Trip to Sofia, Bulgaria

Gleeful

I'm looking to go to Sofia in March as part of a business trip

There for 4 days, but only tied up with business for 2 of them

Where is good to visit, eat and stay?

Thanks in advance

Alan_Bowen

I know things may have changed but Sofia is on my list of 'never again' cities, hated every second I was there. To get out of the city it might be worth visiting the Rila Monastery which is on the Unesco World Heritage List, although we were warned by Avis never to leave the car unoccupied at any time. I ate in the Sheraton every night but one when I got food poisoning. The Pope may kiss the ground when he lands, I kissed the floor of the Austrian Airlines plane taking off.

Gleeful

Alan_Bowen wrote: »

I know things may have changed but Sofia is on my list of 'never again' cities, hated every second I was there. To get out of the city it might be worth visiting the Rila Monastery which is on the Unesco World Heritage List, although we were warned by Avis never to leave the car unoccupied at any time. I ate in the Sheraton every night but one when I got food poisoning. The Pope may kiss the ground when he lands, I kissed the floor of the Austrian Airlines plane taking off.

Really? Oh dear. You know your travel destinations as well!

We are spending probably 1.2/2 days out of a 3 day trip (got it wrong before) doing businessy things. We'll probably be happy with just a few nice places to eat and drink to be honest.

Sofia looks lovely on the tourist websites as well.

macman

Surely your business contacts in Sofia are best placed to give you advice?

Gleeful

macman wrote: »

Surely your business contacts in Sofia are best placed to give you advice?

I thought that in this instance, seeking the opinion of other British travellers was a perfectly reasonable thing to do?

Voyager2002

Alan_Bowen wrote: »

I know things may have changed but Sofia is on my list of 'never again' cities, hated every second I was there. To get out of the city it might be worth visiting the Rila Monastery which is on the Unesco World Heritage List, although we were warned by Avis never to leave the car unoccupied at any time. I ate in the Sheraton every night but one when I got food poisoning. The Pope may kiss the ground when he lands, I kissed the floor of the Austrian Airlines plane taking off.

The moral is, avoid high-price things aimed at wealthy foreigners. Eat in places that rely on regular customers (who will of course be locals) and the risk of food poisoning is greatly reduced. Travel by local bus and no need to worry about car theft. And so on...

andrewf75

There is a mountain (Vitosha) that you see from the city. I didn't go there but I think you can take a cable car up.

Have to say having travelled around Eastern Europe a lot it was probably my least favourite place, as above it seemed like we were being charged extra for everything.

Alan_Bowen

For those interested, the food poisoning was the night we didn't eat in the hotel. I ate with the British Ambassadors number 2 in Sofia, we all got ill! The previous night we left the hotel to look for somewhere else to eat and after 15 minutes of being hassled by true poverty stricken children we gave up and went back to the hotel. It is admittedly 15 years ago, some of the potholes in the road were deeper than the tyres on our car, although we are getting close to that here in London!

Browntoa

I hated Sofia as well ,drab boring place , looked run down

there were bars around but you had to hunt for them

alwaysskint96

I spent a weekend there earlier this year. Ok i stayed in a hostel ( Hostel Mostel was great) but did the "free sofia walking tour" which was excellent I was rather disappointed with the Cathedral but liked many of the other places I saw Saint Nedelja Church in particular

There was a couple of big street in the centre with lots of cafes etc. Also shops about

I never had any problem with food poisoning- and i ate from little hole in the wall places for pizza souvlaki etc and compared to Sunny Beach ( where i had been previously) the prices were very reasonable

There were loads of little bars and clubs about- the hostel did a crawl but the people who do the sightseeing tour also go an evening pub crawl

I have no reason to go back again but was good for a couple of days- h and was fun to ride the trams

macman

Gleeful wrote: »

I thought that in this instance, seeking the opinion of other British travellers was a perfectly reasonable thing to do?

I didn't suggest it wasn't reasonable. But the locals would be a better source of advice on where to stay and where to eat-otherwise you'll end up in standard tourist places.