Skiers in brightly coloured jackets weighed down by boots and skis stagger along the pavement, overtaken by a horse and cart and watched by a group of old ladies chatting on a bench by the roadside. Not a sight you’d normally expect to see in a ski resort, but Bansko is a ski town with a twist. On one side you’ve got the Pirin Mountains with their towering peaks and modern ski resort. Then on the other side you’ve got a historic Bulgarian town full of cobbled streets and atmospheric restaurants. You can party on and off the piste then soak it off in a hot spring, or take a day out to visit a mountain vineyard or historic monastery. Whether you’re happier when you’re on or off the slopes, here are some of Bansko’s highlights.

ON THE SLOPES

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Pirin National Park in Bulgaria could be added to UNESCO’s List of World Heritage in Danger. It shelters possibly the oldest tree in the Balkan peninsula and is home to brown bear, wolf, chamois, and 159 bird species. WWF has been urging for immediate action against multiple threats to the mountain and launched an international campaign to save the park. The main danger for Pirin National Park is a new draft management plan that allows construction on 12.5-times bigger territory compared to the current status and could lead to commercial logging affecting nearly 60 per cent of the park’s area. Currently, this is allowed on 0 per cent of the park territory.

WWF-Bulgaria‘s Katerina Rakovska, Protected Areas and Natura 2000 Expert, and Alexander Dountchev, Forest Expert, explain the current situation and possible solutions.

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Sofia – Pirin National Park in Bulgaria, which shelters possibly the oldest tree in the Balkan peninsula, could be added to UNESCO’s List of World Heritage in Danger. WWF urges immediate action against multiple threats to the mountain and launches an international campaign to save the park.

Pirin has an exceptional beauty of mountain scenery, glacial lakes, continuing evolution of flora, and is an example of healthy, functioning Balkan uplands ecosystems. The natural coniferous forests shelter the 1,300 years old endemic Bosnian Pine tree called Baykusheva mura – it is believed to be the oldest one on the Balkan peninsula. Pirin is home to brown bears, grey wolves, chamois and 159 bird species among which is the Eurasian three-toed woodpecker, the rarest woodpecker in Europe.
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Sofia – Pirin National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage and EU Natura 2000 site, home to brown bear, wolf and many threatened species, some of them endemic or unique for Europe. A proposed management plan for Pirin National Park will allow infrastructure construction on 14-times bigger territory compared to the current area. The plan that goes for approval to the Bulgarian government says that nearly 60 per cent of the territory of the park could be opened to logging. Currently, this is allowed on 0 per cent of Pirin territory.

National laws, European nature directives and international treaties are supposed to ensure that Pirin National Park is protected as its diverse area is an unusual ecological refuge for hundreds of rare species including flora and fauna typical only for the Balkan region.

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