Family and Friends Buggy Break

Three nights at Banya near Bansko, guided, with two days in a four-seat 200bhp buggy shared between three or four people.

The four-seater is what makes this one different. A Can-Am Maverick Max takes a group rather than a pair, passengers can be as young as seven, and the price per person drops accordingly: this is the cheapest thing the operator sells.

Sofia airport opens it, with a transfer of about two and a half hours to the Aquilon Spa Hotel at Banya, a briefing with the crew and a meal. The two driving days follow: breakfast, a short transfer to the club base for kit, then guided driving in the surrounding mountains through fords, forest track and mud, with lunch at a village tavern and a different route back each afternoon for dinner and the thermal pools. The last morning is breakfast, check-out by noon and the transfer to Sofia.

The four-seat buggy shared by the group, third-party insurance, the guide and technical support, the gear, the fuel, round-the-clock Sofia transfers, double rooms or a family apartment at the Aquilon and full board including alcoholic drinks are all included; flights, travel insurance and spa treatments are not, and the usual supplements apply. The price shown is per person sharing. Spring and autumn suit the trail conditions best. Four days with the hotel, all the meals and the drinks in it, at this price, is as close to a straightforward family adventure holiday as this kind of trip gets, and the thermal pools at the end of each day do a good deal to keep everyone in the group content.