A Tour of Bulgaria and Vacation on the Black Sea

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After visiting so many places in Europe, both tourist attractions and simple rural villages, it came to me that I had never been in any of the Easter European states. Well, to be truthful, it didn’t just strike me while fantasizing about my next travel vacation. I have a Scottish friend from Glasgow that had been to Bulgaria before and we were having ale one night when he told me all about his tour of Bulgaria.

This guy, let’s just call him Willy for the sake of our story, had taken up a 7-day tour of Bulgaria. A local tour operator had sold him the package and planned his itinerary. Each night he stayed in a different city or village and during the day he traveled and visited the most beautiful places – from historical landmarks to beautiful nature reserves and cultural heritage sites. Willy was genuinely impressed by how much Bulgaria had to offer and how friendly the people he met had been.

So, having heard his story, I decided to plan my own grand tour of Bulgaria. For the two weeks I had planned to stay in Bulgaria, I was going to do a full tour of the country like my friend Willy did, and also have a week to relax along the Black Sea coast.

I started to plan fairly early and by February I was ready with all reservations and a detailed plan of my travels. I had booked my hotels (eight of them) and an estate rental car to fit my whole family and all our luggage. The car came from a local company which seem to be much less expensive that the big names in the industry. It was a bit older but very well maintained and what’s more they didn’t even need my credit card. Only a small cash deposit was needed to rent it.

Anyhow, my holiday was planned for 19^th may and I was expecting it eagerly. When the day arrived, I took a flight from London to Sofia. The whole flight was about three hours and before I knew it, we had touched down in Bulgaria’s capital.

First night we spent in Sofia. Since our flight had arrived early in the day, we had plenty of time to grab lunch and have a stroll in the central part of the city. The weather was wonderful, so we picked out a restaurant that had outdoor seating and wasn’t too fancy. The local people we asked recommended this chain called Happy and this is exactly how I felt leaving the place with about a liter of Bulgarian beer splashing about in my belly.

We kind of liked the capital and how it was nested at the foot of mount Vitosha, but were eager to leave on the next morning and start our road trip. We set of around 10:30 after having breakfast at the hotel and taking our time to enjoy coffee afterwards. We traveled down to Sandanski – a town very close to the Greek border.

Sandanski is a great location for a relaxing holiday. It is surrounded by mountains and the air is pure. In the city itself, there aren’t many tourist attractions or historic artefacts. Probably the best thing you can do is just take long relaxed walks in the central pedestrian area. It is full of little shops and cafes and leads straight to the city park which is quite big. There are two excellent hotels in town and both have SPA centers.

Having visited Melnik, Rojen and other interesting places in the area, it was time to set off for our third destination – Bansko. We arrived there around noon, and settled in our hotel where we had lunch. Bankso is a popular ski resort in Bulgaria and many Europeans prefer it to the more costly Italian and Austrian resorts. Since we were visiting in May, all the skiers had now been long gone and had left a quit little town.

Having had enough of the mountain (not in a bad sense), we then headed to Plovdiv – Bulgaria’s second largest city. This is a place with a rich cultural history, but also an industrial city with many factories and office buildings. The Old Town of Plovdiv, where our hotel was, is simply amazing. The atmosphere is authentic and you could almost feel the past. For those of you who enjoy history – there is much to be learned. In the afternoon we had a cup of tea (it was a bit chilly that day) on a bridge above the river which crosses the city.

Next on our map was Veliko Tarnovo – the Old Bulgarian capital. It is located in central Bulgaria and is also quite a large city for Bulgaria – probably the 4^th or 5^th largest. Entering the city from its west side (we had taken the wrong route), it didn’t seem like a particularly interesting place and certainly not as picturesque as everybody was describing it on the forums I had read before coming to Bulgaria. It turned out that we were totally off route and had ended up in the wrong part of town. As soon as we slipped on our orientation helmets we made it to the central part which looked great. We left the car and explored on foot. The central street starts from the post office, goes through the whole old town with all the shops and restaurants and ends at Tsarevets Fortress. The old town is amazing – a must see for everyone who finds his way to Bulgaria.

I liked Veliko Tarnovo so much, that I didn’t want to leave. On the next day we continued exploring all the amazing places around Tarnovo, including Shipka which was not as close as we had expected, Etara and Arbanasi. I have to be honest, I didn’t plan that day all too well – there was simply not enough time to see all of those places. That’s why we had to re-book our hotel in Ruse because we simply could not make it there. Instead we stayed another night in Veliko Tarnovo and had dinner at a very fancy looking restaurant. And boy did that place deliver – we had wine and the most amazing food. The waiters were very professional and yet friendly.

On the following day we went straight to Ruse with no stops along the way, except stopping for fuel and quick snacks. Ruse is located on the Danube River in north-eastern Bulgaria. There were less attractions in the area than in our previous destinations, but I kind of liked the city, especially the central part, where our hotel was.

Ruse was the last stop in our grand Bulgaria tour, before we headed for a well-deserved and less travel-intensive holiday in Varna. The trip from Ruse was about 3 hours give or take, and we had arrived in Varna, where my family and I had planned to stay a full week. The hotel we had booked is in Golden Sands, which is a resort close to the city (around 12 miles I believe). Since we have a car for our holiday, it was no trouble at all driving to Varna – the road is excellent and there’s not much traffic, so it takes around 20 minutes to get there.

Writing this, I am currently still in Bulgaria and having a Mojito cocktail on my hotel’s terrace. I am enjoying the peace and quiet while my family is down at the pool. I wanted to document all that I had seen while the memories are still fresh, but this post is already getting long and I haven’t shared many details about each of the cities and interesting placed I had visited. That’s why I’ll leave those details for follow up posts and only share the best from my last few days in Varna.

Varna is a very nice city – many Bulgarians tell me it’s the best city in Bulgaria. It livens up in summer when there are many guests from all over Europe and many Russians as well. It’s the third largest city in Bulgaria and has a population of around 350 000 (more in summer). I am told that the city is currently experiencing a transformation – the country is investing in the city to modernize it and deal with long standing problems like bad roads. The whole central part is currently under construction, but should be ready soon according to the locals I asked.

One of the best experiences I had, besides the awesome beach bars I visited, was the newly opened socialist museum in Varna . It’s a one off museum where you can see the whole history of socialist Bulgaria. Before coming to the country, I didn’t know what to expect in terms of lifestyle, but having been here for longer than a week now, I can say that Bulgaria is no longer a Soviet Union state, but rather a modern European country – especially the larger cities. If you want to learn more about the country during socialist times and how the people used to live here, I strongly advise you visit the Retro Museum. It holds an awesome collection of Russian and eastern cars, everyday appliances and even wax figures of political leaders.

To sum up, I’ve had a great time in Bulgaria and would definitely recommend it as a tourist destination. Even the two weeks I had planned, now seem too little to discover everything. My advice is to plan everything in advance and draw your trip on the map. If you plan on doing a lot of travelling like I did, be sure to ask the rental car company if the mileage is unlimited. Research all the tourist attractions and draw a map. Finding some of the places of interest on the satnav was difficult so if you don’t want any surprises, get exact coordinates of them before you leave.

Visiting Bulgaria was an excellent choice and an enriching and fun experience for me. I would recommend it to anyone, as there is certainly enough of everything to suit each traveler – even youngsters who just want to party. Go discover!

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Photos

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My tour took me across the whole country.

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Varna's Unique Retro Museum