Description
Orphans' Christmas
& Legends' NYE
A pair of festive season weeks in the Pirin Mountains for those far from home (or those who want to be). It's a white Christmas for those of us who grew up unable to experience one. A New Year's Eve trip for those sick and tired of disappointing NYEs. It's even a ski trip, for those of us who can get up after a night on the rakia.
Can’t do the full week? Come for 3 or 4 nights over Christmas.FROM €695 FOR 3 NIGHTS, OR THE FULL WEEK. INCLUDES TWIN SHARE ACCOMMODATION, BREAKFAST AND DINNER PREPARED BY IN-HOUSE CHEF, PAIRED BULGARIAN WINES, ALL TRANSFERS, WINERY VISIT, AN SDSW HOST ALL WEEK, FUN, GAMES & A HOUSE OF LEGENDS TO SHARE IT WITH.
1% deposit, monthly payments
This Is Bansko
The table, the mountain and the town, as they actually look. See how Bulgaria does Christmas on our Instagram →
Choose Orphans' Christmas, Legends' New Year, Or Both
The Christmas Week runs Sunday 20th to Sunday 27th. The New Year Week picks up the 27th in Bansko and runs until the 2nd of January: same town, fresh chalet, mostly fresh crew. Do one, do the other, or be one of the beautiful degenerates who stays for all fourteen nights.
Changeover: Sunday 27 December. One crew flies home, the next walks into a warm house. Both-weekers just stay put.
Both weeks · €2,495, €150 less than booking them separatelyFigures last updated more than 36h ago, showing the last confirmed numbers.
Here's what your euro buys
What's in the price, and the few things we deliberately leave out.
What Everyone Gets
In the price.
- Mix of twin/double/triple share in our own chalets
- Chef-prepared breakfast every day
- Hosted dinners with wine paired to every one
- Christmas/New Year's Eve feast in a traditional restaurant
- A proper wine deep-dive: the Struma Valley winery day at Christmas, a guided tasting at New Year
- The festive program: Christmas Eve and Christmas Day done properly, or New Year's Eve out in Bansko
- Return Sofia airport transfers
- Daily shuttle to the lifts
- An SDSW host with you all week
What We Don't Include
Not in the price.
- Flights
- Lift pass (deliberately separate)
- Ski or board hire, and lessons
- Lunches on the mountain
We don't include the passes because we don't know how much you want to ski. Reckon on around €50 a day and we're working on a group discount.
Will I fit in?
Solos and couples 25–44 from the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand are already in. Great crew, a few spots left.
Can I come solo?
Most of us doAnd these trips are hyper social so we're all best mates by the first dinner
What's the age range?
25-35Mostly. But there are some outliers who come along and end up being the biggest legends of all.
Can I bring a friend?
Absolutely! Bring a couple!Yes. The chalets have twins, doubles and triples, so your crew stays together
But I've never skied/boarded before?
Neither have ~25% of usWe have riders of all abilities join us, so you'll always have a crew to slide with
Do I need to speak Bulgarian?
Nope, but English helpsWe come from 30+ countries so English is the main communication language, but all are welcome.
The Crew So Far
Who's coming. Solos and couples, 25 to 44, from the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. Most of them booked on their own. Great crew, a few spots left.
How a solo sleeps. Twin share: your own bed, one other guest from the crew in the room, and nobody ever shares a bed. Want a room to yourself? Ask when you book. It's sometimes possible and we confirm nearer the time.
The house, the chef, the table. Christmas is two alpine chalets twenty metres apart, ours alone. New Year is one stone-and-timber house in the middle of town, every bedroom en suite. Our chef cooks breakfast every morning and a hosted dinner every night with Bulgarian wine we chose, Christmas Day feast included.
Bansko is new for winter 26/27, so no Bansko quotes yet. What guests say about our other ski & wine weeks:
All guest reviews →Choose Your Week
Life on the Mountain
Land in Sofia, we scoop you up. Mulled wine on the go, first dinner on the table, and a room full of people about to become your group chat.
Ski days, and one of them is the Struma Valley wine day: two wineries, five tastings, one very long lunch.
Christmas Eve, the Bulgarian way. Mountain by day, then an odd number of dishes on the table for luck while the koledari carol their way through town.
The feast. The jumpers. The rakia, probably.
Ski it off or sauna it off.
Transfers back to Sofia. Group chat lives forever.
“Mulled wine before you've even put your bag down.”
The shape, not a schedule. Ski lots, ski none, nobody's counting.
Two Houses, Two Weeks
Two alpine houses twenty metres apart, entirely ours for the week. Log fires, open kitchens where the chef works in plain sight, and a long shared table in each, because dinner is where this trip happens. Wander between the two in your slippers; the town and the gondola shuttle are on the doorstep.
- Exclusively ours: both houses, our group only
- Sleeps: 32
- Dining: one long table in each house
- Facilities: sauna & ski lockers
- Transfers: daily gondola shuttle
- Location: 5 min to town
One handsome old stone-and-timber house in the middle of town, entirely ours for the week. Cooked breakfast with the mountains filling the window, afternoon tea with cake baked that day, every bedroom en suite, and one table for the whole group on New Year's Eve. Seventeen places. When they're gone, they're gone.
- Exclusively ours: the whole house, our group only
- Sleeps: 17
- Rooms: every bedroom en suite
- Food: breakfast & afternoon tea daily
- Spa entry included
- Transfers: daily lift shuttle
Friends & groups: Booking with a friend? Tell us and we'll put you together. Couples get the doubles. Solo travellers are paired up thoughtfully.
Not a hotel: This isn't a hotel. It's better. Our own chef and host, dinner sorted every night, and a house that's yours all week.
What This Actually Is
A warm fireplace in a cozy private chalet. Our in-house chef roasting something that smells delicious. Bottles of Bulgaria's finest plonk opened and at the ready. A crew of absolute legends in really, really bad Christmas sweaters talking about the day's falls… sounds wholesome until someone pulls out the rakia. The most festive of festive seasons for those far from home and those who want to be, sticking to our unbreakable formula of skiing and boarding, après, great food, better wine and unbeatable company.
Why Christmas in Bansko, Bulgaria?
An actual white Christmas
Snow on the rooftops, trees lit down every cobbled street, mulled wine on the go. The Christmas the movies kept promising you.
Traditions you've never seen
Carol singers working the town on Christmas Eve, fortunes baked into pastry at midnight, and masked kukeri dancing the evil spirits out of the new year.
Your money goes embarrassingly far
€2 beers, long lunches that cost less than a round back home, and a bar bill you'll double-check because it can't be right.
A proper mountain
Skiing at 2,500 metres in the Pirin range, a UNESCO national park on the doorstep, two hours from Sofia, and we handle that bit.
The Obvious Questions
Not even slightly. Plenty of the crew never clip in. There's the sauna, a town full of very cheap long lunches, a full day in the Struma Valley wineries, and a spot by the fire with your name on it. The mountain is optional. The dinner table isn't.
Yep. If the full week doesn't fit, we've split Christmas into two shorter stretches: the run-up (3 nights, Sun 20–Wed 23 Dec — two days on the mountain plus a Struma Valley winery day to finish, €695) or Christmas itself (4 nights, Wed 23–Sun 27 Dec — Christmas Eve, Christmas Day feast and Boxing Day on the mountain, €995). Same 1% deposit as the week booking.
It's the norm, not the exception. Most of our crew book solo and leave with a group chat they can't get out of. A seat at the same long table as everyone else, and a host whose entire job is making sure nobody's standing in a corner. You'll sleep twin share, your own bed with one other guest from the crew in the room, and a room of your own is sometimes possible if you ask when you book.
An in-house chef cooking every dinner, and wine we actually chose. This is a wine company, the pour is the point. Bulgaria has been making wine for longer than France and the Struma Valley is its best-kept secret; you'll taste your way through it all week. The Christmas feast and the NYE dinner are the showpieces. Come hungry.
Bansko, in Bulgaria's Pirin Mountains, about two hours from Sofia, and we handle that transfer both ways. Proper ski town, UNESCO national park on the doorstep. Fair warning: a beer runs about €2, which has historically been a problem for some of you.
Course. 1% deposit holds your spot, then monthly payments September to December that clear before you fly. Or pay in full and take 5% off. Nobody should be paying for Christmas in one hit.
Pop it in at checkout and it comes straight off either week. The code applies to one Christmas or New Year 2026/27 booking per person, is valid until sold out and is not stackable with other offers.
You sort your own flights into Sofia, we take care of everything from the airport onwards (return Sofia transfers are included). Once the group's set we'll share an arrival window so you can line your flights up with everyone else's and land mob-handed.
We're working on a group deal for us: six days of skis, boots and poles will be about €70, a board and boots about €80, and a helmet €20. When the deal is locked in we'll add it to your booking.
Join the waiting list (message us on WhatsApp) or book the other week. Same town, same kind of crew.
Twin rooms, separate beds. Booking with a friend? Tell us and we'll put you together. Couples get the doubles. Solo travellers are paired up thoughtfully. Want a room to yourself? Ask when you book and we'll waitlist you for one.
Your 1% deposit is non-refundable. More than 60 days out, everything else comes back; 30-59 days out, half; under 30 days, nothing. Full terms.
Still got a question? Gravy's on WhatsApp.
WhatsApp me →Secure Your Spot
Pick your week.
Christmas Week
Sun 20–Sun 27 Dec · 7 nights · … spots left
New Year Week
Sun 27 Dec–Sat 2 Jan · 6 nights · … spots left
Both Weeks
Sun 20 Dec–Sat 2 Jan · 13 nights · … spots left
Christmas run-up (3 nights)
Sun 20–Wed 23 Dec · 3 nights · twin share · Struma Valley winery visit · Spots open
Christmas itself (4 nights)
Wed 23–Sun 27 Dec · 4 nights · twin share · Christmas Eve dinner · Spots open
New Year run-up (3 nights)
Sun 27–Wed 30 Dec · 3 nights · twin share · Spots open
New Year itself (4 nights)
Wed 30 Dec–Sun 3 Jan · 4 nights · twin share · Spots open
1% deposit, monthly payments · or pay in full and take 5% off
Cancellation terms: see full terms.
Not quite ready? Got a question? WhatsApp Gravy directly →
