Varna Warnings and Dangers

Be very careful with the taxies. As a resort city there are many drivers who would try to lie you.Prices vary every summer, the normal tariffs are like 0.60/0.70 lev/km. Two of the biggest companies are Lasia (Ласиа - original name) with telephone 500 000 Omega (Омега) with phone number 388 888.
You can trust one of the above companies and be very careful if you catch another taxi - ask for the price per km,how much will they take you for the whole distance and so on.

...along with your attack dog!

Whilst Bulgaria does have strict regulations regarding private ownership of firearms it does seem that there are quite a few illegal guns around. Gun crime however is not a major problem in Bulgaria and in fact (according to Wikipedia) the percentage of homicides with firearms here is less than that of Canada.

But it's good to see that Happy Bar and Grill here in Varna won't let anyone in if they are carrying!

PS The door sign says "Pull".

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Varna has a rather cute little airport about 20 minutes out of the city centre and whilst the number of daily flights is relatively small it does provide links to most major hubs for travel further afield.

The only thing to beware of is that if you like a beer be prepared to be extorted! A can of Kamenitza, land-side, (which was marked as 89c) cost 6 Leva. The same can airside 7.50!!!

But on the bright side you can have cigarette on the airside observation deck ;)

I wouldn't bother going at the beach in Varna unless I want to visit the port or Mr.Baba restaurant or the tent beach bar.The beach itself is overcrowded , dirty and the sand is not as fine as the one I'm used to from Sunny Beach.
If you ask me ,a much better place to go is the resort "Sunny Day".

The sea is called The Black sea 'cause small quantities of oil can be found in the water. But that is not the thing you should be concerned about, more dangerous are the medusas which can be seen in large hauls....

So beware, don't go in too deep water 'cause they do not come in shallow parts on the shore.....

Check the photo: These round things in the water are the medusas....

We were warned, but it happened anyway - in Varna early evening, broad daylight, a group of four gypsies (two adults and two children) tailed us as we walked along Kniaz Boris, huddled tightly togther to disguise what they were up to, and started opening my wife's rucksack. She felt the movement and turned around sharply - the girl's arm was still partly extended. When they were shouted at they smiled and laughed outrageously...

SG Expressbank charges 5,5 lv/ 2,25 euro for exchanging your money if you are not a client of the bank. This is the first time I hear such *** and I consider it an absolute ripoff - AVOID IT IF POSSIBLE!! This bank seems to be the most common spread bank around.

In the pedestrian area near opera house there are a lot of "private" people who wanna change money with you for 1 EUR = 2 LEW (fixed change rate is 1 EUR = 1,95/1,96 Lewa). IF you change 25 EUR or more (normally they want to change 25,50, 100 or 200 EUR), they show you new 10 Lewa notes - but then they give you old 50 Lewa notes who are nothing worth anymore! They also try to buy a mobile phone from me and also wanna give me old worthless 50 Lewa for it! So never change money on the street, go to exchange offices or bank offices!

Although Bulgaria is relatively cheap country for most of the tourists coming here, you still have to be careful when chosing a taxi.
All taxi cars in BG are painted in yellow.
The normal price for Varna is 45/55stotinki during the day and 60 stotinki during the night time. But there are some taxi cars that will charge you 3-4 times more, moreover if they notice you are a foreigner.
That is why my advice is to stop cars that have big phone numbers drawn on their doors.You should also be able to see the prices on any of the windows of the car.

I know this is a common danger in the whole world, but as we have many gysies here, I believe you should be more careful.
The Cathedral is the most dangerous place in my opinion and the busses going to Golden Sands as well.