Bulgaria
The information below is provided by Lonely Planet readers and is not verified by Lonely Planet. For the official lowdown, contact your nearest embassy or check out our Travel Links.
Visas, Embassies & Border Crossings
It is extremely easy to cross the border at Vama Veche in Romania to Bulgaria. You can get a maxibus from Mangolia to the Vama Veche border at minimal cost, walk across the checkpoint, & there are taxis available at the bars on the Bulgarian side. We took one to Balchik on the black Sea coast for €30 - which was very reasonable for the distance!!
Wendy Smith, UK (Nov 05)
I have been recently informed by some friends in Bulgaria that you will not be able just to go over the border outside Bulgaria to then come in again and receive a new 30 day visa. From my understanding the border police have started to enforce a regulation that has always been in place, you can go out of Bulgaria and come back in but only stay a total of 30 days within 6 months unless you obtain a 90 day visa or something like that before you come to Bulgaria. It would be best to check with the consulate but that is the advice from friends as I have previously just gone out of the country and returned with another 30 day visa but this year I will apply for a 90 day visa from the consulate in Australia.
Barry Ridgway, Australia (Mar 05)
Travel Tips
Don't bother taking travellers cheques to Bulgaria. They were a nightmare to change. There are no street names anywhere outside Sofia so getting lost is compulsory. For this reason I would highly recommend NEVER Arriving anywhere after dark. Maps are often impossible to get hold of, though most towns do have 'town plans' on a large board somewhere in the town centre. This isn't very helpful if one can't find the town centre! Lonely Planet maps are the best to be found really!
Zoe Birtle, UK (Oct 05)
Bulgarians shake their heads for no and nod for yes. For people who don't speak the language, this is important to know.
Rob Neff, USA (Sep 05)
Always bring toilet paper with you-many places, even somewhat nice places, cannot afford to always buy it!
Using telephones from hotels, even when using ATT int'l calling cards, accrues exorbitant prices when calling abroad (even ISIC calling cards have this problem). Do not use these phones, it can't be stressed enough! Internet calling centers are easy to find and have good prices and the quality isn't really that bad at all or go for a cell phone-also very easy to find and use.
Sonja Hanchar, USA (Sep 05)
Sofia: the tourist information centers are useless. They don't have any information and they don't even speak any English.
Ivanovo - there is no public transport to the rock monestry and it is a 7km walk from town. Also the transport out of the town is not so frequent, so basically it's not that accesible by public transport. The Rock Monestry has a 3lv entry fee. There is a very friendly guy at the entrance who invites you to coffee and then charges you 2lv!(coffee costs aubout 0.50-1lv).
Karen Ronen, Israel (Jul 05)
Learning the Cyrillic alphabet is easy (takes an hour) and is essential
to the independent traveler. Learn the Cyrillic alphabet or you're in world of hurt. For example, if
you don't know Cyrillic, you can't match the street signs to the street
names in the book. It's also hard to know what things are (museums,
institutions, monuments) when they are all labeled in Cyrillic. Plus, for
culture buffs, it's one of the highlights of the trip. Itâ??s just frickin'
fun.
A quick thought on languages. English is useful, but outside of Sofia and
Plovdiv it is far from ubiquitous. French is almost useless. German is a
very close number 2 in languages and saved our bacon a couple of times.
Don't expect anything but Bulgarian from the vast majority of civil
servants, citizens, and clerks.
Banks close on
December 31st and exchange houses will rip you off big time on this day and
on the 1st (or at least this was our conclusion based on a drop in the
exchange rate from 1.4 to 1.2 for these two days only).
The museums in Tarnovo (and, in general,
throughout the country outside of Sophia) are cold, cold, cold in the
winter. You may be the only visitor all day and they don't warm it up for
you. If you are thinking about being warm and cozy for a couple of hours in
the museum, you may actually feel a drop in temperature. So, bring on the
long underwear. Beware that Ruse and Tarnovo are very badly lit at night and
this can lead to potential dangers.
Raluca Nemtanu & Riley Graebner, Romania & USA (Jan 05)
Moving About
Taxi drivers would take the "long way" to our destination if there wasn't a Bulgarian-speaking person in tow, so I would often just say my destination and "Da" and not get ripped off as much!
Sonja Hanchar, USA (Sep 05)
There is a bus from Sofia to the Rila monastery that is not mentioned in you guide. It leaves at 10.20am daily from the bus station "ovchen kupel", and requires a change at Rila village. The bus stays for two hours at the monastery before returning to Sofia at 3pm.
Stefan Ratschan, Austria (Sep 05)
The Central Bus station in Sofia is a DREAM, it is
very like a superorganised Turkish bus station now and it is where I had the second best toilet
experience! They were great! Best 0.5lv I spent!
For people moving around in the Balkan, here's a golden tip. For only €48 (for people 25+ it is just a little more expensive) one can buy a Balkan Flexipass which allows you to travel for 5 days within 1 month through the following countries: Serbia and Montenegro, Greece, Romania, Bulgaria Macedonia and Turkey. If your tired of thumbing your way around then this the second best option..
Maarten Stam, The Netherlands (May 05)
The ferry from Calafat-Vidin is a nightmare. I didn't
see any sign of a passenger ferry only the car ferry
and it only goes when it is full - so we had a lovely
4-5 hours on the ferry swatting mozzies and cursing
about having eaten all our food!
Sara Caplain, New Zealand (May 05)
Tryavna from Veliko Tarnovo (an easy day trip) is ONLY accessible by train. It takes 50 minutes and is a pleasant, pretty ride. If you mess up the schedule (like we did), you might be stuck in some really tiny town (name forgotten) waiting for your connection. There's a minimarket across the street, and a 30 minute wander around the desolate place will pass the time, but it's still not recommended.
Raluca Nemtanu & Riley Graebner, Romania & USA (Jan 05)
SOFIA: Avoid Kondor taxis, they charge ten times the normal rate. Look for tariffs display on the taxi before you get in, they should be around 39 stotinki per km.
TRAINS: Overnight sleeper train Sofia to Istanbul recommended. Comfortable, inexpensive, and safe (you can lock yourself in). Much better than buses, and takes around the same time.
Kapka Kassabova, UK (Sep 04)
Scams & Warnings
Beware helpful people at train stations. Several times I was approached by some one with a badge who said they were train information staff. The badge looks legitimate but I can't speak Bulgarian so who knows? These 'helpers' say they will help you to find your train. They buy you a ticket and take you to the correct train, then demand 10lv for helping you before they will hand over the ticket! This is extortion! I have no idea whether this is a legitimate service or not but beware of the cost.
Zoe Birtle, UK (Oct 05)
Varna: I spent some time in the bazaar near the cathedral buying souvenirs and wandering around. On the east side of the bazaar, there are those merchants selling t-shirts and shorts who always solicit you to buy a t-shirt for 2 lv. I found that very cheap but never stopped because I did not find the t-shirts really nice.
On the last day of my visit I was passing by after having done lots of shopping and all that was left with me was 7 lv. So again one the guys was harassing me to buy a t-shirt for 2 lv. They even sometimes put their arm around you in a friendly way to show you their collection. I wanted to get rid of the extra levas I had so I decided to take one t-shirt. I pointed at one, he put it in a bag, gave it to me, I give him 2 lv. Then he starts laughing, he calls his friends and all of a sudden they were 5 around me laughing, talking something in Turkish and looking at me. All of a sudden, he couldn't say a word of English. He took the t-shirt from my hand, and then he took a calculator and punched 20. The 2 lv I gave him was already in his pocket. I tried to tell him that I don't want to pay 20lv for this t-shirt and to give me back my 2 lv. He kept on insisting that I give him 20. They were around me and they wouldn't let me go. I told him not to try anything because I really don't have money with me. I even opened my wallet and showed him all that was left was only 5 lv. They were around me talking in Turkish and trying to intimidate me. Then one of his friends said "ok give him 5. It will still be a good price for you believe me". I told him "ok fine. Keep the 2 lv. I don't want a t-shirt. You don't want to give me back my money, then you're being an asshole" and I walked away. I think I'm just lucky because it happened on the last day and my pockets were really empty. If I had stopped on the first day, I had more than 500 lv in my pocket.
I don't want to advise everybody to avoid that market because I got some really nice interesting souvenirs there. The other merchants were really really nice. After having spent about 50 lv from a kiosk, the guy there gave me some additional souvenirs for free as a customer loyalty gift.
Rony Abi-Aad, Canada (Sep 05)
Re: money exchange in Sunny Beach. The rates on the boards outside are not always the rate you get - Crown Exchange and the banks only can be trusted. If you complain, someone comes to "help" you and by sleight of hand relieves you of all your money then disappears. This happened to us last Oct & we've seen it again this June.
Trish Aspden, UK (Jul 05)
Sandinski nice place but rob tourists blind at the
restaurants - we ordered a meal, wine etc and then the
bill was double what it should have been - we asked
for the menu again to verify the prices and lo and
behold, fresh ink and stickers with new prices on the
menu (it did take 10 mins to appear after we asked for
it...). Happened again in different place with our
coffee the next morning...
Sara Caplain, NZ (May 05)
I have a warning for travellers on the Black Sea coast in Bulgaria. The official exchange rate lev/euro (or lev/dollar, more or less) is 1.96. However currency exchange points have several schemes to make money out of unsuspecting tourists. One is to advertise "no commission" but only apply this to amounts over $1000 - otherwise there may be up to 8% commission. Nastier (but very common) is having two rates of exchange listed: eg 1.96 for selling, 1.196 for buying. Note the added 1 in the buying rate! This can be particularly deceptive because the signs are only in cyrillic script and the buying rate may be much smaller. I managed to avoid this trap but heard from many tourists who had been ripped off in this manner. They had no rights because the (bad) exchange rates were on display - albeit ambiguously. This practice is common in Suzopol, Nesebar, Burgas, Sunny Beach & undoubtedly other resorts too. Be careful!
Catherine Barber, UK (Aug 02)
Gems, Highlights & Attractions
Sofia: The new National Museum in Boyana can be reached on the number twenty one minibus, which leaves you right at the gate. In the city centre, it crosses the bottom of ul. Graf Ignatiev. There is also a trolleybus (I think route 2) and ordinary bus route which stop a few hundred yards away, but then you have to cross a dual carriageway and walk through a clump of trees to the car park. The building itself looks very 70s retro (I liked it as much as the exhibits) it's quite impressive and spacious inside, although there seemed to be very few people around (and the car park was empty). If asking directions, remember there is another museum in Boyana, which is just a small collection of icons in a church - often people will direct you to this instead, so make sure you ask for 'National Museum'.
Colman Higgins (Aug 01)
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