

Ah well, I still really enjoyed my time in Bansko! So much that I’m already planning to head back, possibly as early as summer!
I thought it might be fun to show what an average week might look like. And since Bansko is a little bit more affordable than other destinations in Western Europe, I decided to track my spending, too (I should probably be doing this anyway…).
To be honest, I probably I could have saved more but I was too busy having lots of fun with new friends…Ooops. But gotta live, ya know?

EXTRA NOTE: If I don’t mention food, it means I ate at home. I pretty much survived off of smoothies, Shakshuka (eggs sunny side up in a tomato-based sauce from the market), and salad while I was there.
MONDAY

- Taught English online (my main gig) at home
- Walked downstairs (I literally lived right above it!) to the Old Town coworking space, where I worked on my blog or freelance writing assignments
- Went for run (I’d usually jog from my place to the start/middle of the monastery trail, then head back. To find it, look up “Belizmata Dam” and then the monastery nearby)
- Game night at the coworking space
TOTAL SPENT: $0
TUESDAY

- Morning yoga at the coworking space (it’s on a “pay what you want” basis when the yoga teacher is in town) – 5 BGN/$2.90 USD
- Taught English online at home
- Worked in the quiet space at the coworking (there are 2 buildings in the Old Town – the social space and the quiet space – so I’d alternate between the two)
- Doner for dinner at the local kebab stand – 4 BGN/$2.32 USD
TOTAL SPENT: $5.22 USD
WEDNESDAY

- Taught English online at home
- Went to the coworking space
- Veggie burger from Happy Food for dinner – 11 BGN/$6.38 USD
- Fenix Gym (it’s a pretty basic gym with weights and some machines near the coworking space) – 4.50 BGN/$2.62 USD
TOTAL SPENT: $9 USD
THURSDAY

- Morning yoga at the coworking space – 5 BGN/$2.90 USD
- Teaching English online at home
- Coworking space
- Ice bathing – Someone at the coworking space was really into it and talked a lot about the health benefits, so I decided to try it out. It was really cold, but surprisingly, not terrible! Definitely better the second time when we had a hot pool nearby to jump into.
- Bulgarian class – One of the members teaches every week for fun.
- Izgreva Hot Springs – This is a reoccurring event that happens every Thursday! Promise me you’ll get the 3 Cheese Potato dish and the Izgreva Cake. – 7 BGN/$4.06 USD entrance, 6 BGN/$3.48 USD for 3 Cheese Potato dish & tip
TOTAL SPENT: $10.44 USD
FRIDAY

- Teaching English online at home
- Aerial yoga at Club Hanuman – 15 BGN/$8.58 USD
- Teaching English online again afterwards
- Coworking space
- Indian curry buffet: Every Friday, there’s a dinner with people from the coworking space. – 25 BGN/$14.50 USD for food, 3.90 BGN/$2.26 USD for wine
- Comedy night – 10 BGN/$5.80 USD for ticket, 4.50 BGN/$2.61 USD for beer
- Bar 360 – 5 BGN/$2.90 USD for 2 cups of mulled wine (ask for their discount card)
- Doner on the way home – 5 BGN/$2.90 USD
TOTAL SPENT: $36.65 USD
SATURDAY

- Teaching English online at home
- Hike to the monastery
- Bean soup at a restaurant (can’t remember the name, but every Mexana serves bean soup) – 3 BGN/$1.74 USD
- Relaxing at home! LOL I needed a night off after the fun I’d had last night…
TOTAL SPENT: $1.47 USD
SUNDAY

- Teaching English online at home
- Sunday market for groceries for the week – 65.10 BGN/$37.76 USD
- Dinner at Cat Ballou – 15 BGN/$8.70 USD
TOTAL SPENT: $46.46 USD

Here are some other monthly expenses that I’m breaking up into a week:
- Coworking Bansko Membership: €32.25/$36.58 USD (it’s €129 for the month, so I just divided by 4). I ended up staying for three months, so looking back, I would have saved a little money by paying the total for all 3 months (it’s €329 if you pay for 3 months upfront, which is about €110/month)
- Rent: 100 BGN/$58 USD (total of 400 BGN/$232 USD for the month)
- Utilities, including heating: 20BGN/$11.60 USD (80 BGN/$46.40 USD for the month)
- Phone: 15 BGN/$8.70 USD for a SIM card with 15GB of data but no calling minutes. This was only supposed to work for a month, but for some reason lasted about 2.5 months! Then it randomly stopped working (even though I hadn’t used all the data) and I had to buy a new one for my last couple weeks in Bansko. My first one was from Vivacom, and the second was A1, and both were the same price and plan. I didn’t notice any differences in service, both were great!
- Health Insurance: $9.24 USD ($36.96 per month) with SafetyWing
So, the GRAND TOTAL FOR THE WEEK: $242.18 USD

- Snowboard + boots: 25 BGN/$14.50 USD
- Ski pants/helmet/goggles if I wasn’t able to borrow from a friend: 10 BGN/$5.80 USD
- Lift pass: 70 BGN/$40.61 USD. However, another option is to pay for a taxi (about 10 BGN per person) or take the gondola up (35 BGN) and take the ski road down. That’s what we did the first 3 times we went anyway, when we were just beginners!
So, I probably spent an extra $60 USD each time I went snowboarding.

However, I had just spent 2 months alone in England doing almost nothing social, so I didn’t mind using a little extra while in Bansko!

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I really enjoy following your adventures! Your immersive travel style really inspires me to slow down haha
I’m glad you’re enjoying them 🙂 And yes, I do love the slow travel life haha.