After a cancelled Bulgarian ski trip last December due to a lack of snow, we made it to the resort of Jahorina in Bosnia during the Easter holiday. A bit apprehensive seeing as their ski season shut down 48 hours before we landed and looking at the resort webcams which did show some snow on the slopes, there was plenty of green to be seen too. But what an excellent week we had.
So I must confess before I start that Lucy and I (Dad) have skied on a few occasions before we had children. I always loved skiing but Lucy, not so much. We skied Bulgaria in the December of 2021 with the children minus Alexander as he was too young for lessons in the resort and as ever it’s all about the shared experience for me not necessarily how fast you can get down the slopes!
This time we booked lessons for the children all together and also for us as adults, we even went with another couple and their son too, to make a true family and friends experience.
Our hotel which had been newly renovated in 2021 looked lovely, and it was. Apartment Rajska is a very small apartment block with ski-in and out facilities. Although on the drive up we were met with a view of brown slopes and tarmacked roads.
On arriving and checking in the ski hire shop was at the base of the hotel and they said to save time we should get our gear sorted tonight and then they would transport it to their sister hotel at the base of the slope. (given that due to it being the end of the season, leading to the only ski lifts open are the ones a 5-minute transfer away).
The room we had was a lovely top floor 3 bedroom duplex apartment with self-catering facilities and like the website had said it was crisp and fresh.
The next morning we met at 9 am and were transferred via but to the bottom of our slope in the centre with the only working ski lift. Boots and skis collected and put on, (I will be honest I forgot how slow this process was) we made our way over to the lesson meeting point and then again led to nursery slope – which was a magic carpet from bottom to top (took about 2 minutes to get from bottom to top and there was staff on hand to aid embarking and embarkation.)
These slopes were great for starting and as adults we were together with 3 other people and the children all together were with another 6 children. Everyone seemed to be making great progress on the first day and the lessons run from 10-12 so we had the rest of the day to practice and eat and drink, which over the following 7 days we did plenty of.
On returning to the hotel after being picked up at 4 pm we went down to dinner at 7 pm. We appeared to be in the final room to be eating which meant everything came very quickly the waiting staff was amazing and interacted with the children very well and supplied them with the hotel WI-FI code (not sure what would happen if this wasn’t the case!)
Oh, and it started snowing in the evening, and it went on, and on and on! (we found out that the resort should have opened the first week in December but due to no snow, they opened up the second week in January.
On the second day, we started off on the nursery slopes once more with our instructor Marco a ski instructor in his first year, who was very patient with us all. Here we all covered the basics again and on day 3 we would be hitting the slopes.
On day 3 we used the t-bar lift (the only day it was operating) to make it halfway up the mountain to cover a nice blue run to the bottom. After the lesson this meant as we were confident due to doing it a couple of times in the morning, we would do it again and again. It is worth noting that as the season is officially over hardly anything in the main centre is open apart from 3 restaurants (1 halfway down the slopes). So in all honesty it was like having your own private resort, not busy at all!
One thing that we weren’t happy with was that Alexander had also been up the slopes with the children and as it was his first time having lessons we heard that he had become tearful as after falling over again the instructor had refused to pick him up. This definitely knocked his confidence which was such a shame. To be fair he had given every parent his mobile number so a quick text to say that Alexander was very nervous and upset after yesterday and he had sorted a private 2-hour lesson with another instructor. It would be at a cost to us, but we wanted Alexander to come on with his skiing – and oh boy did he! £75 for 2 hours.
Now with the restaurant on the slopes that were tied to our hotel, there were sleds free to use so the children spent many lunch hours launching themselves down the hill from about a 20-meter run waving at us inside the restaurant.
Now I mention the t-bar lift was only open once as this got you halfway up the mountain, the gondola took you to the summit! This meant that you had blue runs like the t-bar but this also included 3 large drops but some amazing tree-lined runs.
One of our party had a wobble and a fall on these parts and knocked their confidence even with the instructor’s helpful arms. This was until they figured out that the bar on the slope was halfway down – so it became their thing that they would stop for a couple of drinks in need (Lucy also liked this tradition).
So there it was for the remaining days Alexander had a private lesson with X every day, whilst the children and adults were also with their original instructors. We had our 2 hours of lessons and then lunch and then 3 hours of practice each day our skiing really did come on.
About halfway through the week – we were informed that due to only about 25% of the lifts being open, we would receive a £150 voucher per person as a goodwill gesture, which was a lovely touch Crystal – we were happy as the 3 lifts that were open were perfect for us.
Also, they arranged for a free trip (was a paid-for trip on the app) around Sariavo which we had passed on the way in. It was a 90-minute walking tour and then we had 2 hours to explore ourselves, the tour guide was brilliant and put everything into perspective about the conflict that had happened back in the 90s. Some buildings still had marks from shells and in the centre if there had been a shell that had ultimately claimed a life a stone had been laid – very thought proking (a must if you visit)
We then found a restaurant and then a bar to take stock of what we had learned during the tour – even deciding that we would come for a city break here as honestly everyone was so friendly and welcoming during our visit.
On our final day, our transfer was only 45 minutes and the airport as when we arrived wasn’t overly busy – to sum it up “we came, we saw, we skied – we will be back”.
4 out of 5. Dad
