bulgaria and others?

catoutthebag

We were going to go long haul but maybe 2015 now

We've been to some stunning summer places last few yr: palma Santorini & Dubrovnik

Looking to book for jul-sep, 7-10 nights, good mix of beach + sites

Prefer to visit new countries but will look at countries we've visited as long as its stunning ... Recent short haul countries include Tunisia, turkey,Spain,Greece,Croatia for our beach bum breaks

Any suggestions
Welcome

Bulgaria?

brunettifan

I have been looking at Kalkan in Turkey, an old fishing village with a reputation for good restaurants.

catoutthebag

Although not into partying, that would sound too quiet for us

Anyone will good revs for Bulgaria in terms of culture, non beach activities & resorts?

Or anything else?

Obviously_the_best

Depends on what airport, but maybe the Azores?

Sunvil do some Azores packages, or you can organise it yourself with a flight from SATA.

catoutthebag

Although I've been to Portugal, not Azores & didn't think of it

Looks nice

Reading into it, wonder about the quite 'Mild' summer temperatures & potential for earthquake & volcano

PompeyPete

Me and OH had an enjoyable DIY trip round Bulgaria about 5 years ago for a couple of weeks. Everwhere we stayed at is in CAPITALS.

Flew into Sofia and had a car booked to take us the 90 minute drive to Plovdiv. We stayed in PLOVIDIV (4 nights) at Hotel Leipzig (there's better), and had day trips by public bus to a beautiful little town called Hasir, and a day in the mountains by bus at a bustling ski-town called Smolyan...

http://wikitravel.org/en/Plovdiv
http://wikitravel.org/en/Smolyan

Then on by bus to VELIKO TARNOVO. Not an easy journey, and we had to put plan B into action at one stage as we'd missed the last connecting bus for the day in a place called Karlovo, and had to get a taxi to the next bus station at Kazanlak. We eventually reached VELIKO TARNOVO after another couple of bus journeys over the mountains via Gabrovo...

http://wikitravel.org/en/Veliko_Turnovo

VELIKO TARNOVO is a lovely, bustling place oozing with character. Stayed 2 nights with a day out to nearby Arbanasi.

Then a taxi to small one-horse place called ETAR. Main reason to visit was to see the open air Ethnographical museum which didn't disappoint. Day out by bus to a small town called Tryana, and stopped off at the much larger Gabrovo...

http://www.etar.org/index-en.htm
http://wikitravel.org/en/Gabrovo

I'm going on a bit now! We also went by bus and stayed at VARNA, with trips by local bus to Dobrich and Balchik. The on by bus to BURGAS and SOZOPOL, before returning to PLOVDIV by train (5 hours)...

http://wikitravel.org/en/Varna
http://wikitravel.org/en/Burgas
http://wikitravel.org/en/Sozopol

We covered about 1200 miles by bus/train in 2 weeks with only one hiccup, and apart from pre-booking accommodation in Plovdiv we just turned up on spec.

The signage is difficult as they use the Cyrillic alphabet, so working out places at bus and train stations was night on impossible.

Did lots of planning using LP and Rough Guide.

Bulgaria is a lovely country, and well worth the effort which you need to put in.

catoutthebag

Thanks for that will be looking into Bulgaria & Azores....any other suggestions?