Did You Know?

The Thracian settlement of Serdica grew into a Roman city whose streets are on show in the centre today, and Boyana Church on the edge of the city is on the UNESCO World Heritage List for its 13th-century frescoes. Consumer prices in Bulgaria were 56.9% of the EU average in 2024, the lowest of any EU country.

The figure is the average asking rent across listings on imot.bg, Bulgaria's largest property portal, about €9.21 per square metre. Agreed rents are often a little lower, and new buildings in central districts such as Lozenets, Oborishte and the centre cost more.

This includes wages and the social contributions the employer pays. Pay in IT, finance and Sofia is well above the national average, but still a fraction of Western European levels. The labour cost chart shows the trend.

Building costs have risen with wages and materials since 2021, but building an office, a warehouse or homes still costs about a third less than the EU average.

Fares changed to euro when Bulgaria joined the euro area on 1 January 2026. Sofia has four metro lines, along with trams, trolleybuses and buses, and you can pay at the barrier or on board with a contactless bank card.

The Black Sea coast in summer and the ski resorts of Bansko, Borovets and Pamporovo in winter bring most visitors, while spa towns and city breaks in Sofia and Plovdiv are growing.

The American University in Bulgaria (AUBG) was founded in 1991 and is accredited in the United States by the New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE), as well as in Bulgaria. It teaches in English, and its graduates are a recruiting pool for international companies in the region.

The airport is the country's main gateway, with direct flights to most European capitals. It is linked to the city centre by metro line 1.

John Vincent Atanasoff, whose father came from Boyadzhik near Yambol, built the Atanasoff–Berry Computer with Clifford Berry at Iowa State College between 1937 and 1942. It introduced binary arithmetic, regenerative memory and the separation of memory from computing. In 1973 a US federal court ruled that the patent on the ENIAC computer was invalid because it drew on his work.

It was identified in 1905 by the Bulgarian doctor Stamen Grigorov. Bulgarian yogurt, kiselo mlyako, is still made with local cultures, and in Japan a best-selling yogurt has been sold under the Bulgaria name since the 1970s.

Bulgaria has local grape varieties such as Mavrud, Melnik and Dimyat as well as the international ones, and a growing number of small wineries, especially in the Thracian Valley and around Melnik.

The oil is distilled from the Kazanlak rose, a variety of Rosa damascena grown in the Rose Valley between the Balkan Mountains and Sredna Gora. Several tonnes of petals, picked by hand in May and June, make one kilogram of oil, which is used in perfumes and cosmetics around the world.

The martenitsa is worn until you see a stork or a blossoming tree, then tied to a branch. The customs of 1 March are on UNESCO's list of intangible cultural heritage, shared with Romania, Moldova and North Macedonia.

Many younger Bulgarians who work with foreigners switch to the international gestures, so when in doubt, ask for a "da" or "ne".

A name day is the feast of the saint you are named after. On St George's Day, 6 May, everyone called Georgi or Gergana celebrates, and colleagues and friends call or drop by with good wishes.

Look the other person in the eye as you clink glasses; not doing so is considered rude.

The groom's family once sent a matchmaker to the bride's home, usually more than once before the families agreed. Today the bride and groom still break a round ritual bread, and the one with the bigger piece is said to lead the home.

After defeating the Byzantine army near the Danube delta, Khan Asparuh made the Byzantine Empire sign a treaty in 681. Under Tsar Simeon the Great in the early 10th century, Bulgaria was one of the largest states in Europe, and the Cyrillic alphabet spread from its schools.

Its highest peak, Cherni Vrah, is 2,290 metres. On 27 August 1895, about 300 people climbed it together on the call of the writer Aleko Konstantinov, which is counted as the start of organised hiking in Bulgaria. The tradition is kept with a mass climb every year.

The old town at the foot of the Pirin mountains is 160 km from Sofia. Its gondola rises from the town to slopes reaching about 2,600 metres, and the resort is busy in summer too, with hiking in Pirin National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Georgi Ivanov flew on Soyuz 33 in April 1979. When an engine failure stopped the docking, the crew made a difficult return to Earth. Aleksandar Aleksandrov spent ten days on the Mir space station in 1988. Bulgarian scientists have also built instruments for many space missions.

The CSKA Sofia striker won four Spanish league titles in a row and the 1992 European Cup with Barcelona. At the 1994 World Cup he shared the Golden Boot with six goals and led Bulgaria to fourth place.

Aleko Konstantinov's "To Chicago and Back", about his visit to the 1893 World's Fair, is still read in Bulgarian schools. Today hundreds of thousands of Bulgarians live in Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States, and many are coming back to work in Sofia's IT and outsourcing sector.