6 reasons to travel to Bulgaria

Why travel to Bulgaria? Having just returned from a week-long trip along the Black Sea and in the capital Sofia, we are full of impressions. We have a lot to tell you and start with a post with six reasons to travel to Bulgaria. This is what we liked most about the country!

Our trip to Bulgaria

Our trip to Bulgaria was a press trip organised by the Bulgarian Tourist Board. We travelled together with Christian from Food and travel blog and Norwegian Hannah and Jörgen, who run the Instagram account. @hannahlates. We really had a great time together while exploring what Bulgaria has to offer at a fast pace. In the picture below you see the gang (except me, who was behind the camera) on a very nice and interesting wine tasting at Queen's Winery in Balchik.

Why travel to Bulgaria?

We had never been to Bulgaria before and had mostly heard about Sunny Beach, where many people went to party a decade ago. To be honest, we had some prejudices about the country, but we were definitely ready to challenge them. And the prejudices always came true! Of course, some things were better than others, and as we try to sort through our impressions, we think we can highlight a few things that were particularly good during our trip.

1. Beautiful beaches

Bulgaria is perhaps best known for its beautiful beaches. The beaches that many people flocked to in the past... Sunny Beach and Golden Sands - are of course still long stretches of fine sandy beaches that attract visitors. But we guess a lot has happened! For example, we visited the Bedroom Beach beach bar on Sunny Beach, which really felt modern and fresh, with a nice swing in the background music.

If you don't like that kind of beach life, there are plenty of smaller beaches, which are beautiful in a completely different way, and sometimes almost exotically paradisiacal. The beach pictured below is called Hero's beach and can be reached by shuttle bus from the Lighthouse Golf & Spa resort or from Saint George campsite, for example.

2. Beautiful nature

We have only seen a small, small part of Bulgaria's nature, but what we saw surprised us positively. We had expected to see beautiful beaches, but we were not as prepared for the intense greenery and the steep cliffs that here and there plunged abruptly into the sea.

The fields of sunflowers and lavender were bursting with beautiful colours, and if you come at the right time and place, you can also see fields of roses in bloom. We also know that there are plenty of mountainous areas in the country that are popular for hiking or, in winter, skiing.

3. fine golf resorts

We are not golfers, but we visited several beautiful Bulgarian golf resorts during the trip, where you can combine golf with spas and beaches. These hotels were beautifully located along the Black Sea.

One of the hotels (Thracian Cliff) has an extremely spectacular golf course, where you sometimes have to shoot the ball down a cliff or across open water. In addition, the beaches at these golf resorts are fantastic.

4. Exciting history

Bulgaria has a very long history and can, among other things, boast of housing Europe's oldest city, Plovdiv. This city is located in the centre of Bulgaria and was a destination we did not have time to visit this time, but then we have reason to go back to Bulgaria! The country also has a lot of beautiful and interesting buildings from different eras, such as the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Plovdiv. Sofia.

Bulgaria has nine Unesco World Heritage Sites to offer. We were able to see one of them, namely the old town of Nesebar. This is a really interesting and cosy city to stroll around!

5. nice people

Most of the people we met in Bulgaria were extremely nice. Now, of course, we mainly met people who run restaurants and hotels, and who may want to be nice to their guests. Men The gut feeling was good, and many meetings made us happy and warm inside.

During our relatively short trip, we were able to meet very committed people, who fought for their organisations and who really gave of themselves. The man in the picture also served us a fantastic dinner at Darzalas Wine & Dine in Varna.

6. An affordable destination

Bulgaria is an affordable destination. This doesn't mean that everything is super cheap, but it does mean that everything is cheaper than what the equivalent experience would be in Sweden. According to the 2019 Forex Country Index, Bulgaria is ranked at 35 (compared to Sweden at Index 100). That means, according to that list, Bulgaria is more affordable than Malaysia, Turkey, Albania, Poland and Thailand, for example. Some price examples from our trip:

• Admission to the cave monastery/museum: 26 kr.
• Bullet ice cream with two bullets: 20 kr
• Shopskas salad (starter) in a restaurant: 35 kr.
• Blue mussels in a restaurant: €47
• Cocktail at an exclusive restaurant in the capital: €80
• Full-body massage at an exclusive golf resort: €500

Either you can choose to live really cheaply, or you can choose to treat yourself to things you might not normally treat yourself to, like fancy hotels, spa treatments or luxurious drinks at a rooftop bar.

How to travel to Bulgaria?

In "normal" cases, there are direct flights from Stockholm to the Black Sea in Bulgaria. These flights have been cancelled during the pandemic and still are, so we flew with LOT Polish Airlines to the capital Sofia, with a stopover in Warsaw. Then we took a domestic flight to Varna on the coast. A slightly inconvenient journey perhaps, but hopefully the direct flights will start again soon!

Of course, you can also travel to Bulgaria by car or motorhome, and there are also campsites, especially on the Black Sea and lakes. For example, we stopped by Camping Saint George at Hero's Beach, which is large and welcomes caravans without prior reservation.

What are the entry requirements for COVID-19? At the time, full vaccination or a current test was required, but of course these things change all the time.

Have you been to Bulgaria? Do you recognise what we write, or did you have a different experience? If you have not been there, is it a country you are curious about?