Many people have been asking me and others who have visited/lived in Bulgaria to post data sheets on the different cities. I have already posted a few, but here I will consolidate them, and add some info on cities that I've been to and forum members have asked about.
Sofia - largest city and capital, around 1.5m people. Good to visit year-round, although in summer it empties out somewhat as people go to the beach. In winter it is cold but still walkable (climate similar to NYC, for example). Best times to visit, of course, Spring and Fall.
I've written a pretty extensive data sheet here:
http://www.rooshvforum.network/thread-1160-p...l#pid59397
Plovdiv - it is a city of about 500k people most of whom live in what looks like public housing projects from Communist times in the outskirts of the city (no need to go there) but has a beatiful Old Town part where everyone goes to party, to take an evening stroll, to have a coffee, etc.
Unfortunately, I can't give specific clubs/bars to visit as I have only visited during daytime, but there are a lot of good-looking girls on the main drag so there is your chance to ask them what places to hit for the night.
Avoid it from June to August, as it gets very hot (like 35-40 C) - spring and fall are best.
Veliko Turnovo - foreigners seem to like this city for the sightseeing, as it is set upon some picturesque hills and has some Medieval ruins/castles/churches. It is smallish (100k people or so) but has a large college campus so enough girls and young people to party with.
Varna - I like this beach city a lot, and I seem to almost always get lucky when I visit. Again, a lot of people live in depressing-looking buildings in parts of town you don't need to go to, although there are some very nice beach-front and hill-top apartment buildings and condos. The downtown (although not historic like Plovdiv or Veliko Turnovo) has a nice main drag with lots of cafes and restaurants and lots of good-looking young people walking around. There is also a promenade by the beach where all the clubs are - Extravaganza, Momo, and 5-6 others which seem to get remodeled and renamed every other year so I can't remember them all.
Only go there from May to September, and even better - June to August. It is somewhat depressing to see it emptied out after the active tourist season, although it does have a few college campuses so there are still some people who go out and party.
Burgas - this is the other major beach city in Bulgaria, but I don't like it as much as Varna. Nightlife seems to be much inferior. Again, a main drag where everyone goes for a walk and to have a coffee, so you may luck out daygaming.
Beach Resorts
Basically, every village on the Black Sea has been cramped with hotels and condos nowadays, some nicer but some just looking like a pre-fabricated Quality Inn, so they have spoiled the nice nature to a large extent. Some virgin areas remain towards the extreme south but they mostly attract campers, divers, kite-surfers and the like.
The main resort areas are Golden Sands (10km north of Varna) and Sunny Beach (30km north of Burgas). Both of these are something like Ocean City, MD (for those who've been) - a 5-10 km strech of hotels by the beach, with a boardwalk strewn with bars, arcades, souvenir shops, mechanical riding bulls, minigolf courses, and other tourist crap like that. It can get cheesy. However, the plus is that all that crap attracts several hundred thousand tourists at peak time, most of whom are there to party, and you know what that means.
Sunny Beach - I've written about it here:
http://www.rooshvforum.network/thread-3885-p...l#pid48148
Basically, if you want to hook up with Bulgarians - go to the area around Cacao Beach club. There are several other clubs right by it, with different music themes (techno, lounge, balkan folk, etc). Beautiful girls in droves, but some are golddiggers, some only date the local thugs, badboys and hotel owners (often one and the same), some are Bulgarians living abroad who like to visit home for the summer and party, some are just partygoers from the interior cities driving in for the weekend to party, or for a week or two at the beach. Basically, a good variety, including some foreign tourists, but not many.
If you want to hook up with drunken Scandinavian, Russian, German, or other European girls - stay in the central area around Hotel Kuban where the two main drags meet - lots of bars to drink there and hit on girls. This is the place to be from 8pm to 12pm or so, after that go to one of the clubs which foreigners frequent - Lazur, Grand, or the Viking (the first two are 10-15 min walk from the resort center).
Golden Sands - this resort is somewhat smaller than Sunny Beach, but the same general format and the same types of tourists (I would say it seems to get more Russians, though). Good clubs are Arrogance and PR Club, but again, they remodel and rename every now and then so just ask around. For example, there used to be a great club called Amazonia in the forest just up the hill from the resort which had a male erotic show - but not the corny kind, it was actually pretty tasteful. So it attracted a huge crowd of girls, got them horny as hell, and after the dancers finished and left they were there for the taking. I had a great time there with my wing, and the following year when I visited I headed straight there - but the place was closed!
General Info
As others have noted, cost of living is pretty low.
Food - There are many affordable restaurants with tasty local cuisine but there are sketchy places too, so in order to be sure you can just visit a chain restaurant, for example Happy, which is something like the local TGI Fridays or Applebees. There you can get 3 pieces of meat called "kebapche" with mashed potatoes for 5 BGN which is like $3. And a large draft beer is another $1.5 bringing your total bill (with tip) to around $5 for a good meal. And the waitressess are dressed in Hooters-like outfits.
Taxicabs are generally cheap but of course they may try to rip off foreigners (like elsewhere in the world). In Sofia, Plovdiv and other cities you would be mostly fine - just watch the sticker on the cab windshiled which should display the rates, they should be less than 1 BGN per km. However, in resorts like Sunny Beach they may try to charge you 3, 5, or even 10 BGN per km - so just bargain for a firm rate to wherever you are going. Or even better, stay close to where you party so you can just walk.
Clubs - Some clubs have no cover, and those that do it should be 3, 5, or up to 10 BGN at the very nicest places - if they want more, they are trying to rip you off! In most nicer clubs if you want a table you have to buy a bottle but that is usually only around BGN 80-100 for Johnnie Walker Red or J&B, pretty affordable, but look at the price list first before you order. Some places have deals which they advertise, like a bottle of Jim Beam plus 4 red bulls for BGN 60, but that is usually on slower days like Monday to Thursday.
If you drink at the bar, a beer should be BGN 2-3 (local) or BGN 3-5 (import), and a mixed drink BGN 5-8 (with imported liquor) or 3-4 (rail).
1 USD = 1.35 BGN currently.
Others - One thing that bugs me is the closing time, which is floating, basically as long as there are paying customers, a club will stay open. So at some places where it's happening often you can't drag the girls out because they want to stay and dance and party till the sun comes up and by then already noone has any energy left for fucking. Of course, on slower nights it ends earlier and you go home or if your game is strong you should still be able to drag a girl out, but this is just something that bugs me. A positive thing (for me and the G Manifesto) - smoking is allowed at bars and night clubs. At restaurants you either have to go outside or sit in a special section with a glass partition.
Have a good time, and drop a line if you visit, I may be able to join for a beer, although I am not an international travelling playboy nowadays, just a family man with a wife and kid and a 9-5 job.
Sofia - largest city and capital, around 1.5m people. Good to visit year-round, although in summer it empties out somewhat as people go to the beach. In winter it is cold but still walkable (climate similar to NYC, for example). Best times to visit, of course, Spring and Fall.
I've written a pretty extensive data sheet here:
http://www.rooshvforum.network/thread-1160-p...l#pid59397
Plovdiv - it is a city of about 500k people most of whom live in what looks like public housing projects from Communist times in the outskirts of the city (no need to go there) but has a beatiful Old Town part where everyone goes to party, to take an evening stroll, to have a coffee, etc.
Unfortunately, I can't give specific clubs/bars to visit as I have only visited during daytime, but there are a lot of good-looking girls on the main drag so there is your chance to ask them what places to hit for the night.
Avoid it from June to August, as it gets very hot (like 35-40 C) - spring and fall are best.
Veliko Turnovo - foreigners seem to like this city for the sightseeing, as it is set upon some picturesque hills and has some Medieval ruins/castles/churches. It is smallish (100k people or so) but has a large college campus so enough girls and young people to party with.
Varna - I like this beach city a lot, and I seem to almost always get lucky when I visit. Again, a lot of people live in depressing-looking buildings in parts of town you don't need to go to, although there are some very nice beach-front and hill-top apartment buildings and condos. The downtown (although not historic like Plovdiv or Veliko Turnovo) has a nice main drag with lots of cafes and restaurants and lots of good-looking young people walking around. There is also a promenade by the beach where all the clubs are - Extravaganza, Momo, and 5-6 others which seem to get remodeled and renamed every other year so I can't remember them all.
Only go there from May to September, and even better - June to August. It is somewhat depressing to see it emptied out after the active tourist season, although it does have a few college campuses so there are still some people who go out and party.
Burgas - this is the other major beach city in Bulgaria, but I don't like it as much as Varna. Nightlife seems to be much inferior. Again, a main drag where everyone goes for a walk and to have a coffee, so you may luck out daygaming.
Beach Resorts
Basically, every village on the Black Sea has been cramped with hotels and condos nowadays, some nicer but some just looking like a pre-fabricated Quality Inn, so they have spoiled the nice nature to a large extent. Some virgin areas remain towards the extreme south but they mostly attract campers, divers, kite-surfers and the like.
The main resort areas are Golden Sands (10km north of Varna) and Sunny Beach (30km north of Burgas). Both of these are something like Ocean City, MD (for those who've been) - a 5-10 km strech of hotels by the beach, with a boardwalk strewn with bars, arcades, souvenir shops, mechanical riding bulls, minigolf courses, and other tourist crap like that. It can get cheesy. However, the plus is that all that crap attracts several hundred thousand tourists at peak time, most of whom are there to party, and you know what that means.
Sunny Beach - I've written about it here:
http://www.rooshvforum.network/thread-3885-p...l#pid48148
Basically, if you want to hook up with Bulgarians - go to the area around Cacao Beach club. There are several other clubs right by it, with different music themes (techno, lounge, balkan folk, etc). Beautiful girls in droves, but some are golddiggers, some only date the local thugs, badboys and hotel owners (often one and the same), some are Bulgarians living abroad who like to visit home for the summer and party, some are just partygoers from the interior cities driving in for the weekend to party, or for a week or two at the beach. Basically, a good variety, including some foreign tourists, but not many.
If you want to hook up with drunken Scandinavian, Russian, German, or other European girls - stay in the central area around Hotel Kuban where the two main drags meet - lots of bars to drink there and hit on girls. This is the place to be from 8pm to 12pm or so, after that go to one of the clubs which foreigners frequent - Lazur, Grand, or the Viking (the first two are 10-15 min walk from the resort center).
Golden Sands - this resort is somewhat smaller than Sunny Beach, but the same general format and the same types of tourists (I would say it seems to get more Russians, though). Good clubs are Arrogance and PR Club, but again, they remodel and rename every now and then so just ask around. For example, there used to be a great club called Amazonia in the forest just up the hill from the resort which had a male erotic show - but not the corny kind, it was actually pretty tasteful. So it attracted a huge crowd of girls, got them horny as hell, and after the dancers finished and left they were there for the taking. I had a great time there with my wing, and the following year when I visited I headed straight there - but the place was closed!
General Info
As others have noted, cost of living is pretty low.
Food - There are many affordable restaurants with tasty local cuisine but there are sketchy places too, so in order to be sure you can just visit a chain restaurant, for example Happy, which is something like the local TGI Fridays or Applebees. There you can get 3 pieces of meat called "kebapche" with mashed potatoes for 5 BGN which is like $3. And a large draft beer is another $1.5 bringing your total bill (with tip) to around $5 for a good meal. And the waitressess are dressed in Hooters-like outfits.
Taxicabs are generally cheap but of course they may try to rip off foreigners (like elsewhere in the world). In Sofia, Plovdiv and other cities you would be mostly fine - just watch the sticker on the cab windshiled which should display the rates, they should be less than 1 BGN per km. However, in resorts like Sunny Beach they may try to charge you 3, 5, or even 10 BGN per km - so just bargain for a firm rate to wherever you are going. Or even better, stay close to where you party so you can just walk.
Clubs - Some clubs have no cover, and those that do it should be 3, 5, or up to 10 BGN at the very nicest places - if they want more, they are trying to rip you off! In most nicer clubs if you want a table you have to buy a bottle but that is usually only around BGN 80-100 for Johnnie Walker Red or J&B, pretty affordable, but look at the price list first before you order. Some places have deals which they advertise, like a bottle of Jim Beam plus 4 red bulls for BGN 60, but that is usually on slower days like Monday to Thursday.
If you drink at the bar, a beer should be BGN 2-3 (local) or BGN 3-5 (import), and a mixed drink BGN 5-8 (with imported liquor) or 3-4 (rail).
1 USD = 1.35 BGN currently.
Others - One thing that bugs me is the closing time, which is floating, basically as long as there are paying customers, a club will stay open. So at some places where it's happening often you can't drag the girls out because they want to stay and dance and party till the sun comes up and by then already noone has any energy left for fucking. Of course, on slower nights it ends earlier and you go home or if your game is strong you should still be able to drag a girl out, but this is just something that bugs me. A positive thing (for me and the G Manifesto) - smoking is allowed at bars and night clubs. At restaurants you either have to go outside or sit in a special section with a glass partition.
Have a good time, and drop a line if you visit, I may be able to join for a beer, although I am not an international travelling playboy nowadays, just a family man with a wife and kid and a 9-5 job.