Sofia Guide

Sofia is Bulgaria’s capital and its largest city. At present, the city has a population of 1,250,000 residents. Sofia is located in the western part of the country, on The Sofia Plain and the lower slopes of Mount Vitosha. The city’s average altitude is 550 meters above sea level, the climate is moderate and continental, characterised by cold winters and hot summers. Founded thousands of years ago, today the city continues to develop as the country’s cultural and economic centre. The city is rather compact, easy to walk around and presents diverse enjoyments that can suit any taste. It offers a relaxed atmosphere and good quality of life.

Eating out

Sofia’s city centre is packed with restaurants, bistros, cafeterias and eating establishments of all kinds and for all pockets. You can find Gourmet, Mediterranean, British, Asian and traditional Bulgarian restaurants as well as the most popular foods chains and Bulgarian fast food. Most restaurants offer daily lunch specials at very competitive rates. A lot of the diners offer home delivery as well. You can enjoy your food with distinctive Bulgarian or from around the world wines.

Sofia has its fair share of Starbucks and Costa Coffees, but there are still plenty of interesting local places to try out. A lot of them offer home-baked cakes, cupcakes, bread, Turkish Delights as well as freshly squeezed juices or homemade syrups, marmalades, coffee and tea.

Worth bearing in mind:

• There is some confusion as to what order to serve meals: in some restaurants serve food as it becomes ready, others stick strictly to the rules so that the person who is only eating a main course has to wait until everyone has finished with starters before it arrives. Make it clear when you order when you would like to receive your food.
• Check whether your meal comes with garnitura (side dish) or whether you need to order it separately.
• Food tends to be served warm, rather than piping hot.
• Tips should be roughly 10% of the bill. Do check to make sure a service charge hasn’t already been added.

Shopping and Night Life

Shopping and going out in Sofia is not expensive, thanks to the lower taxes!

The main commercial and pedestrian street is Vitosha Boulevard. The boulevard and its vicinity is plentiful of a variety of shops, bars, cafeterias. The stylish Saborna street is where you can find the most exclusive world brands. Tsum Retail Centre, the former department store, officially opened in 1956 and situated in monumental edifice is now an upmarket five-floor store. In the Centre of Folk Arts & Crafts, one can find typical Bulgarian souvenirs such as hand-woven rugs, pottery, silver jewellery, woodcarvings and CDs of Bulgarian music. There are two branches of the shop: one inside the Royal Palace, and another at the Temple St. Sofia. Central Hali Shopping Centre is an elegant market hall build in 1911, which has three floors of shops, cafeterias, cheap food court with stalls selling fruit, vegetables, pastries, wine and cheese. There are some open-air markets, selling among others in abundance delicious seasonal Bulgarian fruits and vegetables. The open-air book market at Slaveikov Square has dozens of bookstalls, selling mostly Bulgarian novels, but plenty of books on Bulgarian history, culture and cuisine are available in foreign languages, as well as some second-hand English novels, maps and dictionaries. Helikon Bookshop, situated at a corner of Vitosha Boulevard, offers a good range of English-language fiction as well as books about Bulgaria in various languages. Sofia has a number of malls that are compatible to any other mall around the world.

Sofia is a young city with a mixture of nightlife. There is something for everyone: diverse bars, British pubs, piano bars, jazz clubs, disco bars and casinos.

Culture

Bulgaria is renowned for its musicians and opera singers. A lot of the orchestras, operas or individual artists frequently perform all around the world. Some of them are residents of foreign operas and orchestras but frequently visit Bulgarian stages.

A charming hall for classical music is Zala Bulgaria. One can enjoy such performances also at the National Palace of Culture. The National Palace of Culture is the venue that host variety in style performance of Bulgarian and foreign artists. The Sofia Opera stages a wide variety of operas and ballets. Classical musicals can be seen at the Musical Theatre.

Although the official cultural season is from October till June, there are plenty of performance all around the year. The favourable summer climate gives the opportunities for some outdoor stages. In the summer months, the different theatres travel around the country and can be enjoyed at the Sofia stage as well.

In May the Sofia Opera hosts the Wagner weeks, performing the Ring of the Nibelungs, a world acclaimed, sensational production, that attracts Wagner’s admirers from all around the work for whom it is a must see.

Since 2013 during June and July the Sofia Opera offers performances in the park, the so-called “Opera in the Park”. The event is rapidly gaining popularity among all generations as it offers a new, interesting and unconventional approach to the classical opera and ballet.

Every year in June the Sofia Opera surprises with a new, grandiose, production at the “Opera in the Square” in front of St. Alexander Nevski Cathedral. The cast is always carefully selected and includes a lot of our opera singers that reside abroad, and the set design is astonishing.

During the months of May and June, The National Palace of Culture welcomes the festival “Sofia Music Weeks.”

Theatrical art is very popular in Bulgaria among all generations. Sofia is the home of more than a dozen theatres offering diverse stages. They all perform in the Bulgarian language, though. The theatre that might be of interest to a non-speaker is the Puppet Theatre that has a long tradition.

The cultural events in Bulgaria are highly affordable, the price of tickets comparing to those of a cinema ticket. Each opera is performed only a few times a year for a limited period; that means that within a couple of weeks one can have the chance to see a few opera performance.

Museums

There are a number of museums in Sofia. Here you can have a selection of some of the most popular.

National History Museum

The National History Museum was established on May the 5th, 1973. On March the 2nd 1984, the new exhibition was opened in the building of the Court of Justice on the occasion of the 1300-th anniversary of the Bulgarian state. In 2000, the National History Museum was relocated to the former Boyana government residence, where on 10, November 1989 the last communist leader was removed from power. The museum hosts national treasures and relics from a global scale. It is the largest in Bulgaria and one of the biggest in the Balkans. Its collection contains more than 680,000 items. When not on temporal exhibition around the globe on can enjoy the famous Panagyurishte and other Thracian Gold Treasures.

Address: Sofia 1618, “Vitoshko lale” Str. 16
Transport: Bus No. 63, bus No. 111, trolleybus No. 2
Opening Hours:
Summer (April-October) – 9.30 – 18.00 (ticket office closes at 17.15)
Winter (November – March) – 9.00 – 17.30 (ticket office closes at 16.45)
Price Range: Adults: 10 BNG, Students: 1 BGN
Phone: +359 2 9554280
E-mail: nim1973@abv.bg
Location: 42.6558745, 23.267652

The Antique Serdica and Largoto

Sofia hosts of one of the world biggest museums at an archaeological site, competed only by Rome!

The area of present-day area of Sofia has been a settlement for more than 2000 years. Initially inhabited by Thracian, the town of the Thracian tribe Serdi had been conquered by the Roman troops led by general Marcus Licinius Crassus Dives in 27 B.C. During the ruling of Marcus Ulpius Traianus (98-117 A.C.) the city has been granted imperial status, has been named Ulpia Serdica and most probably it is the time, when its fortification began.

During the ruling of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus and his son Marcus (Lucius Aelius) Aurelius Commodus Antoninus (176 – 180 A.C), the central late antique fortress of Serdica has been build and span over 17.5 hectares (1883684 square feet) (340 m х 560m)(1115 feet x 1837 feet).

The Emperor Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus (306 – 337 A.C.) has spent a lot of time in Serdica and has been known for saying “Serdica in my Rome”. During his ruling the fortress has expanded to the north with five times more (85 hectares) (9149323 square feet).

The newly opened underground/closed/open air museum exposes three different quarters of the ancient city. One of the bigger venues for victorious marching of at least two Roman Emperors. The ground is almost fully preserved, and the visitor can walk on it. Numerous reminiscences can be seen: the living quarters, original parts of the piping, water supply and floor heating systems of the living spaces; numerous mosaics, parts of the thermal baths and a church; artefacts. The central point of the city that hasn’t been changed for 2000 years is marked as well. One part of the museum has a surface of 4850 square metres (52205 square feet), while another 3150 square metres (33906 square feet). The site has a stage; that is used for different art performances.

The area above the excavated site is the so-called Largoto, which is a complex of architectural edifices constructed in the 50ties of the XX century, that are a good example of the classical socialist build.

Address: Sofia 1000, “Nezavisimost” Sq. and “Mariya Louisa “ Blvd. 9-11
Opening Hours: 9.00 – 20.00
Price Range: free
Phone: +359 2 9874189
Location: 42.697532, 23.323246 and 42.698293,23.321905

The Earth and Man National Museum

It was founded on 30 December 1985 and opened for visitors on 19 June 1987. The museum is situated in a reconstructed and adapted historic building with an area of 4,000 square metres (43 056 square feet), constructed in the end of the 19th century (1896–1898). It has a number of exhibition halls, stock premises, laboratories, a video room and a conference room. The collections are gathered predominantly as donations from Bulgarian and foreign individuals and entities (at December 2014 about 77% of the collection has been donated by 912 benefactors). At January 2015 the museum has 29 342 exhibited items, as the total available items are reaching 100 000. The section “Bulgarian Mineral Resources” has samples from about 400 Bulgarian ore deposits. The most attractive is the collection “Giant Crystals”, that is one of the two worldwide biggest and has been donated by Ilia Delev. The collection “Earth Minerals”  is the richest systematic collection in the Balkans, consisting of 7600 samples from 1569 mineral types (given the total number of the known natural minerals is 4200). The collection “Minerals of Bulgaria” is the most complete collection of Bulgarian minerals and has 4191 samples. The collection “Gems” has 2668 samples from all precious and semi-precious stones.

Address: Sofia 1421, “Cherni Vrah” Blvd. 4
Transport: buss No 94 (“Hotel Hemus” or “Hotel Hilton” stop), buss No 102 (“Hotel Hemus” stop), busses No 72, 76, 204, 604 (“Boulevard Cherni Vrah” stop), tram No 6 (“Hotel Hemus” or “Hotel Hilton” stop)
Opening Hours: 10.00 – 18.00 (January the 1^st, Easter and Christmas (24,25,26,27 December) days closed)
Price Range: Adults: 4 BNG, Students: 2 BGN. Free every last Monday of the month and on March the 22^nd (World Water Day), April the 22^nd (International Earth Day), May the 18^th (International Museum Day), June the 19^th (Day of the Museum’s Benefactors).
Phone: +3592865 66 39
E-mail: earth.and.man@gmail.com
Location: 42.679878,23.320673

National Museum of Socialist Art

This museum institution purpose is to collect, preserve and exhibited art from the period 1944-1989, the themes that are related to the era of socialism. The exhibition in the hall covers an area of 550 square meters and displays 60 paintings and 25 works of plastic art easel. The museum consists of a sculpture park with an area of 7,500 square metres (80729 square feet), which are currently at 77 works of monumental sculpture. Documental films for the socialist period are and shown in the video hall. At the souvenir shop, one can find authentic items from that era as well as contemporary artefacts

Address: Sofia 1756,“Lachezar Stanchev” Str.7
Opening Hours: 10.00 – 16.00 (Monday closed)
Price Range: Adults: 6 BNG, Students: 3 BGN
Phone: +359 2 9800093
Location: 42.665551,23.358157

National Archaeological Museum

The National Institute of Archaeology with Museum at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences covers the complete study of the culture of tribes and peoples who have occupied present-day Bulgaria from the remote past until the 18th century. It is the biggest research archaeological unit in south-east Europe. National Archaeological Museum was established in in 1878 originally as part of the Library, then in 1892 reformed into the National Museum and includes three collections – Ancient History, Numismatic and Ethnographic.

Address: Sofia 1000 ,“Saborna St.”2
Opening Hours:
Summer (May-October) – 10.00 – 18.00 (no closed day)
Winter (November – April) – 10.00 – 17.00 (Monday closed)
Price Range: Adults: 10 BNG, Students: 2 BGN
Phone: +359 2 9882406
E-mail: naim@naim.bg
Location: 42.696142,23.324329

Ethnographic Institute and Museum

The museum is formed in 1892 as part of the National Museum. In 1906 it was formed as a separate National Ethnographic Museum. More than 50 000 museum objects (fabrics, embroideries, carpets, costumes, jewels, pottery, woodcarvings, wrought copper, ritual art, icons and musical instruments) are exposed in the museum, structured in 13 different collections.

Address: Sofia, “Kniaz Alexandar I” Sq. 1
Opening Hours:
Summer (March-October) – 10.00 – 18.00 (Monday closed)
Winter (November – February) – 10.00 – 17.00 (Monday closed)
Price Range: Adults: 3 BNG, Students: 1 BGN
Phone: +359 2 8052611
E-mail: eim_bas@mail.bg
Location: 42.696358,23.32704

National Museum of Military History

The museum comprises 41000 square metres (441320 square feet) of exterior and 5000 square metres ( 53820 square feet) of interior exposition area. The exposition of the museum is designed in a thematic, chronological and collection plan. 28 000 exponents are displayed as a part of the one-millionth fund of the museum. An accent in the part that follows the development of the Bulgarian Army is its participation in the wars of national unification. The collection exhibition presents weapons, uniforms and insignia – the three oldest and richest collections of the museum.

Address: Sofia 1505, “Cherkovna” St. 2
Opening Hours: 10.00 – 18.00 (Monday and Tuesday closed)
Price Range: Adults: 8 BNG, Students: 2 BGN
Phone: +359 2 9461805
E-mail: m.museum@bol.bg
Location: 42.688721,23.35114

Sofia History Museum

The museum officially opened its permanent exhibition 2015  It is located in the former building of the Central Mineral Baths.The museum comprises of 8 different rooms which cover the period between 6th millennium BC up to 1940s. The rooms are as follows: Antiquity, The Strength of the Spirit, Links with European Dynasties, A Sofia Street, State and Municipal Institutions, Sofia Home and Clothing, Culture and Leisure. Additionally, there can be seen two more rooms for temporary exhibitions.

Address: Sofia 1000, “Banski” Sq. 1
Opening Hours: 10.00 – 18.00 (Monday closed)
Price Range: Adults: 6 BNG, Students: 2 BGN
Phone: +359 2 98544556
Location: 42.699340, 23.323488

Galleries

National Gallery – The Palace

The commence of the National Art Gallery was set in 1892. Currently, it is occupying most of the historical and imposing edifice of the former royal palace of Bulgaria. It has the best collection of contemporary art in Bulgaria, housing over 50,000 pieces.  There are more than 3000 works of art exhibited- paintings, sculpture and graphics.

Address: Sofia 1000, “Kniaz Aleksandar І” Sq. 1
Opening Hours: 10.00 – 18.00 (Monday closed. Box office closes at 17.30)
Price Range: Adults: 6 BGN, Students: 3 BGN
Phone: +359 2 9800093
Location: 42.696248,23.327161

National Gallery “Quadrat 500”

Bulgaria’s new national gallery was officially opened in 2015.The gallery complex is located near the monument to Vassil Levski, behind “St. Alexander Nevsky” cathedral. It has a collection of over 42,000 artworks from the National Art Gallery and the National Gallery of Foreign Art. The exhibition presents about 2,000 artworks, half of which are by Bulgarian artists and the other come from Europe, Asia, Africa, and America.

Address: Sofia, “Alexander Nevsky” Sq., 1 and ”9th February” Str. 1.
Opening Hours: 10.00 – 18.00 (Monday closed. Box office closes at 17.30)
Price Range: Adults: 10 BGN, Students: 5 BGN
Phone: +359 2 9807262
Location: 42.696209,23.33415

National Gallery

Crypt of Alexander Nevsky Cathedral – In the Crypt are arranged in chronology about 300 exhibits, mostly icons, and mural fragments and prints. The exhibits date from the 9th century AD until the end of the 19th century. The collection is highly representative, revealing the development of iconography in the Bulgarian lands.

Address: Sofia, Alexander Nevsky Sq.
Opening Hours: 10.00 – 18.00 (Monday closed. Box office closes at 17.30)
Price Range: Adults: 6 BGN, Students: 3 BGN
Phone:+359 2 981 5775
Location: 42.695791,23.332804

Sofia City Art Gallery

Sofia City Art Gallery has a long-standing traditions. Its role is to present the facts of Bulgarian cultural history in an analytical and modern way and to actively intervene in art developments by original and impressive projects. Today the Sofia Art Gallery possesses some of the richest collections of Bulgarian art: 3500 paintings, 800 statues, 2800 graphics and drawings. The Соntemporary Art and Photography department was founded in 2004.

Address: Sofia 1000, “General Gurko” Str. 1
Opening Hours: 10.00 – 19.00 (Saturday till 18.00, Monday closed.)
Price Range: Adults: BGN, Students:  BGN
Phone: +359 2 872181, +359 2 9812606
E-mail: sghg@sghg.bg
Location: 42.694339,23.323814

Union of Bulgarian Artists – “Shipka 6” Exhibition Hall

The gallery was opened in 1972. It is built on an area of 1200 square meters (feet) providing exhibition area of 3970 square meters (feet). The building has acquired over the years a unique place within the cultural landscape of the capital city. It has now turned into an important and indispensable part of the spiritual and artistic life in Sofia and is now popular just as Shipka 6 – a synonym of rich, diverse and bustling artistic life, combining the functions of the largest art exhibition centre in Bulgaria and the House of Bulgarian artists. Hundreds of Bulgarian and foreign collective and individual exhibitions have been hosted in its halls, in all genres of fine, applied and non-conventional arts. A large portion of these being emblematic in the context of the development of Bulgarian culture.

Address: Sofia “Shipka” Str. 6
Opening Hours: 11.00 – 18.00 (Monday closed)
Price Range: Adults: BGN, Students:  BGN
Phone: +359 2 9881247
Location: 42.694233,23.336444

Union of Bulgarian Artists – “Rayko Alexiev” Exhibition Hall

The gallery spans over a 330 square meters exhibition area. It is built by the initiative of the Union of the Associations of the Artists in Bulgaria. The first Group Artistic Exhibition was opened in 1940, which in fact was the 13th for the Union. With the establishment of the Union of Artists in Bulgaria in 1944, renamed in 1959 into the Union of Bulgarian Artists, Gallery “Rayko Alexiev” became one of the main exhibition halls of the Union. Today the gallery joins one of the most popular exhibition areas in Sofia where you can enjoy contemporary art.

Address: 1000 Sofia, “Georgi S. Rakovsky” Str. 125
Opening Hours: 11.00 – 19.00 (Monday closed.)
Price Range: Adults: BGN, Students:  BGN
Phone: +359 2 9881247
Location: 42.693965,23.328471

Churches

There are more than fifty Christian Churches and Orthodox Temples within the Sofia area. Here you have the most significant and impressive:

St. Aleksander Nevsky Cathedral

It is a Bulgarian Orthodox cathedral, built in Neo-Byzantine style, it serves as the cathedral church of the Patriarch of Bulgaria, and it is one of the largest Eastern Orthodox cathedrals in the world. Cathedral’s magnificent silhouette, lavish ornamentation, masterpieces of icon painting and great acoustics make its one of Sofia great attractions.

Address: Sofia, “Aleksandar Nevski” Sq.
Phone: +359 2 9881704
Location: 42.695806,23.332798

Boyana Church

Boyana Church of St. Nicholas and St. Pantaleimon is situated at the foot of Vitosha Mountain. It is one of the few medieval monuments of Christian art that have survived until the present day and was included in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1979. It was built in three stages: first stage – 11th century, second stage – mid-13th century, and third stage – mid-19th century. Boyana Church owes its worldwide fame mainly to the frescoes of 1259.

Address: Sofia 161, “Boyansko Ezero” Str. 3
Transport: Bus No. 64 and No.107
Opening Hours:
01.04 – 30.10 – from 9.30 a.m. till 17.30 p.m.
01.11 – 31.03 – from 9.00 a.m. Till 17.00.a.m
Price Range: Adults: 10 BGN, Students: 2BGN
Phone: +359 2 9590939; +359 2 9592963
E-mail: boyanachurch@abv.bg
Location: 42.644647,23.266159

St. George Rotunda Church

It is the oldest architectural monument in Sofia built by the Romans in the 4th century AD. It is believed that it was built on the site of a pagan temple. Its construction coincides with a moment of a remarkable flourishing of Serdika as one of the largest and most considerable Roman towns on the Balkan Peninsula. The Church is famous for the 12th-14th-century frescoes inside the central dome. Three layers of frescoes have been discovered, the earliest dating back to the 10th century. Painted over during the Ottoman period, when the building was used as a mosque, these frescoes were only uncovered in the 20th century.

Address: Sofia, “Knyaz A. Dondukov” Blvd. 2
Phone: +3592 980 92 16
Location: 42.696906,23.322896

St. Sophia Church

The church was built on the site of several earlier churches and places of worship dating back to the days when it was the necropolis of the Roman town of Serdica. The present basilica is believed to be the fifth structure to be constructed on the site and was built during the reign of Byzantine Emperor Justinian I in the middle of the 6th century (527-565). It is thus a contemporary of Hagia Sophia Church in Constantinople.

Address: Sofia, “Paris” St. 2
Opening Hours: 9.00 – 19.00
Phone: +3592 987 09 71
Location: 42.696512,23.331355

St. Nedelya Church

St Nedelya Church is a cathedral of the Sofia Bishopric of the Bulgarian Patriarchate. It was built in medieval times, and it is also known as the Church of the Blessed Saint Graal. The present building was reconstructed after 1925 when it was nearly destroyed by a bomb explosion.

Address: Sofia, “Sveta Nedelia” Sq. 20
Phone: +3592 987 57 48
Location: 42.696745,23.321241

The Russian Church

It was built as the official church of the Russian Embassy, which was located next door, and of the Russian community in Sofia, and was named, as was the tradition for diplomatic churches, for the patron saint of the Emperor who ruled Russia at the time, Nicholas II of Russia. The church was designed by the Russian architect Mikhail Preobrazhenski in the Russian Revival Style, with decoration inspired by the Muscovite Russian churches of the 17th century.

Address: Sofia, “Tsar Osvoboditel” Blvd. 3
Phone: +3592 986 27 15
Location: 42.695694,23.328939

Green Sofia

Sofia is a very green city, having numerous different size parks, gardens and virtually all streets have densely planted mature trees. Sofia’s parks are a favourite place for rest and recreation. Among them are:

Borissova Gradina Park

The oldest and best-known park in Sofia, which construction and arrangement began in 1884 by the Swiss gardener Neff. Later on the Alsatian gardener Frei and the Bulgarian gardeners Duhtev and Radoslavov has contributed to its present look. At the beginning of the park is the Ariana Lake.

Address: Sofia, between Eagle Bridge and Vasil Levski Stadium, located along the Tsarigradsko Shose road.
Location: 42.680164,23.34217

South Park

The conceptual design is planned in landscape style (English Park) was developed and approved in 1972. In the South Park, one can find 65 species of birds, 29 of them protected and two listed in the Red Book of Bulgaria. Perlovska River passes the park and flows into the River Iskar. Apart from the several children’s playgrounds, there is also a concert scene that hosts numerous free events in the summer.

Address: Sofia, “Petko Todorov” Blvd., “Henrih Ibsen” Str., “Goce Delchev” Blvd.
Location: 42.668647,23.308911

City Garden

It is the oldest park in Sofia, opened officially in 1878 and situated across the Royal Palace. It is a popular place to play outdoor chess.

Address: Sofia, next to “Alexander” Sd. 1
Location: 42.695534,23.325627

Boyana Waterfall

The water falls from a height of 15 m. On clear spring day Boyana waterfall can be seen from the city centre.

Address: Sofia, Boyana, Vitosha Mountain
Location: 42.629396,23.25444

Park Vrana

Its construction began in 1900 and is a model of the garden landscape art. The park has been developed for the summer residence of the royal family. In this unique park on the Balkan one can see over 821 trees, bush and plant species from 118 families and 435 genera over a land that is less than 100 hectares (108000 sq.feet).

Address: Sofia, Iskar industrial zone.
Location: 42.63781,23.434954

Sofia Mouintains and Lakes

Situated in the foot of the Vitosha Mountain with it highest peak Cherni Vrah of 2290 m (7514 feet), and surrounded with a few smaller mountain Sofia offers numerous one-day outdoor activities in locations like:

Vitosha Nature Park

It is the oldest park in the Balkans. You can see natural springs, rivers, waterfalls, boulders and forests. Vitosha is a favourite spot for hiking, mountain biking and skiing of Sofia’s residents.

Address: Vitosha can be seen from any place in Sofia.
Location: 42.573563,23.283119

Lozen Mountain

It is another mountain having numerous one- day tourist roads attracting Sofia’s inhabitants.

Location: 42.58219,23.478041

Liulin Mountain

Although it is much smaller than the Vitosha mountain, it is quite varied and offers attractions that can be explored within a day.

Location: 42.647501,23.147775

Plana Mountain

Yet another smaller mountain that attracts nature lovers for refreshing day trips. Kokaliane and Alinski monasteries are situated in this mountain.

Location: 42.489882,23.407546

Pancharevo Lake

A lake in the outskirts of Sofia, on which shore are situated Pancharevski mineral springs and Sredets National rowing canal.

Location: 42.600104,23.407831

Simeonovo Lakes

Four small lakes situate in the Vitosha National Park, another lovely destination for enjoying the nature around Sofia.

Location: 42.608636,23.330525

Iskar Dam

Iskar Dam is the biggest in size and volume dam in Bulgaria. It is used for the water supply of Sofia as well for energy generation. There are number for recreational centres on its shores whet one can: sunbath, dive, practice different water sports or go fishing for catfish, pike, trout, carp, perch and other.

Location: 42.505768,23.53735

There are much more in and around Sofia: Monuments, Architectural Monuments, Streets, squares and bridges, Fountains, Monasteries, Medical Spa locations.. More about Sofia and the current events can be found at the official Sofia website.