Casa Milla

Location

If you decide to run away from your everyday rush, you really need to visit the town of Bansko. This unique and charming town is situated in the Mesta River valley, which is surrounded by three mountains – The Rila, The Rhodopes and The Pirin. The third of them is distinguished for its 2914-meter-high peak “Vihren” and adds to the charm of the town an impressive Alpine background.

The climate is transitional-Mediterranean with strong mountainous influence, and at the places with higher altitude it is definitely mountainous. That’s the reason for the long duration of the ski season here /till the end of April/ and for the mild and cool summer. The town is within 150km distance from Sofia and respectively Sofia airport so you can reach it in less than two hours’ drive along a well-maintained first-class road.

Bansko was founded in 10-11 century upon the foundations of an ancient Thracian settlement. It started to operate as a town with local government around 1850. In 1835 “Holy Trinity” church was built and consecrated soon after, in 1850 its bell-tower was finished where a clock mechanism was mounted later in 1865. Today municipality of Bansko includes the town of Bansko and seven small villages governed by their own mayors with a total area of 462 sq km located at about 1000m altitude. The atmosphere of the Bulgarian National Revival has still been preserved here – cobbled streets, stone houses with wood-carved ceilings and painted walls, lovely yards, hidden behind thick surrounding walls. Today Bansko has the statute of a unique town announced by UNESCO and the mountain is one of the most attractive centers for skiers and tourists throughout the whole year.

Now Bansko has been developing fast and a lot of new residential buildings, hotels and administrative centers have been constructed and all of them are strictly keeping this architectural style which is typical for the Alpine towns and characterized with prevailing woodwork and stonework on the facades. The snow magic of the Pirin Mountain in winter attracts the winter sports fans and makes Bansko be one of the best ski resorts in Europe. The skiers can coast downhill each of the 17 ski-runs with different level of difficulty and total length of 16 km. They can be accessed through the 23 lifts /10 of which baby rope-lines/ with total length of 26 km, and the highest peak of the ski center is at 2560 m altitude. For the fans of the extreme sports there is a “funk-park” zone which is separated individually and made with uplands and humps, and very close to the upper station of the cabin lift there is a “half pipe” facility, all of which will make their day full of fun.The ski resort offers also a lit-up ski-run for night downhill for the extreme fans of the ski sport, and there is also a stadium for biathlon with shooting ground.

In summer Bansko is one of the most desired resorts in Bulgaria both because it is among the most beautiful and impressive parts of the Pirin Mountains and because of the cool weather, crystal-clear air and infinite number of possibilities for entertainment and places of interest. More and more number of tourists, businesspeople and sportsmen prefer to come here and admire in full value the natural wonders and the unique atmosphere which can be felt everywhere around. Only 3 km before Bansko, on the main road from Sofia, the first in the region professional 18-hole golf-field is being constructed, and it is expected to open in the summer of 2007 and will attract many fans of this sport which is new for our country.