Resort height: 936m
The mountains
One product of this frenetic expansion in Bansko is that, despite investment in new lifts, the infrastructure can't cope with peak-season crowds. The bottleneck is the gondola from the new base village (separate from the old town), up to the main hub of slopes and lifts. There are reports of hour-long queues in the morning during the school holidays - a nightmare for parents with young children.
Queues, aside, the Bansko mountain itself is lots of fun for beginners and early intermediates. The ski school is well-adapted to teaching Brits, and private tuition is cheap, compared with the A-list resorts of the Alps. Beginner or intermediate, it's well worth investing in some to fast-track your development.
The nursery slopes in Bansko are at the top of the gondola, and from there, you can progress to easy blues around the mountain. There are several more challenging pistes, but nothing that will test a more advanced skier or snowboarder. Frankly, you'd be nuts to fly over resorts such as Val d'Isère, St Anton or Chamonix to come here if you're already an expert.
Getting there
There are plenty of flights to Sofia, but the road up to the resort is slow. Transfers take 2 ½ - 3 ½ hours.
Rating: 
7/10
Après-ski
Cheap beer (about 80p a bottle), strong Rakia, and three course meals at £6 a pop help to keep visitors happy after the lifts shut. Around the base of the gondola, in the new village, new bars such as the Sir Galahads, The Lions Pub, and Amigo's Bar provide an après scene very similar to Andorra's in atmosphere. But many visitors prefer the traditional mehanas in the old town, which serve up live folk music as an accompaniment to their traditional food.
Rating: 
5/10
Non-skiers
The focus is still very much on skiing in Bansko, and you won't find so much to do here as in the Alpine and Rocky-Mountain resorts. However, there is an ice rink, snow-mobiling and parapenting on offer. If you're bringing a non-skier here, you might want to book into the luxurious Kempinski Grand Arena hotel, which has a highly-rated spa.
Rating: 
9/10
Cost of living
In the low season (January especially), you can have a very cheap holiday in Bansko.
Rating: 
6/10
Attractiveness of the resort
In detail, the new apartments and hotels in the base area are nice enough, but Bansko is still a work-in-progress, so expect cranes, and half-finished building work. By contrast, the forested mountain slopes are pretty, and the old town is charming.
