The country of the Monasteries

Bulgaria is the closest country to the next civilization starting in Turky, after centuries under Ottoman domination, Orthodox religion has taking the pace.

Incredible monasteries, a beautiful coast and a welcoming nature is what Bulgaria can offer to the visitors.

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Surface: 110.910 km²
Population: 7.606.000 hab.
Capital: Sofia
Local time: GMT+2

Best places:

Sofia – Plovdiv – the Black Sea Coast

Best season to visit:

August – September – October

Currency:

Lev (1 lev = 100 stotinki) Compare with US Dolar - Compare with Pound - Compare with Euro

Map of Bulgaria

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Recommendations for a safe trip

Even though Bulgaria is considered as a relatively safe country, a certain number of elementary precautions have to be taken when travelling, especially if you travel alone.

By night, do not walk outside the city centre. In Sofia, avoid the district of the train station and, in all built-up areas, non-lit parks and all kind of dark streets. Do not leave your luggage unattended and be careful concerning pick pocketing, very common in the cities and in the tourist places, in particular on buses and trains, and in bars and restaurants.

It is also advised at all times carry a copy of your passport and credit cards to facilitate any administrative procedure in case of loss or robbery. Also send all copy (scanned) to your e-mail to access it at any time.

To be protected against any possible problem, try to make money transaction exchanges only in authorized establishments (banks and foreign exchange offices), such as networks with an international brand awareness, numerous in cities and in places of interest, and do not keep important amounts of money with you. Be careful during withdrawal operations in the ATMs (increasing cases of frauds with credit cards has been reported).

For travellers going to Bulgaria with a vehicle, be aware of the increase of car robbery, in particular Jeeps 4X4 and, in general, all new models. It is highly recommended to:

• Not leave documents in the vehicle (passport, ID, drivers licence, car registration document, car insurance) ;
• Avoid driving at night without imperative necessity (bad state of roads, presence of carts and animals, vehicles parked without lights);
• Avoid leaving your vehicle without surveillance and choosing rather guarded parkings.

Seismic risk

Bulgaria is in a seismic zone, and even if the activity is generally rare and moderated, an earthquake is possible at any time, without previous signs.

How to move inside the country

Road infrastructure

Roads aren’t good, especially at the end of the winter. From November till throughout April, the vast amounts of snowfalls turn the circulation difficult. It is recommended to drive carefully because of the very numerous holes in the street. In case of accident, it is important to wait for the arrival of the police.

The level of alcohol in blood tolerated is 0,5 G/L.

Police controls are frequent.

Precaution concerning the displacements in cabs, especially on the moment of the arrival to Sofía’s airport: despite of a stronger control by the undercover police, many travelers are still being taken in charge by companies that practice extremely high prices, especially at the arrival to Sofía’s airportTherefore, some precautions must be observed to avoid any incident:

1. Reject systematically the persons who approach you in the lobby and offer you to take you to a taxi, as well as refuse systematically individuals proposing you transportation. For your information, all the Sofía’s taxis are yellow. Do not take the taxis that circulate without interruption on reduced speed near the airport because they have exorbitant fees. These high fees (up to 10 levas, approximately 5 Euros or 4 dollars, per kilometer) being officially and clearly published in the taxi, become impossible to deny or at least to negotiate. If this happens to you the best thing is to ask the taxi driver to stop. Get off and go to the line of the official cabs, placed to the right going out of the customs, or ask for information to authorized staff of the airport.
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2. Check the list of fees to be applied (appearing on the back window of the vehicle as well as to the front window). The fees are generally these:

• During daytime between 0,55 and 0,70 stotinki (from 0,27 to 0,35 Euros) per kilometer
• By night from 0,69 to 0,80 stotinki (from 0,3 to 0,4 Euro) per kilometer

These fees in particular are practiced by the most important taxi companies: “O.K. Supertrans”, “91280″ and “91 119 yellow taxi “.

It is necessary to indicate that certain companies practice too high fees use very similar names like “O.K. Supertrans” driving you to confusion, such as CK Supertrans. Finally it is necessary to indicate that certain taxis (especially those who are parked without interruption near the airport) during summer have their back windows lightly lowered in order to cover the fees, which are mentioned there. You don’t have to pay more than 1 lev per kilometer (0,5 Euro ; 0,4 dollars).

Trains

Trains are mostly slow but it´s a cheap way of traveling and the level of comfort is improving.

Planes

Only one Bulgarian company provides local flights, linking Sofía with destinations such as Varna and Bourgas: the Bulgarian company “Hemus” (tel: 359.2.981.83.30).