago

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.

3 years ago

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.

3 years ago

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)

4 years ago

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.

4 years ago

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.

5 years ago

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!

5 years ago

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.

5 years ago

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.

5 years ago

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.

5 years ago

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.

6 years ago

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

6 years ago

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,

6 years ago

✅ Very affordable

✅ Surrounded by nature

✅ Good coworking spaces

✅ Strong digital nomad community

✅ Good for skiing in winter

✅ Very safe

✅ Fast internet

✅ Lots of fun stuff to do

✅ Perfect humidity now

✅ Good air quality on average

✅ Many Nomads.com members have been

✅ Spacious and not crowded

✅ Easy to do business

✅ High quality of education

✅ Roads are very safe

✅ Freedom of speech

✅ Democratic

✅ Safe for women

✅ Family friendly

✅ LGBTQ+ friendly

❌ Unfriendly locals

❌ Limited food and service quality

❌ Crowded and poorly managed ski resort

❌ Boring and empty in summer (outside city center)

❌ Exclusive coworking culture and cliques

❌ Expensive

❌ Cold now

❌ Gets cold in the winter

❌ Nomads.com members didn't like going here

❌ Not many Nomads.com members right now

❌ Hospitals are bad

❌ People don't speak English well

❌ Many people smoke tobacco

❌ High alcohol consumption

❌ Marijuana is illegal

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Feels (median)

3°C / 37°F cold

6°C / 43°F cold

4°C / 39°F cold

7°C / 45°F cold

14°C / 57°F cool

17°C / 63°F cool

22°C / 72°F mild

23°C / 73°F mild

16°C / 61°F cool

10°C / 50°F cold

7°C / 45°F cold

1°C / 34°F cold

Real (median)

3°C / 37°F
very cold

6°C / 43°F
very cold

4°C / 39°F
very cold

7°C / 44°F
cold

14°C / 57°F
cool

17°C / 63°F
cool

22°C / 72°F
mild

23°C / 73°F
mild

16°C / 61°F
cool

10°C / 50°F
cold

7°C / 45°F
cold

1°C / 34°F
very cold

Humidity

nice
58%

nice
52%

nice
57%

nice
60%

nice
62%

nice
69%

nice
57%

nice
49%

nice
52%

nice
59%

nice
56%

nice
59%

Most common

☔️ Rain

☀️ Clear

☔️ Rain

☀️ Clear

☔️ Rain

☀️ Clear

Rain

dry
36mm

rainy
72mm

rainy
99mm

rainy
88mm

rainy
110mm

dry
12mm

dry
32mm

dry
47mm

rainy
73mm

rainy
79mm

rainy
94mm

Cloud

pockets
43%

pockets
24%

pockets
37%

pockets
35%

pockets
40%

pockets
39%

pockets
24%

pockets
25%

pockets
31%

pockets
27%

pockets
39%

pockets
34%

Air quality

clean
39 US AQI

clean
30 US AQI

clean
25 US AQI

clean
19 US AQI

clean
25 US AQI

clean
24 US AQI

clean
25 US AQI

clean
21 US AQI

clean
24 US AQI

clean
28 US AQI

clean
40 US AQI

Sun

safe
2 UVI

seek shade
3 UVI

seek shade
4 UVI

seek shade
5 UVI

avoid sun
6 UVI

avoid sun
8 UVI

seek shade
5 UVI

seek shade
3 UVI

safe
2 UVI

safe
1 UVI

Remote workers

1,400 people

900 people

350 people

525 people

3,644 people

1,089 people

1,525 people

850 people

475 people

486 people

844 people

Green is good. Red is bad. Values shown are the medians of all daily highs in a month based on past few years, not necessarily current numbers. Remote worker count is estimated based on the total amount of trips logged by Nomads.com members.

If you'd like to filter destinations based on their climate, try Nomads.com's Climate Finder

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✈️29min

$2,526 / mo

25 Mbps

Bulgaria

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 🙂 Okay

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked mediocre

👮 Safety mediocre

Tap to open

🌥 Feels 14° 57° 14° 57° AQI 93 😷

🚕3h

$2,532 / mo

🌇 Also went here158 people

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😳 Extremely expensive

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked bad

👮 Safety mediocre

Tap to open

🌤 Feels 15° 59° 15° 59° AQI 46

✈️2h

$5,391 / mo

🌇 Also went here116 people

Amsterdam

Netherlands

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😙 Affordable

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked good

👮 Safety mediocre

Tap to open

🌤 Feels 35° 95° 30° 86° 🥵 AQI 61 😷

✈️12h

$1,533 / mo

🌇 Also went here98 people

Singapore

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 🧐 Very expensive

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked mediocre

👮 Safety great

Tap to open

🌥 Feels 33° 91° 29° 85°

✈️12h

$4,358 / mo

🌇 Also went here104 people

Canggu, Bali

Indonesia

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😙 Affordable

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked mediocre

👮 Safety good

Tap to open

🌧 Feels 32° 90° 28° 83° AQI 177 😷

✈️14h

$1,917 / mo

🌇 Also went here102 people

600 remote workers in Bansko now, of which 3+ members checked in (some members are set to private)

Members who will be here soon

Members who have been here

Values shown are estimated visits by traveling remote workers based on the total amount of trips logged by Nomads.com members. Visits to a place are only counted once per year per user, even if they visit more in that year. Visits are also normalized by overall trips added per month on the site, so if site usage goes up or down it does not affect trends. Not all digital nomads are on Nomads.com, and not all Nomads.com members log their trips. So the data is only indicative.

The chart below shows visitors by nationality normalized for population size. This means we take all trips logged on Nomads.com, check which country of origin the user is from, then divide that total visit count by the country of origin's population. If we didn't, it'd just show the big countries like US, Brazil and India always on top. Instead, this shows which nationalities worldwide proportionally visit more or less, which is more useful.

⭐️ Total score	2.54/5 (Rank #404) 353 reviews
❤️ Liked by members	👍11 liked it 👎6 disliked it
👍 Quality of life score	Okay
👶 Family score	Okay
🎒 Community score	Okay
💵 Cost	🙂 Okay: $2,710 / mo
📡 Internet	😡 Slow: 23 Mbps (avg)
😝 Fun	Great
⛅️ Temperature (now)	🥶 Too cold: 11°C52°F (feels 11°C52°F)
💦 Humidity (now)	😊 Comfy: 48%
❄️ % of buildings with AC	🥵 Low: 22%
💨 Air quality (annual)	🌱 Great: 24 US AQI
👌 Safety	Good
👩 Safe for women	Okay
🌈 Safe for LGBTQ+	Okay
🤮 Food safety*	Great
👮‍♀️ Lack of crime*	Good
🤝 Lack of racism*	Bad
🎓 Education level*	High
⚡️ Power grid	Great
🌊 Vulnerability to climate change	Good
💰 Income level*	Very low: $622 / mo
🙊 English speaking*	Okay
🚶 Walkability	Okay
🚦 Traffic safety*	Okay
✈️ Airline scores*	Great
🧳 Lost luggage*	Great
😄 Happiness*	Bad
🍸 Nightlife	Bad
📶 Free WiFi in city	Bad
🖥 Places to work from	Great
❄️ A/C or heating	Bad
😁 Friendly to foreigners	Okay
🗯 Freedom of speech*	Good
🎅 Startup Score	Okay

🌍 Continent	Europe
🚩 Country	Bulgaria
🗓️ Average trip length	27 days
📡 Internet speed (avg)	23 Mbps
⛅️ Weather (now)	🌤 11°C 52°F + 😊 Comfy (48%) = feels 11°C 52°F
💨 Air quality (annual avg)	👍 24 US AQI
🔌 Power	230V 50Hz
🚕 Best taxi app*	TaxiMe
🚑 Travel medical insurance	Safetywing
💸 10 BGN in USD	USD 5.91
🏧 Suggested ATM take out:	BGN 1,000 = USD 591
💸 Tipping	Yes, 10%
💻 Best coworking space	Coworking Bansko
☕️ Best coffee place	Family Bansko Coffee & Kids Club
🏪 Best 24/7 coffee place	Coworking Bansko
🚰 Tap water	🚫 No, not drinkable
♻️ Return rate	👍17% of visitors return
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Population	8,600 people
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 GDP per capita*	$7,465 / year
👫 Gender ratio (nomads)	👨 77% 👱‍♀️ 23%
⛪️ Religious government	Non-religious
💻 Online electronics shop	Emag
🏠 Apartment listings	Airbnb
✈️ Best int'l air carrier	Transavia
🏥 Best hospital	Hospital Razlog

💵 Cost of living for nomad	$2,710 / month
💵 Cost of living for expat	$1,272 / month
💵 Cost of living for family	$1,792 / month
💵 Cost of living for local	$512 / month
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$1,818 / month
🏡 Airbnb (median price)	$2,084 / month
🏠 1br studio rent in center	$286 / month
🏠 Median home price	$76,893
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$85 / night
🏠 Airbnb (median price)	$68 / night
🏢 Coworking hot desk	$412 / month
🍛 Dinner	$11
🥤 Coca-Cola (0.3L)	$1
🍺 Beer in cafe (0.5L)	$2
☕️ Coffee in cafe	$2
📱 Mobile data (~10GB)	$14 / month
🚕 Taxi price (avg trip ~3km/2mi)	$2 / trip