bulgarian spending money

helenrowland

Just wondered if anyone knows what is the best currency to take to Bulgaria. We're going skiing next week and I've heard there's a limit to how many Bulgarian Levs can be brought into the country. I've also heard that you can spend Euros and US Dollars there too. Not sure which route to go down and credit cards are apparently not widely accepted,
any advice?
Thanks
Helen

sofa_surfer

If you bring any foreign currency to BG, you will have to use an exchange bureau to get the official currency bulgarian levas (1GBP appr = 3 BGL) => some kind of exchange rate will be applied. I would go the normal route of using your debit card to make cash withdrawals - you will not be much worse hit by the exchange rates on offer there and it is safer.If there is a place that accepts euro and usd as a currency for payment it will either have extortionate exchange rate, or there will be something shady about the place.
My guess would be that in the places where UK tourists go for skying there will be ATMs available and CC accepted.
Nationwide does not charge for withdrawals while abroad, but I do not believe you'll be able to get their Flexaccount in time to use on your hols (unless you already have one:)

EMPTY_PURSE_5

Hi,

I was in Bulgaria last year ... took approx £ 200 in English brand new notes and had no problem exchanging them .... but when this ran out we just used the ATM and found it to be a much better rate of exchange ( even once the bank had charged the % for foreign currency)

Glittermonkey

Order online at Travelex and pick up at the airport

Slightly better rate than walking up to the counter and no commission

p3gg

Hi Helen,

Replying to you from Bulgaria...

Don't rely on establishments accepting any currency apart from the Bulgarian lev.

The limit for how much money you can bring into the country is large - from memory 8,000 levs per person (roughly 2750 pounds per person) regardless of what currency it's in: in any event, that will buy a lot of apres-ski fun, especially in Bulgaria!

One piece of advice, if you want to change your cash you'll be about 10% worse off if you change it in the UK, so only bring enough levs for your first day. Banks here are always better than bureaux de change: most offer commission free exchange, and Procredit Bank tends to offer the best rate of all. As you know the pound has weakened over the last couple of weeks but should still buy you about 2.83 levs in a Bulgarian bank.

Final advice, some Bulgarian bank clerks can be fussy about quality of bank notes, taking exception to writing and tiny tears, so new or new looking notes are a good idea. 50-pound notes can be a problem to exchange.

Hope this helps,

p3gg