r/AskBulgaria

Hi everyone. My family will be heading to Sofia for vacation this coming winter. I know that we may not be heading there during “peak” tourist season, but at any rate I’m looking forward to seeing your country as it is brand new to me!

I have a young child who will be nearly a year old when we get to Sofia. what are some fun/exciting or interesting things for families with young children and are they easily accessible? I won’t be renting a vehicle so accessibility is rather important!

Is there an “old” town or historic area of Sofia? I have a fascination for history so historical areas and architecture would be on my list of things to see!

I will be in Sofia during Christmas. I would really like to see some orthodox churches, but I don’t want to be disrespectful to the churchgoers, however experiencing an orthodox mass would be a very interesting experience. Is it okay to go to an Orthodox Church and ask to sit in on a mass?

My extended family will be coming along too so day trips may happen with guides. Do any of you have any recommendations?

Where is the best food scene in the city to try local or traditional Bulgaria foods?

Thank you all in advance!

Hello. I am tentatively planning to move to Bulgaria with my family of 4 in Summer of 2027 from the US. I would like to secure work before moving to cement our plan to move. I have 8 years of experience in information security as an architect and consultant. I don't know how to speak Bulgarian yet. I won't require visa sponsorship, my spouse is a Bulgarian citizen.

What is the cyber security job market like in Bulgaria?

What would my chances of securing a job be?

Will I face racism in bulgaria as an arab Muslim? I'm really sorry as I don't mean to offend anyone but this is just based on stories I read before so I decided to ask here. Thanks in advance

I’m travelling Europe from Australia as a solo female in her 30s. I’ll be in Sunny Beach in a few weeks time from Saturday-Monday.

I want to party on the Saturday night by doing a bar crawl, but I can only find the Friday night bar crawl online. Is there one on Saturdays? I saw the White Night party but Viking Bar website says it’s Tuesdays now?

Before you tell me how bad Sunny Beach is and to go somewhere else instead, just know that I love to drink all night, dance, meet younger guys and have a wild time. I’ve been to over 60 countries solo so I’m not worried about scams, fake alcohol or drink prices. I’m very aware of what resorts like Sunny Beach are like.

We recently reported on Bulgaria's role in supporting Ukraine during the first years of the full-scale invasion. Our reporting suggests Bulgaria played a much bigger role than many people outside the country realised, particularly in supplying ammunition and military equipment.

Today, however, Bulgarian leaders increasingly argue that Bulgaria has done enough.

We'd genuinely like to hear from people in Bulgaria:

👉 Has public opinion changed since 2022? Do you think Bulgaria has found the right balance, or should its approach be different now?

Hello to everyone!

I live in the U.S., but I come to Bulgaria twice a year and sometimes stay up to six months, and I would like to know where I can meet some gay men that I can become friends with and spend some time with while I’m in beautiful Bulgaria?

I’m looking for smart guys that can actually hold a conversation. I would prefer over 30, just because I’m 34 myself, but age is not a deal breaker as long as they can hold a sane (not sexualized) conversation. You can send me messages in Bulgarian or English, as I need to practice my Bulgarian but I may be slower in my responses.

Благодаря ви на всички отнапред 🙏🏻 Looking forward to seeing your messages in my DMs!

Like the tittle says I want to tell her that I love her but I would like to know if there’s a way of saying it that would be better than just saying "I love you" maybe something about its culture, traditions, or something like that.

Something that would make her feel special, thanks for your help.

Edit: Shes Bulgarian,I don’t know it that was clear or not

Здравейте! Жена на 27 години съм и си търся компания за пътуване.

Наскоро се разделих с приятеля ми, започнах нова работа в друг град и се чувствам изолирана, нямам компания, с която да излизам, а имам желание да прекарам едно хубаво лято, да се запозная с нови хора.

Обмислих и варианта да пътувам сама, само че не съм го правила досега и съм малко несигурна.

Има ли хора, които биха искали да се запознаем и ако ни тръгне приказката, да направим едно пътуване заедно?

I've heard horror stories about people getting beat up for being gay or transfem in Bulgaria and I'm worried that I would be also.

I've not medically transitioned yet because I don't have the resources to afford HRT or anything like that.

So I still look somewhat masculine but dress fem. How safe is it for me out there or should I just be as subtle as possible?

For reference, my face shape isn't super masculine but it's not super feminine by default.

I also use a different name and she/her pronouns...

Hello everyone!

I’m planning a trip to Bulgaria this August. During my first week (specifically the first 5 working days), I will need to work remotely full-time. Since my job requires a flawless connection for video calls (Teams) and heavy hotspotting, I cannot afford dropouts.

I know Bulgaria has good overall internet speeds, but I want to make sure I have the best setup. I am from Italy, so I do have some EU roaming data, but I want a dedicated solution to ensure maximum speed and stability.

My phone supports both physical SIMs and eSIMs.

Could you please recommend:

1. Which local provider has the absolute best 5G/4G coverage and speeds for remote work? (I've read about Vivacom, A1, and Yettel).

2. Are there local prepaid eSIMs available online for tourists, or is it better to buy a physical prepaid SIM at a shop in Sofia on arrival?

3. If you suggest travel eSIMs (like Airalo, Saily, MobiMatter, Holafly), which network do they roam on, and is the speed throttled compared to a local SIM?

I'll be working from Sofia / Varna. Any recent experiences or advice from fellow digital nomads would be highly appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

Does anyone have a contact? Preferably not on Telegram cause I'm having issues with it.

I work 9 to 6 in a small office that doesn't have any private rooms and I cannot work from home. I want to switch jobs but I will not leave my current one until I've found a new one.

Will I have to take a day off every time I have an interview? How possible it is to schedule it during my lunch break (1pm to 2pm) and if they're online, how unprofessional would it be if im outside?

A bit of context is i was jobless for a year before that and had many interviews. I settled for this job because I didn't have much of a choice but its really not what I want to do long-term, that's why I keep looking. I know I can go through many interviews before eventually getting hired and one interview is typically around 20 minutes, so taking a day off seems impractical to me

Hello people,

I'm Belgian and currently work in Belgium as a logistics coordinator.

After some discussions, I received an offer for a similar position in Sofia, Bulgaria and was wondering how it compares to local job offers. If I directly compare it to my current job, it seems like a stepdown, but I don't actually know the local job market and the average salary for a comfortable lifestyle.

May I have some insights from locals, or folks that made a similar relocation ? Will I be able to buy a property or will I not have choice but to rent ?

Is being fluent in French, English and Dutch enough or will I have to quickly learn Bulgarian ?

Here's the offer :

We offer:

-Relocation Bonus: €1,500 Gross (paid in 2 instalments) - to support relocation and initial rent costs

-21 Days of Company-Provided Accommodation on arrival, and assistance in finding a long-term home

-The gross monthly wage will be €1485 (approximately €1153 net)

-Monthly performance bonus - €80 gross

-Welcome bonus 1500 EUR gross

● €750 gross after completion of three months with the company

● €750 gross after completion of six months with the company

-Fully paid training

-Stable job and career development opportunities

Sorry if the formatting gets messed up, I'm writing on my phone.

EDIT : thank you all for your answers, as I thought this is quite a terrible offer and would be a huge stepdown from my current job.

Hi all,
we currently live in Germany and we are thinking about moving abroad. One of the options is Bulgaria, namely Sofia. My wife and I speak Russian, not as mother tongue, but well enough, and our children know quite a bit of it too. If we would decide to move to Bulgaria, we would learn Bulgarian.

It is on our wish-list that we could do homeschooling with our kids, both in pre-school and school age (in Germany pre-school isn't mandatory, but school is).

Could someone please tell me if that would be possible for our family to do this? If so, what would be the requirements?

From what I've read online and via ChatGPT is that homeschooling is somewhat in the grey zone, and that government is a bit relaxed when it comes to kids of expats. I've also read that pre-school is mandatory for kids from the age of 4.

EDIT: I am not here to discuss pros and cons of homeschooling. I am aware of the fact that Bulgarian is not my mother tongue, and neither of my wife, and that our kids would be going to school at some point. I am just interested in possibilities, because I imagine Bulgaria to be a country to be with less regulations than Germany (I am from Lithuania, and it has less regulations than Germany).

And what about the Ukrainian it’s can compare in terms similarity to Bulgarian?So curious 👀