About Bulgaria

About Bulgaria

Bulgaria is a beautiful country with panoramic scenery and clean, sandy beaches. It is a country of contrasts with ski resorts and spa centres, next to medieval towns and villages with cobble stone streets. Scattered across the country, are numerous monasteries dating back to Byzantine times.

Over a quarter of the country is covered by natural forests and there are several National Parks providing habitat for wildlife. The Black Sea coast, 354 km of coastline, includes several beaches awarded Blue Flag status.

Living in Bulgaria

Bulgaria enjoys a temperate climate with distinct seasons. Summers are mostly hot and dry while winters are cold with snow in mountainous areas. The Black Sea moderates temperatures in the east of the country, with more than 300 hours of sunshine per year.

Bulgarian tourism has enjoyed a healthy increase over the last few years, encouraged by the low cost of living and improvements in the country’s infrastructure.

After years under communist rule, Bulgaria now enjoys a democratic government with political and economic stability. Bulgaria join the European Union in January 2007.

Several international airlines fly to Sofia. Bulgaria Airlines operate domestic services connecting Sofia to Varna, Bourgas and other cities. Scheduled, as well as charter, flights arrive directly to Varna, Bourgas and to Plovdiv (near Pamporovo), throughout the summer season.

The Bulgarian currency is called Lev. One Lev divides into 100 stotinki (cents).

The Euro is extensively used in pricing, alongside the Lev, and the Lev value is set against the Euro. Foreign currency can be exchanged at airports, banks, exchange bureaux and some hotels.

The official language is Bulgarian which is written in Cyrillic. English is spoken in most tourist areas.

Banks are usually open Monday to Friday, from 9am to 4pm. Foreigners need to have their passport when exchanging currency or cashing cheques. There are also ATM machines in most hotels and in other public places. The main international credit cards are accepted in most places in towns and resorts.

Travel within Bulgaria is covered by a good network of buses and rail. Roads linking major towns are quite good, elsewhere they very. In Bulgaria traffic travels on the right. In urban areas, except buses, one can travel by taxi (inexpensive for western standards). In Sofia, there is also an underground network and trolley-buses.

The cost of living in Bulgaria is quite low, as is the labour cost, compared to other European countries. This is one of the reasons that the country is attracting a large number of investors and retirees as income earned abroad goes a long way in Bulgaria.

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