Travel Guide Tuesday||Sofia, Bulgaria
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| Photo Credit: Tripadvisor Sofia||The Facts
As Mentioned above Sofia is the Capital (and largest) City of Bulgaria, which is in South East Europe. The City lies at the foot of the Vitosha Mountain, which can be found in the west. The Sofia Valley which is another beautiful place to visit is surrounded by the Balkan Mountains to the North.
 The City is also home to The Iskar River. Sofia is a beautiful and natural place to visit. If you are an outdoors lover then I can guarantee this City is for you.   How to get here||Flights
So getting to Sofia is relatively straight forward. If you are on a tighter budget using websites such as Skyscanner and Kayak will help you find good deals. Make sure you book your flights early to avoid prices doubling.
If you are travelling from the UK...
Most big airlines travel from all over the UK to Sofia several times a day. Again though if you are budgeting try looking at a low cost airline like Easyjet or Ryan Air.
Easyjet fly to Sofia most days of the week from London Gatwick. The cheapest time to fly is in usually September when flights can be as little as £29.49 one way. Try going from a smaller Airport like London Stansted or Luton this usually saves the pennies too.
Photo Credit: Pinterest
travelling from outside the UK...
Obviously it is going to be an expensive trip from outside the UK if you are visiting for a week or more. In a few cases you will be able to catch direct flights to Bulgaria. Most people however tend to stop off and catch flights to Europe and THEN Bulgaria separately. I suggest looking at the Flight Comparison websites mentioned above to get the best deals here.
Where to Sleep|| Hotels
The next thing which is usually on your list when planning a trip away is where you are going to sleep? Sofia just like most cities has a vast amount of hotels and accommodation to suit every budget. Here are just a couple of examples. The Luxury budget...
So if you are lucky enough to have a big budget for your trip to Sofia then this next hotel is definitely one for you.
-Emirates Apart Residence- Located in the Vitosha District this ultra modern 5 star Apartment/Hotel is just 2.5 miles from the main City action. The thing I love the most about this hotel is it has a lot of facilities including a Gym, Spa & Sauna room, Indoor Swimming Pool and Outdoor Water Sunbeds. All of the rooms boast spectacular panoramic views of the Vitosha Mountains, some rooms are self catered apartments. (You will need to specify what room you want when booking). Rooms also come with all the usual amenities you would find in a hotel.     For a 3 night stay based on 2 adults sharing prices are around £297.00 for a no frills standard room.
The Hostel budget...
Now I don't usually tend to write about Hostels or cheap alternatives on this blog . However I think its only fair that I include them in the guide in the hope it will give everyone inspiration no matter what budget you have. So here's one of my favourite Budget hotels/ hostels located in Sofia.
-Hello Sofia- I have found this B&B/Guest House on the Hostel World website. Not only does it offer great deals on Hostels it also covers B&B's as well as the more mainstream Hotels. Definitely a great website to check out. The thing that drew me to 'Hello Sofia' is mainly the name! I then had a browse through the photos and the description on the website and thought it looked very charming, it reminded me of my friends apartment I stayed in, in Stockholm last year. See for yourself below..         So the photos above pretty much outline what you can expect to find accommodation wise in 'Hello Sofia'. Here are the main facilities on offer: A Choice of 1 Queen sized bedroom with Sofa (All rooms with air conditioning) or 1 smaller Double bedroom or 1 Twin bedroom with en suite toilet/sink plus 1 Lounge area with pull out bed 1 'Chill out area' with comfy seating Fully equipped Kitchen Shower Room with Separate Toilet/Sink (Towels & Hair Dryer included) 24 Hour Reception Free Wi-fi Cable TV Cafe Luggage storage Laundry Facilities Prices start from as little as £7.18 per person per night. **The main things to note are that they are a guest house and NOT a hostel and that when paying they do not accept credit cards, cash only! Also Breakfast is not included.** For more info and to book your stay visit the page here. -Air B and B- Now this is something I haven't actually tried myself yet but I have read about it loads and had friends use the service all giving it very high reviews. I would be quite anxious myself to stay in a strangers house in a foreign country but thought I'd add it on here to get a real travellers perspective. Prices obviously vary depending on how near to the city centre you want to stay. Prices start from as little as £14 a night and can go up to £37 for central locations. The website is very user friendly and can be found here. You can also sign up to be a host yourself on there should you wish to. What to do||Sightseeing Now we are on to my favourite part. The Sights!! Below are a couple of places I would love to see... #1 Cathedral Saint Alexandar Nevski  #2 Vitosha Mountains  #3 Vitosha Boulevard  4# Ivan Vazov National Theatr  #5 Boyana Waterfall  There are lots of different churches also scattered around the city, here are a few you must visit:    Where to eat|| Restaurants/Bars This again something I love researching in a new city as I LOVE food. Sofia has lots of great places to try local and authentic cuisine. Some of the best places are usually found by accident, but if like me you like to plan ahead here's some top recommendations I have found. #1 Vodenitzata Vodenitzata is an Authentic Bulgarian restaurant located in the Vitosha district. This restaurant offers some of the best local cultural food in Bulgaria. Make sure you also ask to try their Rakia (the national drink) they offer some of the best hand picked dishes in the country. Salad plays a very big part on their menu which is great if you are a lover of leaf like myself. You can check out the menu here.  #2 Pizzarela Situated on Bulgaria Square this Italian restaurant offers some of the best tastes from Italy. It also serves steak and burgers, as well as grilled Chicken. It has a great seating area outside which is lovely to sit at in the summer. The thing I am desperate to try from here would be their Nachos. This American restaurant would be my first stop in Sofia. #3 Divaka Restaurant I LOVE the sound of this place. It is one of the only restaurants in Sofia that stays open till the early hours of the morning. A perfect place to dine if you have had a night out on the town and are feeling a bit peckish afterwards. Divaka is situated in the main centre within walking distance of all the main attractions and sites. It is near a lot of Sofia's clubs so you can now see why it is open so late. If you are out one night make sure you stop off here afterwards.  A great blog I have found which gives a great review of Divaka Restaurant can also be found here. Where to Party||Clubs & Bars If like me you love a good party and are a bit of Night Owl, I suspect you will be looking for somewhere to go out at night during your stay. Here's a few clubs/bars to visit in Sofia for a great night out... #1 Beach Bar (Serdika Mall) This is definitely one for the summer. I came across this amazing bar on this website here. I love visiting the pop up beach bars we have back home in London during the summer so think it would be really cool to see what they are like in another country & this one looks fantastic. The thing I love which really stands out for me about this place is they also offer Yoga and Pilate classes during the weekends. If you are visiting before the end of September (when the bar closes for winter) you should definitely put this place on your night out itinerary.    #2 Yalta Now we are moving on to the more main stream clubs in Sofia. Yalta would certainly fit this stereotype (excuse pun). Located on the 20, Tsar Osvoboditel Boulevard the club cannot be missed. This club is more aimed at the tourists which you will be able to tell just by looking at their website (it's all in English). It is also where you will find the bigger household names Djing here. They list their events on their website and Facebook page. Website can be found here. Facebook page here.   How to get around||Transport In most cases it is easy to get around the City Centre by foot as most things are within walking distance to each other. The preferred method of transport is taking a Taxi. You can usually find the ranks around the city, but my advise (from previous trips in Europe) would be pre booking one from a genuine and reputable company. We usually got our hotel to book us one if we were going out to dinner and then getting the restaurant to book us another when we wanted to come home. It is so much easier and safer than hailing your own down in the street at night.  If you are on a bit of a budget and taxi's seems like a big expense to you, you can also ride the Metro for just 0.51 euro per journey/1 leva (around £1.00gbp). Or you can buy an all day travel ticket for 4 leva. The metro here is definitely not as confusing as the one in Paris or London as there are only 2 lines. Most of the same rules apply to most Metro/ Underground Stations in Europe. It is also considerably cleaner and friendlier than both of those countries Metro/Underground systems. Please note that although some signs are in English some also are not, so to help you plan where you need to go I suggest looking at the website first and clicking on the map page so you know what station you need to get to. Click here to view the website in English.  
Photo Credit: railway-technology
Okay so we are now at the end of my first Travel Guide Tuesday Post! I really hope you enjoy reading as much as I have enjoyed writing about the beautiful city. If you want to view my new Newsletter for this mini series please click the link here or comment below if you wish to subscribe. |
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