Preparing for a trip back to Bulgaria!!!

[Rick Parker]

I’ve been home from my mission for almost 7 years now, and have an opportunity this May to take my wife to Bulgaria for our vacation. 

I’m concerned about locating housing for our trip, as I don't have any experience working with the hotels there.  Any advice on locating hotels or renting rooms in Bulgaria? 

Also, for arranging transportation, I’m having trouble locating usable, up to date schedules for buses and trains.  I'm pretty confident that we could find our way around once we get there, but it would be very helpful in determining where we will be when, etc.

So far on the itinerary, we’re wanting to start off in Sofia, and hit Rila, Plovdiv, Kazanluk, Veliko Turnovo, Shumen, and Varna.  Our plan is for mid-May 2007, and will last about two weeks.

Any suggestions or recommendations about where we should visit, or travel agencies/tour guides to use/avoid, would be appreciated!

Thanks in advance,

Rick Parker

[Blindspot]

Wow, that's a pretty aggressive schedule.  The Bulgarian Railroad website is:

http://www.bdz.bg/

The central bus station in Sofia has a address as well, but wasn't working when I tried it last.  Who knows...it may come back up.

http://www.centralnaavtogara.bg/

You can also use:

http://www.bus.light-bg.com/

Good luck.  We'll look forward to seeing you.

[crawli]

What do most people do when traveling to Bulgaria for more than a month? Rent a furnished apartment or something? Hotels seem like a headache.

I'd like to get back to Bulgaria in the next few years and was thinking of renting some place in Sofia or Plovdiv and then explore outward from there to the rest of the destinations that I would want to visit.

Cheers,

Chad

[Blindspot]

If you try renting an apartment for a month, you'll pay a pretty costly premium.  It would probably be less than a hotel, but still not cheap.

There are, however, members that rent apartments and they might be willing to rent one to you for a month.  Send me a personal message and I'll respond with details.