I'm planning a 3-day trip to Sofia "just because," prior to a business trip in Europe. I'd like to tack on another 2-3 nights somewhere -- can anyone recommend a destination close to Sofia, preferably somewhere that is easy to get to by train?
I'd also appreciate recommendations for Sofia -- hotels, restaurants and sightseeing.
Thanks!
I recommend the Lonely Planet guidebook. Trains can be pretty slow in Bulgaria, so the guidebook will probably recommend buses to most destinations. Rila Monastery was my favorite destination on our tour; you could take an organized bus tour from Sofia for about $100. For a historic town, I'd choose Plovdiv, with it's Roman amphitheater, ethnographic and archeology museums, and old Turkish houses. Direct Sofia-Plovdiv trains run several times per day and take 3 hours, or buses run more often and take about 2.5 hours.
I went to Bulgaria for a week a few years back and enjoyed it enough to return in a few weeks. But since I am no expert I suggest the Eyewitness Guide to Bulgaria. Worked on the last trip just fine. Sofia is really a nicer town than its reputation. About 2.5 hours by train from Sofia is the town of Plovdiv. This and Sofia are the only two stops we are repeating from the last trip. IN part because Sofia is a beautiful and fascinating town. Worth two visits. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plovdiv A guide with a car can get you there in about 1.5 hours. A guide is pretty reasonably priced in Bulgaria and you can stop and see the landscape between Sofia and Plovdiv. Don't know your budget but I think you will find the price of a guide, car and nice hotel room combined to be in the neighborhood of USD300 a day. www.easytouristguides.com
Besides the already mentioned places is village Koprivshtitsa, about 100km east of Sofia worth to consider. Takes about 2.5hours with the train.
Certainly Rila Monastry and also Plovdiv are to recommend. To my opinion is Bulgaria best to experience if you don’t care about luxury, so accept that things can be basic and goes at a more easy pace. I made my trip in Bulgaria in 2007 and liked to move around only by public transport (and a taxi a few times) for getting better in touch and involved with the local life as the people are really nice.
When you encounter a country like Bulgaria where the costs are significantly lower the question is always how to best capitalize on the lower costs. You can either have a less expensive trip or you can invest the savings and see or do more or you can invest the savings in some higher quality services or you can use the savings for a longer trip. No way of looking at it is wrong.
If you go for the savings and take the trains you will get closer to a level of real life, not the real life of every section of society, but of at least one section of society. We had some of our best experiences with the locals on the Septemvri-Dobrinishte narrow gauge line. The people realized that we had no idea how long the ride would be so they started feeding us. The scenery was wonderful, but the people were better. But we did this ride mostly for the experience and the view. Trains are very slow in Bulgaria. A “nice hotel” in a small town in Bulgaria will be less than $40, and I think my guide gets a discount and because there is so little tourism you are among Bulgarians in every hotel.
So let’s say I am going to spend four days in Bulgaria and ride a train each day and that the ride takes one hour longer than the same trip by car, then there is the walk time to the station and the wait time for the train, etc. I guess the car will save me two hours a day x 4 days = almost one full day of sightseeing. Of course that extra day comes at a cost and that cost is roughly the difference of the cost of visiting Bulgaria vs Paris. I am not embarrassed to upgrade when it makes sense, and to say that takes us out of the culture is have the opinion that there are no people of means in Bulgaria or you cant experience the culture unless you do it at the lowest level. Still, we tend to do a little of all the strategies. Save some here, upgrade some there and get to a few more places and stretch the schedule a bit to maximize the investment in money and time. Our trip in a few weeks takes us and some equipment to places that are tough to reach with public transport so this is sort of unique and makes the car/guide worth it.
James - Enjoy your coming trip to Bulgaria, curious about those tough to reach places. I'm reading my personal report again and good, and as well as some lesser memories come back. Bulgaria is more about experiencing it, for that you have to do that with an open mind (as possible).
About a restaurant I can for traditional Bulgarian Cuisine with life music recommend Pri Yafata in Sofia, still good reviews according tripadvisor.
