Sofia so good!

Advantages: Not too busy, good value for money, green
Disadvantages: Not many "attractions", not much for children

...had found out in advance that few museums in Bulgaria have captions in English so we decided to think "outside the box". Sadly Sofia does not have any outdoor attractions close to the centre - by this I mean things life open air museums, cave cities, fortresses or huge monuments that require a twenty minute climb to appreciate. This probably would have suited us better; we were not in the mood (or the health) for stuffy museums and the other half will climb anything he thinks might have a good view from the top. Thwarted, we decided to make our mission to explore the central parks of the city: Sofia has three. South of the main shopping area is "Yuzhen Park" where you'll find the vast NKD National Palace of Culture: this is a huge building holding a multi-screen cinema, exhibition halls and concert halls. The park is pleasant...

fizzytom 24.08.2006 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Review of Sofia (Bulgaria)

Sofia, so good!

Advantages: Great large town, that's compact and safe to explore
Disadvantages: Probably only enough for a weekend; the Cyrillic language

...For the first time theediscerning is hereby dabbling in foreign climes - no, not a first trip abroad, but a debut excursion into the esteemed realm of Ciao travel writers. That's what these competition thingies are for, of course. To start with, a smallish city both tucked away in the middle of Eastern Europe's old Soviet / Warsaw Pact areas, yet far enough away from us in the UK to have some of the mystery and oddity the near east brings - Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. You will increasingly see this as a location for a long weekend holiday, for it is yet another fine eastern European city falling under the tourism industry's eye. With Bulgaria possibly entering the Eurozone in 2007, the urge is to go before it all gets changed. The history of the country is far too complex to summarise here, but just one corner of Sofia...

theediscerning 27.08.2005 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Review of Sofia (Bulgaria)

You don't know what you're missing!

Advantages: Compact, Affordable
Disadvantages: Communist architecture

...I've been living in Sofia since September 2004, so I've learnt quite a lot about it which might be of interest to any intrepid travellers out there who are thinking of going, or even better, may be I'll spark off a new interest in someone who's never previously considered it. A little history Bulgaria used to be a communist country and has the unusual accolade of being an ex-communist country that voted the communists back in once they got the free vote! Economically, it's had its ups and downs, particularly in 1996 when everything went haywire and the average standard of living plummeted. But things are on the up. Bulgaria is looking forward to probable EU entry in 2007, and this can only boost the economy in my view. For the visitor Sofia is not a beautiful city in the usual sense of the word. But it has a faded glamour...

Tricksty 15.02.2005 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Sofia (Bulgaria)

Cold beer and Gorgeous Girls

Advantages: Cheap interesting and friendly
Disadvantages: Expensive to get too

...Sofia is probably not your first idea of a holiday destination. Especially in winter!! It is, however wonderful. Dont go looking for stunning buildings expansive parks or world class cuisine. Instead, go looking for friendly and genuine people, cheap but good food and ice cold beers at 30p a pint. Stay in a family run hotel, travel on public transport and drink with the locals. Bulgarians are very inquisitive people. They love to know about you, your home and mostly your opinion on their country. I am lucky enough to have some very good Bulgarian friends who introduce me to so many of Sofia's delights. The city itself is compact enough to walk around and every street has a bar, or a cafe to refuel in. The sites are limited but each has a fasanating history. Sofia has been a crossroad of trade for many centuries and there are many...

Jasonrow 28.02.2001 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Sofia (Bulgaria)

Bulgaria - Sooner rather than Later

Advantages: cheap, interesting
Disadvantages: terrible coffee

...interesting to see the big old concrete socialist housing blocks which were described to us as matchboxes and to get a sense of Bulgaria's more recent history but for the most part the towns were unattractive , especially the ones with industrial heritage. We do intend to return but this time for some ski -ing at Bansko and probably visit the capital Sofia or the Valley of the Roses in May when the roses are harvested. If you are thinking of visiting Bulgaria it's probably better to to go now while there is still an echo of the former communist era and people still talk about life when there were only Russian tourists. I...

JMPL 16.11.2007 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of General: Bulgaria

Bulgaria-one of the most beautiful countries

Advantages: Amazing history, beautiful land and friendly people
Disadvantages: nope

...and folklore music are inseparable part of Bulgaria and giving the visitor an exciting experience and unforgettable memories. When coming to Bulgaria you should certainly attend one of the numerous Bulgarian folk fairs, singing contests or authentic folklore festivals. One of the best festivals - Great Koprivshtitsa Folklore Fest in August, is in one of the most charming small Bulgarian towns, still preserving the atmosphere of the National Revival period. It is huddled in the mountain folds 111 km east of Sofia. The town is a unique combination of a legendary history and fascinating present. The name of it is Koprivshtitsa. The first thing you will learn when you get there is that it was here the first bullet of the April Uprising against the Ottoman oppressors was fired in 1876. That?s why the town is a symbol for the freedom gained after...

KRISS2 25.01.2004 (27.01.2004) · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Koprivshtitsa (Bulgaria)

Hotel Hawaii & Nessabur, Bulgaria

Advantages: Cheap, handy, pleasent and affordable.
Disadvantages: The flight

...Just returned from a holiday in Nessabur, Bulgaria, staying at the Hotel Hawaii in a bed and breakfast basis. The hotel building from the outside looked like any other block from communist days BUT our room on the 13th floor was lovely, a little basic but very spacious and looked like it had only just been upgraded. Our fridge was missing and so were chairs to sit on! A request at the reception saw a couple of chairs and a fridge delivered. The room was kept spotlessly clean, swept and floor washed every day, new towels at least twice a week, linen also changed. The power shower in its own cubicle with loads of hot water was a first! The breakfast was one of the best we have had for many years. Hot and cold buffet, tea, coffee, fruit. Admittably if you arrived at the last knockings say 9.50 when they stopped serving at 10am they...

Rogfrith 21.07.2008 (20.07.2008) · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Nesebar (Bulgaria)

Queen Sofia Was Obviously Not A Night Owl

Advantages: Fine if you fly during the day
Disadvantages: I didn't...

...It has recently come to my attention that there are two types of airports out there. There are nice, large international ones like, say, Manchester or LAX, which served numerous destinations worldwide and which have more shops and restaurants than some town centres. And then, there are the others which, well, don’t. These others are often in the type of resorts tourist go on package holidays, and since they are usually barely used by business travelers, they seem to forget their duty as airports (to keep me busy in the 2 hours between check in and take off) and see themselves solely as big fields where the odd aeroplane lands and takes off. Tenerife has two such airports – an old one in the north and a new one in the south, and we flew from the latter, aka Reina Sofia (official website www...

zoe_page 18.02.2003 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Reina Sofia Airport Tenerife - Spain

Blowing through the JASMIN of my mind

Advantages: Great location, lovely, friendly hotel
Disadvantages: None

...After a long, and I mean LONG, drive through Serbia, we eventually arrived in the outskirts of Sofia just as darkness began to descend. A bit of a blessing really, Picturesque it ain't. Our hotel was just off the ring road...bit of a misnomer really. Oh, it rings the city true enough, but road seems like a far-fetched description of the pot-holed suicide-run we found ourselves bumping and grinding along on. Not a problem. We had prebooked the Jasmin Hotel and all we had to do was follow the instructions I had printed off with the booking confirmation...only I hadn't. After several abortive forays off the 'ring road', things were looking pretty desperate but at last we got the right turn-off and found our digs. Good job really or this review would be stopping right about now. Each road we had previously tried seem to plunge us into...

proxam 11.10.2009 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Review of Jasmin, Sofia

Skiing in Pamporovo,Bulgaria

Advantages: Value for money
Disadvantages: Unchallenging for advanced skiers; poor food

..., so that you and your group have the chance to go over technique, talk about Bulgaria and even pick up a few words of the language. Average group size seems to be around eight, and we enjoyed the mix of nationalities in ours (Bulgarian, Irish, English and Russian!). The three-man chair lift is efficient although queues can build up at peak times, the elderly single-chairs are somewhat scary for novices, and the button-drags and bar-drags are tiring. My son was unlucky enough to meet with an accident getting off a single chair, so I can report that the rescue caterpillar ambulance and the mountain-side fracture clinic are all reasonably efficient (although all services must be paid for locally, in sterling, and reclaimed from your insurance in the UK). On the plus side, we had (in February)three metres of snow, some days...

angidrew 09.05.2001 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Rodopi Mountains (Bulgaria)