Bulgaria rewards travelers who look beyond the package-holiday beach resorts. Yes, the Black Sea coast gets crowded and a little tacky in summer, but drive an hour inland and you're in a country of mountain monasteries, Ottoman-era towns, Roman ruins, and a cuisine built around wood-fired clay pots, sheep's cheese, and homemade rakia. It's one of the cheapest countries in the EU, and it shows — in a good way.
The country joined the Schengen Area fully in January 2025 and adopted the euro on 1 January 2026, so the practical barriers for European visitors have fallen sharply. Prices remain well below Western European levels.
The capital Sofia is an easy, walkable city with good museums and a lively cafe scene. Plovdiv is arguably the more beautiful of the two, with a preserved old town of National Revival houses stacked up three hills above the Maritsa River. Veliko Turnovo was the medieval capital and still feels the part. For the coast, skip the mega-resorts and head for Sozopol or Burgas instead.
