Pamporovo - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Pamporovo is a popular ski resort in Smolyan Province

Smolyan Province

-Religion:The Smolyan province along with the Kardzhali Province is a province where the predominant religion is not Orthodox Christianity but Islam. However, unlike Kardzhali where the majority of the population is Turkish, the Muslim population of the Smolyan province is made up almost entirely...

, southern Bulgaria

Bulgaria

Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...

, one of the best-known in Southeastern Europe. It is set amongst magnificent pine forests and is primarily visited during the winter for skiing

Skiing

Skiing is a recreational activity using skis as equipment for traveling over snow. Skis are used in conjunction with boots that connect to the ski with use of a binding....

and snowboarding

Snowboarding

Snowboarding is a sport that involves descending a slope that is covered with snow on a snowboard attached to a rider's feet using a special boot set onto mounted binding. The development of snowboarding was inspired by skateboarding, sledding, surfing and skiing. It was developed in the U.S.A...

. It is also a popular tourist place in summer. The hub of Pamporovo comprises a number of excellent hotels and bars. It is also one of the southernmost skiing resorts in Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

. It is a family-friendly resort and suited for complete beginners and intermediates.

Location

The resort is set in the southern Rhodope Mountains

Rhodope Mountains

The Rhodopes are a mountain range in Southeastern Europe, with over 83% of its area in southern Bulgaria and the remainder in Greece. Its highest peak, Golyam Perelik , is the seventh highest Bulgarian mountain...

at an altitude of 1620 meters above sea level. The highest peak in the area, Snezhanka (Bulgarian: Снежанка) at 1928 m, is several hundred meters above the resort. Pamporovo is around 260 km away from Sofia

Sofia

Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 12th largest city in the European Union with a population of 1.27 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula.Prehistoric settlements were excavated...

, 85 km south of Plovdiv

Plovdiv

Plovdiv is the second-largest city in Bulgaria after Sofia with a population of 338,153 inhabitants according to Census 2011. Plovdiv's history spans some 6,000 years, with traces of a Neolithic settlement dating to roughly 4000 BC; it is one of the oldest cities in Europe...

, 15 km north of Smolyan

Smolyan

Smolyan is a town and ski resort in the very south of Bulgaria not far from the border with Greece. It is the administrative and industrial centre of the homonymous Smolyan Province...

, and 10 km south of Chepelare

Chepelare

Chepelare is a town and ski resort in Smolyan Province in Southern Bulgaria. It is situated in the central part of the Rhodopes, on the banks of Chepelare River. Chepelare is a popular winter resort with one of the longest ski runs in Southeastern Europe. It is located near Pamporovo, one of the...

Skiing

The resort has 25 km of ski-runs and 38 km of cross-country skiing tracks served by 18 lifts with a total capacity of 8500 persons per hour. Four snow-levelling machines and six snow cannons guarantee skiers comfortable and enjoyable downhill rides. More than 100 highly qualified ski instructors, fluent in various languages, are available to aid both beginners and intermediate skiers as well as snowboarders. Some new runs have been created and there is now another chairlift in operation.

Climate

The winters in Pamporovo tend to be mild, but have around 150 days of snow

Snow

Snow is a form of precipitation within the Earth's atmosphere in the form of crystalline water ice, consisting of a multitude of snowflakes that fall from clouds. Since snow is composed of small ice particles, it is a granular material. It has an open and therefore soft structure, unless packed by...

fall each year. This combination allows for a long skiing season at the resort. Pamporovo is renowned for its large number of sunny days during the winter, often topping 120 days from December to May. The average January temperature is −3 degrees Celsius

Celsius

Celsius is a scale and unit of measurement for temperature. It is named after the Swedish astronomer Anders Celsius , who developed a similar temperature scale two years before his death...

(or 26.6 F).

Development

Much of the older development of the Pamporovo resort lies to the northeast of Snezhanka. Now, to the south there is an up-market residential development called the Pine Lodge, adjacent to the Smolyan Lakes ski lift. There are plans afoot to build two golf courses and to extend the whole skiing area to the Perelik mountain. The Pine Lodge faces the south towards the land of Spartacus, within neighbouring Greece; and a new EU-funded highway will make the Greek coast accessible by car.

In January 2010 an additional border crossing point was opened between Bulgaria and Greece which is just half an hour drive from Pamporovo by car. This brought considerable attention by tourists and media to the resort as being the only one in Europe to allow for such a short time to switch from skiing to swimming.

Information

Trivia

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