I recommend to the staff of the hotel to trait the foreign tourists like the bulgarian tourists. What that's means: in our journey the breakfast and the dinner was very poor in the days without bulgarian tourists. After that, when in the hotel arrived a lot of the bulgarian tourists, the eat was incomparabile better. In the same time, in the night of Eve was'n normal to "forgot" that in the restaurants weren't only bulgarian tourists-the only songs that played on the middle night were bulgarian... Shame of you. We paid a lot of a many to stay their and the staff didn't now to appreciate that. An other bad thing is the cleanliness. In front of the lift from the second floor was a carpet very dirty. That's not acceptable for a 4 stars hotel. In all hotel was a bad smell, a smell of burning woods. At the return at home all our things smelled like the hotel. Our conclusions are only one: we'll didn't come back and we'll didn't recommend this hotel.

The hotel is well located close to the main access points for the town, so easy to find, but in walking distance of the heart of the old town for sight-seeing and restaurants. Staff speak reasonable english and are very helpful. Our room was spacious and very comfortable, with a balcony and lovely views over the hills. A little tired and in need of refurbishment, but well looked after and very clean. At the time of our stay there were no other guests in the hotel, and it must have 60 rooms. This was not a problem except that it was eerilie quiet and they didn't bother putting out a breakfast buffet but just asked us what we wanted (which led to some strange breakfasts as a result of linguistic or cultural misunderstandings). We were told during our stay that they had problems with their credit card systems and we would have to pay by cash, suggesting they might be in financial difficulty - which wouldn't be surprising with all the new hotel and appartment developments on the other side of town. But while it is still there I would recommend Hotel Orphey as a very good place to stay and excellent value.

Situated in quiet part of old-town Bansko.. I had a spacious, comfortably furnished room with mountain view. Large bathroom spotlessly clean. Plenty of hot water.
Management, Reception, Dining room & Bar staff very friendly and helpful (most of whom spoke good English and responded well at my attempts to speak Bulgarian!). Nice indoor pool area (I didn't use the spa or sauna facilities which were available). Excellent shuttle-bus service to Gondola station - necessary as its quite a distance to walk. Small on-site ski rental/storage facility.
Late afternoon tea/cake served very welcome after returning from day on the slopes. Half board breakfast and dinner tasty and adequate though not a lot of variety. Went to weekly Gala dinner with folk dancing in Ethno Restaurant - good meal and entertainment.
Luggage storage facility if waiting for airport transfer after check-out.

Stayed at the Hotel Orphey at the end of Feb., really enjoyed!
HOTEL :
**Rooms were clean, and modern (although probably more a 3* than 4*)
**Breakfast and lunch was fairly basic but was well cooked.
**The bar was open all night, it was v well stocked and reasonably priced.
**Steam room and jacuzzi were ideal after a long day on the slopes
**Excellent transport to the gondela station - runs v regularly (every 20 mins)

SLOPES:
**Had to queue for the gondela (prob about 20mins but when on the mountain this was not an issue)
**Ideal for skiiers with varied runs (interconnecting run to the village is a little flat for boarders; have to carry plenty of speed otherwise you'll be walking!)
**Snow conditions were OK apart from near the cafes and lifts (were slushy but what do you expect in high temperatures nearing the end of season?)