Top Bulgaria hotels
downtown Sofia
23 Reviews We would recommend meeting local members of Virtual Tourist as they are most friendly and willing to assist a visitor in an instant and show you around. :) The Most Beautiful City of our Eastern Visit...
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downtown Plovdiv
7 Reviews Next to the old town Plovdiv has many sights to explore in the modern town. I would like to suggest a walk. As in the the old town route, you start at the ploshtat Dzhumaya – thus, this walk is fine...
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Vitosha Mountain Sofia
14 Reviews I have had people asking me if the water in Sofia/Bulgaria is good for drinking... Here is what I have to say on this matter: Bulgaria is well known for the big number of Mineral Water Springs. You...
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old plovdiv Plovdiv
13 Reviews There are many ways to walk the old town. Let me suggest a route. You start best at the ploshtat Dzhumaya. Here you can see the Dzumaya mosque. And you stand near the Roman Stadium. You can have a...
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The Horse Sofia
5 Reviews The Tsar Osvoboditel monument by the renowned Italian Sculpture Arnoldo Zocci, is one of the most beautiful in Sofia. Situated on the square in front of the parliament building, it is an expression of...
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main street Plovdiv
2 Reviews The city is liveliest in early evening when the citizenry turns out for the korso, the traditional promenade. The favorite route is up and down Knyaz Aleksandar, downtown's main street, lined with...
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NDK - national palace of culture Sofia
4 Reviews Sofia is now a busy city with a tempo of life comparable to many Western cities. It is a place, where one can find practically everything, starting with finding old medals, pins, badges and other...
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Lions! Sofia
6 Reviews its a clear comunist park with some comunist sculptures like that just in the center...i took this way croosing the park through the Levski stadium where i managed to get in but the guards ....so bad...
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people Sofia
8 Reviews Ok, what you see on the picture is the cover of a book called The Art of Being a Foreigner. This book is a result of the mutual efforts of two VTers: Dilian and Kalenderov. It tells about the...
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Pools and bathing-beaches Sofia
2 Reviews In Sofia there are so many open pools and bathing-beaches. During the summer they are full of peaople almost every day. And in the weeknds its even hard to find a spare place to spend the day there...
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ROTUNDA OF ST. GEORGE Sofia
3 Reviews The red brick rotunda church of St. George is considered the oldest building in Sofia. It is situated behind the Sheraton Hotel, amid remains of the ancient town of Serdica. Three layers of frescoes...
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Money Sofia
3 Reviews Please remember that tipping is acceptable and expected in Bulgaria. Restaurants: 10 - 15% Taxis: Round up to the nearest whole number Hotels: 5 - 10 % Fondest Memory: So many... The willingness of...
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The Russian church Sofia
4 Reviews Tiny church but cosy and mosre beautifull under my eye than not the huge and spread main chatedral....its just 5 minutes waling from the big one but i spent more timer here than not in the most famous
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Alexander Nevski Sofia
6 Reviews The main focus of attraction in the city...actually sofia doesnt offer so much to do or to see...perhaps around vitosha boulevard there is something to see cos is just the downtown... This church is...
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National Theatre Sofia
2 Reviews The Ivan Vazov National Theatre is definitely one of Bulgaria's most striking buildings. Originally built in 1906 by the Viennese architects Hermann Helmer and Ferdinand Fellner it has been...
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Slaveylov Sq. Sofia
2 Reviews who says that statues should be placed only in galleries, museums or parks? there is no good reason not to put them - oh, i don't know... - on a bench! and by a statue i don't mean that nice old lady...
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Suburbs Sofia
1 Review Drujba seems like the Moon's surface, I guess. I cannot imagine how could I live in a place like this. But there are many people living in it! I will always remember this picturescue thorn and the...
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sofia Land Sofia
1 Review if Your going to sofia you must go and see sofia land it's the best Amusement Park on the balkans and centeral Europe most of the ride ar for kids and teensage 5-17 but their also rides for adult too...
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Restaurants Sofia
1 Review Sofia is full of good restaurants. The prices are more than reasonable, in most of the places the food is delicious and the service is relativly good in the mid class restaurants. The average...
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Personal belongings may be imported with no custom fees. Applied to consumption goods are the regulations:-cigarettes 200 items or 250g tobacco products-2 litres of wine, 1 litre alcoholic drinks-coffee 500gIf you have anything else remember to declare it.
One of the most important things you got to do before you come to Bulgaria, is learning the cyrilic alphabet. If you prefer to spend your whole holiday at the Black Coast, however, I don’t think its really necessary to do so, for the whole buissiness over there is somehow anticipating on the phenonemen of the lazy tourist: things over there are also presented in Latin alphabet. Yet; if you want to travel around and you are depending on public transport it would be comfortable to recognise the alphabet. I tried to present the cyrilic alphabet on this side, but VT does only recognise latin caracters. Its of course easy to find your own copy of the alphabet by google; or travelguides or what so ever; but watch out: the cyrilic alphabet of Bulgaria is not entirely the same as the Russian one. For example the “â” is characteristic for Bulgarian language; and therefore not the be found in...
To plan your trip around the country, it can be helpfull to have a clear image of the location of all the places discribed here. Click on the picture next to this tip to enlarge a map of Bulgaria. Because the pictures at VT cannot be of a detailed resolution, i have not a detailed map to offer. Some places discribed at this site ar not on the map. So, i will give the places that are located near these places. Belogradchic is northt-west of Mikhaylovgrad; Rila is in the near of Samokov; Bansko is south east from Blagoevgrad, Melik is next to Sandanski; Koprivshtitsa is some 60 km west of KarlovoVeliko Tarnovo is nearest to Gorna Oryakhovitsa.Arbanasi is close to Veliko Tarnono.
You have plenty of opportunities to follow all kinds of courses in Bulgaria. There are art-courses and language courses. There are also sport courses such as lessons in rock climbing and skiing. As for skiing, the peak season is from the last week of December till the first week of January and a week skiing, with lodging and breakfast and dinner in a three-star hotel will cost you 450 euro. The thing is however, that nearly all companies offering skiing tours are concentrating on the market of the UK, so you can only arrange your trip through theUK. Lessons in Rockclimbing can be arranged via the Bulgarian alpine club in Sofia (Vasil Levski 54), or via Academic VTU in Veliko Tarnovo. For those interested in arts, there are courses of one or two weeks in traditional folk arts, such as dance, arts, instrumental music and singing. These courses are mostly organised within the particular...
Bulgaria time is UK time plus two hours. There are no time zones within the country. Bulgaria is one hour behind Yugoslavia and in the same time zone with the neighbouring countries Turkey, Romania and Greece. So, when it is noon in Sofia, its 5 am in NYC and 10 am in London. In communication relating to the world of time, some of the following words and expressions may be helpful to use. What time is it: kolko e chasat; its…am/pm: chasat e predi obet/ slet obet. Today: dnes. Tomorrow: utre. Yesterday: vchera. Tonight: dovechera. Tonight: dovechera. Morning: sutrin. Evening: vecher. And to count the days in the week – starting with Monday (ponedelnik) it goes as follows: ponedelnik, vtornik, syiada, chetvartak, petak, sabota, nedelya. (Since VT does not give the adequate opportunity to use all characters of the keyboard of the computer, I cannot put the usual accents on the letters like...
If you want to be updated on the international news and cant use the internet, day-old copies of the major British newspapers are available in Sofia and at the Black sea resorts. If you want to practise your Bulgarian language skills, buy the 24 Chasa. If you are in Sofia it’s a good thing to pick up the local papers that give information about what is going on in town in respect to cultural- and nightlife. These papers are in English and are called the Sofia Echo (which is also available on internet under the same name) and the Sofia City Info (on the net: www.sofiacityguide.com)
If you have a radio with you or a walkman, some of the better radio stations to listen to is Bulgarian Radio, Radio Contact, Jazz FM and Derrick Radio. International radio stations that can be received include BBC and Voice of America. Unfortunately, I dont know the frequencies of these stations, but you will quickly find them by tuning up and down the radio.
Phoning to the rest of the world should not be any problem when you use public telephones, phones at hotels or telephone centres or private homes. The booths of BTC require tokens of 0.50 that have to be bought at shops nearby the telephonecells, The booths of other telephone companies accept phonecards, sometimes even visa- and mastercards for long-distance calles. Phonecards will cost you from 10 to 25 lv and can be bought at newspaper stands Every town in Bulgaria has a BTC (Bulgarian Telecommunication Center) centre mostly to be found inside the post office. They are open from 8 am to 6 pm and in bigger towns they are open 24 hours. Calling from private homes is of course cheaper. If you stay at a private room you can arrange a price with the inhabitant. From a BTC centre a call to an other European country costs around 1.50 lv per minute. Local calls are extremely cheap: if you want...
The costs for sending postcards is 0.32 lv. In case you don’t exceplitly say you wont need it, the express service is automaticly applied to your postcards so that stamps will cost 0.44 lv. These prices are for all countries within Europe; outside the continent postcards stamps are 0.56 lv. Letters cost 0.65, the express service costs 0,77 lv and 0.89 to the rest of the world. How long can it take before your postcards are being delivered? In my case I send my cards from Koprivshtitsa and it took nearly 3 weeks before they arrived in the Netherlands. So, if your postings have an emergency priority, use of course the e-mail. If you want on your trip to receive post from friends or family, let them send it to the main post-office from the town you are. Tell them that they must put the number 1 after the townname; then the letter will surely arrive at the main postoffice. Also, let them...
Painting: early Bulgarian painting is wallpainting and can be seen on the walls of homes and churches. One of the best painters was Zograf who painted beautifull paintings on the walls of f.e. the monasterie at Rila. The generation of artists after Zograf is dominated by the big artist Dimitrov, also known as the maestro among his contemporaries. Among the painters of today’s cultural scene, Karamfilov is one of the most popular. He is known for his original abstract drawings. He is defenitetely my favourite. Religious art: In Bulgarian Orthodox religion icons are an important aspect. They depict Characters or events known from the bible. You can admire them in f.e. in the Alexander Nevski Church in Sofia and the Rila monasterie. Both are very impressive. Music: Traditional music, from the peasant culture is still being performed during festivals in the countryside. The music is a bit of...
Grand Hotel Sofia Sofia
6 Reviews and 104 Opinions I also stayed here on business and was very happy with the accomodations. The fitness facilities...
Splendid Hotel Varna
1 Review and 38 Opinions The hotel is just across the road from Varna Cathedral, its name is Splendid and that sums it it...
Trimontium Princess Hotel Plovdiv
6 Reviews and 57 Opinions this hotel is a part of famous Turkish hotel chain "Dedeman" They have many hotels in Bulgaria...
Reviews and photos of Bulgaria attractions posted by real travelers and locals. The best tips for Bulgaria sightseeing.
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Q: Could someone help us ? we are traveling by train from Plovdiv to Sofia, then Sofia to Veliko Tarnovo. How many train are there...
A: I haven't yet been to Bulgaria but whilst you are waiting for other VT-ers to reply... The...
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