Going to Bulgaria: what, where, when and how much?

If you would like to have a European holiday but do not have much money to go to popular countries such as France or Spain, Bulgaria would make a wonderful alternative choice.

Why do tourists choose Bulgaria for rest?

Most tourists dream of countries of the European Union, where there is a visa-free regime, good understanding of English and European quality of products and services. Bulgaria is ideally suited to these criteria.

You do not need a visa to come to the country. You can also visit the neighboring countries of Bulgaria at any time without execution of any documents.

What is so good about Bulgaria and why more and more tourists choose it?

The following facts serve as an answer to these questions:

  • All the resorts of Bulgaria have a quite a good service, often it exceeds the quality of popular resorts.
  • The Black Sea, though not as warm as the Adriatic, is clean and cal,.
  • Prices and quality of food will greatly please you. Here you can taste delicious food, some national dishes, and prices even in the resort cities will be lower than average in Europe.
  • Even if you do not like the proposed tours or prices for them, you can always visit a lot of interesting places in the country by yourself.

The only notable disadvantage for tourists is that hotels with the all inclusive service are not yet gaining popularity. But on the other hand, the presence of different restaurants allows you to choose meals of your own preference.

Which is the best resort in Bulgaria? Choose a place to relax together

Among many Bulgarian resorts we could choose: Aheloy, Balchik, Burgas, Varna, Golden Sands, Nessebar, Pomorie, Ravda, Sozopol, Sunny Beach or another list of little-known cities and towns for us.

bulgaria-beach-sea

Let’s find out together how things are with the Bulgarian resorts and how they differ from each other:

  • Aheloy and Ravda are developing resort towns. For the moment, there aren’t any interesting sights, nor an active night life. But you can enjoy pure sea air and beautiful nature.
  • In Balchik — apart from the botanical garden and the summer residence of the queen, there is nothing else interesting in the city.
  • Burgas and Varna are large port cities, with well-established transport connections. Prices are slightly lower than in other resorts. Retail is some of their strongest industries due to the large shopping centers. Having a holiday in the big city is not exactly a good idea, even when there are not a lot of tourists.
  • Golden Sands and Sunny Beach are probably the most popular and well-known resorts in Bulgaria, and therefore the most expensive, as you might guess. It seems these resorts “never sleep.” If you are the kind who loves to go out at night, you will definitely enjoy there. But these beaches are usually crowded especially during peak seasons, so if you are seeking for “peace and quiet” beach holiday, you may want to avoid them.
  • Nessebar, Pomorie and Sozopol are three practically equally interesting places for us. Sozopol is fine — nice architecture, charming old houses and wonderful enough beaches. Pomorie did not provoke interest (at least at first, until you take a closer look), but Nessebar exceeded all expectations. We liked the descriptions of a romantic town with old narrow streets so much that we wanted to spend time looking for adventures without losing time.

And although our choice fell on Nessebar, where there are a lot of sights, good beaches, reasonable prices, we also recommend to take a closer look at Pomorie. During the holiday we really liked this seaside town and its slow-paced life. Prices in Pomorie are slightly lower, and the quality of services is not inferior to other resorts. In Pomorie there are balneological resorts, where tourists like to come to get some treatment.

You will definitely need: а detailed description of the various resorts in Bulgaria.

Is it possible to visit excursions from Nessebar?

Despite the fact that there bus stations in Nessebar don’t really exist, you can go to many excursions from the city. The list of all possible trips is usually in the magazine at the reception of your hotel, and even if not, passing through the city or the embankment, you will surely come across the small places to stay with options for a good rest.

What’s about independent travel from Nessebar?

Nessebar has an excellent bus connections, like many other seaside towns in Bulgaria. We personally traveled from the city to: Burgas, Pomorie, Varna by bus, and Aheloy, Ravda and Sunny Beach were visited on foot.

You may need: Detailed bus schedule from Nessebar.

Going to Bulgaria: what should you take?

Since Bulgaria has a sunny coastal region, the list of things to bring at any of the resort towns is pretty standard. However, near the embankment is quite cool, so it will not be superfluous to grab a sweatshirt with a long sleeve.

What to take for a beach holiday in Bulgaria

  • If you like to drink coffee or tea often, a portable thermos bottle with you. In the hotel, generally, you will not get it. However, prices in the country are generally within your pocket’s reach and you can drink cheap coffee at many cafes and restaurants.
  • Do not pick bottles with drinking water. We encountered a tourist who assured that the price of a small bottled water in the country really huge. That’s why she was carrying a few 3-liter bottles of mineral water.
  • In practice, it turned out that the water at the resorts is cheaper than in most stores (1.5 L bottle – 0,39 lev).
  • If the beach umbrella is uncomfortable to carry, you can purchase it directly at the resort. It costs around 12 levs.
  • The Bulgarian national currency is lev. To protect yourself from dishonest exchanges and hidden rates in local exchange offices, it is better to enter the country with the euro or dollars in hand and have them exchanged for local currency in banks.
  • How much money do you need to take with you? It depends on how much you want to spend. If you have plans to travel a little around the country, but at the same time live modestly, it will be enough $150 for a week for one. If you want to see a lot and are not used to denying yourself with various delicacies, visiting restaurants, then invest somewhere in $ 400 for 7 days.
  • You can visit many excursions, for example, visit Romania.

We recommend you to read our articles: food prices in Bulgariaаll about the national currency of the country , how much money do you need to take with you to rest in Bulgaria?

Where and how it’s better to eat in the Bulgarian resorts?

In our articles, we often talk about how much there in Bulgaria all kinds of restaurants, cafes and fast food. You can eat can at the hotel, where usually placed mechans (restaurants with national food). Prices in restaurnts depend on its location and type, as well as on the range of dishes offered. We did not dare to spend money at an expensive restaurant, but many times we stopped at different parts of the city and the cost of the food interested us. According to our observations, it turned out:

  • To eat lunch at a restaurant, you have to pay out 20 levs.
  • If you like fast food, you can try their pizza (from 1.20 levs to 2.50 levs for one piece). We did not like the duner or doner (local shawarma), but perhaps it just happens that we got the inferior type.
  • It is better to buy food from the supermarket or from the outside market. We especially recommend the Bulgarian sour-milk products.
  • If your resort has fruit markets (for example in Pomorie) it is highly recommended to visit them. Fruits in Bulgaria are not only juicy and tasty, but also very useful.

If you are interested to find detailed information about the prices for products in Bulgaria, we recommend you to read our separate article: Food in Bulgaria – prices.

Excursions for tourists in Bulgaria

Excursions and guided tours are generally expensive. Plus, you may not be okay with the restricted time plan and you otherwise wan to explore seaside towns by yourself, in your own time and pace.

It’s way better to rent a car and view interesting sights by themselves. Thus, tourists not only can choose what to see, but where to stop, to take beautiful photos or to stop where to eat snacks. We advise our readers to pay attention to the Rentalcars.com service – reliable, convenient, tested. You can make sure of this too: Look for a car on Rentalcars.com

Check it out too: detailed article with the prices and the schedule of excursions in Bulgaria.

Excursions around the country and abroad are very rich and varied. We recommend to look closely at organized trips deep into Bulgaria, because it is problematic to get there by public transport without any trans-shipment. It is most convenient to travel by comfortable buses to seaside cities and towns, which regularly run between them

bulgaria-old-town

Souvenirs from Bulgaria or what to bring for the memory?

There are a lot of souvenirs in Bulgaria such as magnets, cups, trinkets and many others, as well as items that are imported from Turkey (although they’re not always in good quality) and from Greece (such as fur coats). You cannot go home from Bulgaria without buying something that brings back memories of your holiday there.

But apart from those gewgaws, there are also jewelry, which are more recommendable to buy. Jewelry in Bulgaria is generally inexpensive, but it doesn’t mean they’re no less worthy. Also, you should buy high-quality but affordable Bulgarian cosmetics, as well as cheeses and fragrant local spices. Bulgarian wines and spirits are good gifts too, for family and friends back home (and for yourself as well).

In general, in Bulgaria you can find good souvenirs for memories, if you know what and where to look. That is why we recommend you read our separate article: souvenirs and purchases in Bulgaria.

Useful links and interesting information: