I have to say no. It’s just ok. There are some nice churches and a few roman ruins. The Black Sea Coast has some nice historic towns and some ok beaches. It’s really cheap and the you can afford to eat really well. Other than that, Sofia is a pretty dull capital city. Everyone raves about Plovdiv, supposedly the best city. It’s just average. The mountains are average. I didn’t find the people particularly friendly. And I got ripped of by a rental car company. The first time ever after renting cars all over the world. The Black Sea Coast has some nice enough spots, but many are tourist traps full of scumbag English all-enclusive package tourists on the piss.
Where is Bulgaria?
Bulgaria is a country in the Balkans, in the south east of Europe. The Ottoman empire ruled Bulgaria for 500 years. It was once part of the Soviet Union. Bulgaria invented the cyrillic script. With the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989, it became a multi-party democracy.
Bulgaria is a member of the European Union, the Shengen and NATO. The currency is the Lev. The capital city is Sofia. Sofia is also the largest city with 1.2 million people. That’s all you need to know really.
Sofia
I read/watched loads of v/blogs about Bulgaria before I went. All have click-bait titles, like “Bulgaria, not at all what I expected!”. Or, “You won’t believe what happened at the end of this video of Bulgaria”. Well, I will spoil it for you. There is nothing really to see. I read many blogs which proclaimed: “I was expecting (Sofia to be) a dull, drab, grey city out of the communist era, with unsmiling people. But instead I found this vibrant city and ended up staying much longer than planned!”. The giveaway is the word “vibrant”. Vibrant is a euphemism for “dull”. “A backpacker’s paradise” is a another favorite which can be translated as “cheap”. Ok to be fair, it is quite cheap and you can travel in Bulgaria quite cheaply.
Sofia has some nice churches, some romain ruins, a couple of nice buildings and some average museums. I wouldn’t recommend staying more than a day. I stayed in a central area walking distance to all the sites.
The highlight of Sofia and its landmark is the magnificent Alexander Nevsky Cathedral. It’s the largest cathedral in the Balkans, although a bigger one is under construction in Serbia. Other notable buildings are the National Theatre and Central Mineral Baths, now a museum. There are some other underwhelming churches, mosques, a few Roman ruins and some average museums.
The city itself is bleak. There is no cool artistic or bohemian area. I had 2 days and I was struggling to fill the time. I decided to check out the red flat, an interactive museum with audio guide explaining how life was during the communist era. Also a bit underwhelming.
Rila Lakes and Monastery
The best day trip out of Sofia is to the Rila Lakes and Monastery. Unless you have your own transport, you need to join a tour. You can do both in a day or just visit the Monastery. I elected to just do the Monastery tour as the lakes are further and the bus leaves at 7:00, meaning an early start.
The Monastery is named after St Ivan of Rila, a hermit who lived in a cave. It consists of a church surrounded by a working Monastery. Monks live there who don’t like noisy tourists disturbing their business. The church features some beautiful frescos. Despite warnings, many tourists turn up in shorts and short skirts – exposing your knees and shoulders is a no-no.
Plovdiv
Plovdiv is the second largest city in Bulgaria after Sofia. It is more compact and easier to get around. Everything is within walking distance. It is surrounded by several hills, which offer views of the city and are popular sunset spots
I stayed in this “artsy” district with nice cafes and bars called Kapana. It’s a series of small pedestrianized alleyways which you can walk around in about 15 minutes. It is meant to be the creative district of town, but I deliberately use inverted commas, as it has a couple of murals and one or two designer shops, but that’s about it. Still, it’s a good base to explore the city on foot. The old town and roman ruins are only a few minutes walk away.
The Old Town is a bit underwhelming. Only a few streets with some slightly interesting architecture. Nothing really much is going on there. The highlight is the Regional Ethnographic Museum. The museum itself is nothing special, but the building is quite pretty.
All in all, I wouldn’t spend more than a day here.
Black Sea Coast – Sozopol and Nessebar
The Black Sea Coast of Bulgaria is popular with all inclusive British scumbag tourists, looking for a cheap sun and booze holiday. This had put my off visiting here previously. There are some nice beaches and some very good fish restaurants.
I decided to avoid the two largest cities in the area, Varna and Burgas, and instead check out two historic towns, Sozopol and Nessebar. Both are quite similar – small cities with a new, modern town on the mainland connected to an historic old town on a peninsula. The old towns were ancient fortresses, feature Ottoman era traditional wooden houses, some churches and Roman ruins. You can walk round the old towns in around half a day. Note, only local traffic is allowed into the old towns, so make sure to book accommodation in the new towns, walking distance to the old towns. Parking can also be an issue, so choose somewhere with dedicated parking.
Of the two, I prefered Sozopol. It has a more of a laid back vibe. There are two city beaches, both easily walkable from the Old Town. Nessebar also has a nice city beach, about 20 minutes walk from its Old Town. The main difference was the proximity of Nessebar to Sunny beach. Sunny beach is the party/piss-up all-inclusive destination for scumbag British tourists. It is across the other side of the bay from Nessebar and boats regularly ship daytrippers in from Sunny Beach. This makes Nessebar crowded and unpleasant during the day.
In conclusion, the Black Sea Coast would make for a nice cheap beach holiday were in not for all the tacky horrible resorts catering to rock-bottom all-inclusive tourism. You can eat extremely well – I ate fish for lunch and dinner taking advantage of prices 50% lower than in other similar holiday destinations like Greece and Croatia.
Shipka Memorial Church
On the drive back to Sofia, I made a detour to visit this spectacular orthodox church. I have seen many amazing orthodox churches in Russia and Ukraine, but I think this was the most beautiful I have ever seen. It is located outside of the town in serene and peaceful nature, with almost no tourists. I think it was the highlight of my trip.
Conclusion
If you’ve never been to Europe, Bulgaria is a good budget holiday destination combining beach and culture. In my case, however, I have seen loads of churches and Roman ruins. The old towns were not that impressive. The capital Sofia is dull with few sights compared to other capitals like Budapest, Vienna or even Bucharest.
I also fell for a rental car scam which cost me an additional 250 € – double the cost of the original rental. This left a sour taste in my mouth. I could have spent the same amount on a one-way hire and flew back from Varna, thus saving me the 10-hour drive back from the Black Sea Coast to Sofia. You live and learn.