🇧🇬 Bulgaria travel resources

Before you go

• If you’re not a citizen of an EU country, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway or Switzerland, your passport must have been issued less than 10 years before you arrive and be valid for at least 3 months after you leave the Schengen area. You may be asked to register fingerprints and a photo under the EU Entry/Exit System (EES). It is free.
• Motorways and main roads outside towns need an e-vignette, which GOV.UK says to buy before you travel. The National Toll Administration warns that some websites sell it with added fees and urges buying only from the official BG TOLL shop, its app or authorised partners.

Top destinations in Bulgaria

• Sofia
• Plovdiv
• Veliko Tarnovo
• Varna
• Nesebar

Travel resources

• Bulgaria Travel (official tourism site)
• Entry/Exit System (EES)

Travel tips

1. Take an official, licensed taxi from Sofia airport. GOV.UK says unlicensed taxis overcharge passengers, there is an official taxi booking office in the arrivals hall, and you should check the meter is working.
2. Get bar and club recommendations from your hotel. GOV.UK says tourists have been overcharged, and threatened with violence if they refuse to pay, in so-called gentlemen’s clubs in Sofia and in resorts including Bansko, Borovets and Sunny Beach.
3. Check your insurance covers mountain rescue, helicopter costs and repatriation before skiing, climbing or mountaineering, as GOV.UK advises.
4. Leave valuables at your accommodation instead of taking them to the beach in Sunny Beach. GOV.UK says thieves and pickpockets target tourists there.