Summertime in Bansko, Bulgaria — But Where Will You Live?

Driving into town on our first night. I forgot what a 9 hour time difference feels like!

I was recently asked how we picked Bansko as our destination since Bulgaria isn’t usually on everyone’s “must see list.” Since Jim is a fair-weather traveler, we tend to look north or to high altitudes for our summertime adventures knowing we won’t visit those northern countries anytime other than summer (last year was the White Mountains in NH, the year before, Glacier National Park in MT). So when our Mongolia trip was cancelled (yet again), we opened up Google Maps, Airbnb, Google Flights, and started checking out embassy pages to look for possibilities. I posted a few weeks ago about the research we do with Covid still wreaking havoc on the travel industry and the constant changing rules for entering countries-a LOT goes into researching where we go.

We looked at Russia - borders still closed. Looked at The Netherlands - still too many restrictions and unknowns. Sweden - the same. Then a digital nomad acquaintance mentioned a Nomadfest in Bansko. I didn’t have any real interest in attending a conference, but the location seemed to hit many of our summertime requirement: high altitude, lots of hikes, fast wifi, even easy volunteer opportunities, and most importantly, open borders for us to get in.

So here we are: Bansko, Bulgaria. An amazing ski town that has easily accessible hiking trails and plenty of inexpensive resort condos to stay in.

A nine-hour time difference from our last hang out in Denver, Colorado to Bansko had me battling jetlag for way longer than I'm used to. The good news is that I'll be in this general time zone until December and won’t have to deal with any real time change until then. Ah, but the benefit of slow travel is that there was no pressure to get up and run around trying to fit in all the must-dos!

Easy to check out roadside offerings (like local honeys) when you have a car.

I'm absolutely loving this off-season ski town. And I'm so glad we decided on getting a rental car for easy exploring. Although there are buses and taxi options, and the town is small and easily walkable, this is a location that having a car means getting even more off the beaten path.

We’ve been filling our time with lots of hikes, some volunteer time with Bansko Street Dogs, and checking out a few small Bulgarian towns.

Bansko reminds me of Breckenridge twenty years ago. I don't know how busy summers are usually around here, but we found the streets and trails mostly empty. I'm told it's crowded and crazy during ski season though.

Here's a few pictures from around town - I'm putting together a post on the hiking and on a few day trips we took from Bansko next.