Is it possible to visit Bulgaria on your own, without the guided tours and excursions? The answer is yes, of course! Provided you have the prior preparations and knowledge about the prices of vacationing in Bulgaria, you won’t be lost.
This article attempts to describe in details the process of independent recreation in Bulgaria and highlight the main ways to save money on the hotel, tickets, insurance and other things.
Travel insurance for travel to Bulgaria – where to make it cheap and fast?
For travel abroad it is recommended to arrange medical insurance — especially to places that are not so widely traveled like Bulgaria. For example, we bought a ticket through the agency and in our insurance we got everything — it even included insurance against rain and hurricane. So you really have to expect the unexpected.
The minimum medical insurance amount is 30,000 euros. We chose the ideal insurance with the help of a service Cherehapa – they compared the prices of reliable insurance companies that will really help in case there’s something unexpected happening. We use it and we can recommend it to you. By the way, if you add a couple of additional options to the insurance, the price often grows very slightly.
For additional reading: all about the correct registration of insurance in Bulgaria
Prices for package tours to Bulgaria in 2017
It’s not a secret that package tours to Bulgaria on the Internet can be cheaper than travel agencies – their margin is about 10%, and via Internet it can be only 1-3% due to cost reduction.
We use the Travelata.ru service when searching for tours, which automatically searches for the best deals among the largest tour operators and offers them to you at reduced prices (commission is less).
But even that, it is not even the greatest advantage. In the agency you usually choose from 2-3 options; but here you can choose among dozens of offers.
How much will you spend on air tickets to Bulgaria
Buying tickets to Bulgaria at the Bourgas airport will be the most advantageous. If you do not have a clear binding to the dates of departure, we suggest you look for tickets for neighboring dates. Often it turns out to save about 20%-30% of the cost of the flight.
It is rather difficult to find tickets on the airlines’ websites (although sometimes there are exclusive offers, and sometimes the same flights are more expensive), we recommend using Aviasales low-cost calendar:
You need to choose the city of departure and arrival (it is worth to look for both Burgas and Varna), specify the number of people, choose the month you want to fly and estimate the minimum prices for tickets by the days of the week.
Also check out: Detailed article about buying air tickets to Bulgaria. Well and still can be useful article about how to get from the airport to the hotel.
How to choose hotels in Bulgaria at the lowest price
To search for hotels we usually use Hotellook. It allows you to automatically compare the price in different booking systems and choose the cheapest option.
The key advantage of the service is the ability to quickly sort hotels by customer ratings and prices.Personally, we want to choose a hotel near the sea and away from the noisy center by looking at the map and pointing to a hotel that we prefer.
Another important thing — you can also have the opportunity to see prices in different months and book a room with a sea view in just 15-20 minutes.
Of course, each hotel has recent photos, description and list of services with guest reviews.
Prices for rent of apartments and rooms in Bulgaria
If you want to live not in a popular resort like Sunny Beach, but in a regular city, it is more advisable to rent an apartment than to book for a hotel. The price is almost the same, and living in your own apartment has its own advantages to staying in a hotel.
AirBnB rental service is a popular means if you are looking for an apartment to rent. It is quite convenient, very fast and reliable. Highly recommended.
What else you should know organizing for DIY vacations in Bulgaria?
Before you start looking for something, it is highly advisable to decide on what resort would you like to stay. You will be helped in this by our review of the best resorts in Bulgaria and a selection of photo of the cities of Bulgaria.
You will also find a useful article about the prices in Bulgaria – you can immediately orient yourself on how much money you will spend.
You should be reminded that organizing for a DIY and independent vacation alone is often better than signing up for guided excursions.