Bansko

High-end resorts living up to even the pickiest expectations, seductive slopes, and a dazzling alpine landscape filled with revelations: Bansko is more than just skiing. Yet, the ski is indisputably the star player of this snow-shrouded winter wonderland. Each year, winter sports enthusiasts flock to the town to reach the world’s top-quality facilities. Thanks to continuing interest, the otherwise modest Bansko town flowered into a melting pot of frequenters over the years. Even so, it preserves the authentic character of a 19th-century trade and crafts center at its heart. From the formidable outcrops of the Pirin to cozy nights spiced up by mulled wine, Bansko is dizzyingly diverse.

Take a moment’s rest from skiing and the luxury of your resort, and head out to the town’s center for a few hours of unbridled exploration. The Byzantine and Ottoman rulers left a motley collection of buildings there, earning Bansko a cultural spectacle alongside the natural. Sveta Troitsa Church is worth seeing, resembling a fortress more than a sanctuary. Not far beyond, Velyan’s House awaits visitors with a myriad of 18th-century artistic feats. Several other houses in town serve as fascinating museums, where the lives and ideas of Bulgaria’s most iconic thinkers are displayed.

Skiers are not the only loyal folk who inhabited Bansko for their unique ways of living. Nowadays, the town is a popular spot among the digital nomads of the 21st-century. You will stumble across freelancers of all ages plying between the two co-working centers and adding excitement to Bansko’s social scene.