Burgas

Introduction

Burgas is the second-largest city on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast and the fourth-largest in Bulgaria after Sofia, Plovdiv and Varna, with a population of around 200,000 inhabitants. It is the capital of Burgas Province and an important industrial, transport, cultural and tourist centre.

Events and Festivals

Bourgas International Folk Festival

The end of August sees national and international folk performers and dance troupes descend on the town of Bourgas for the Bourgas International Folk Fest. The festival was created in 1965 and features traditional Bulgarian food and handicraft bazaars, open-air concerts, shows, folk recitals, parades, choirs, orchestras, and bands. The Summer Theater of Bourgas’ hosts a number of performances throughout the event.

Weather

Burgas' summers are warm, sunny and dry, with temperatures mostly in the 25-30 °C range during the day. Nights are generally balmy. Winters are relatively mild but not like typical Mediterranean places more to the south. Occassional snow and frost is definately possible, although it is not as cold as central Bulgaria.

Getting There

By Plane

Bourgas Airport (BOJ) functions as the main gateway to the southeastern coastal region of Bulgaria, including Nessebar and Sunny Beach. There are regular flights in season (April-October) to dozens of places throughout Europe. Most of them are chartered flights and people arrive on package deals. There are some scheduled services, but also mainly in season. Only Sofia, Moscow and London have year-round flights.

By Train

Trains connect Burgas with a number of domestic and international destinations.

By Bus

There are regular buses to many places in Bulgaria, as well as international ones to neighbouring countries, including Greece and Turkey.

Getting Around

By Public Transport

Public transport runs regularly from 5:00am to 11:00pm. There are both buses and trolleys. Tickets are sold in the bus by special collectors and you should pay to them. The price for one ride is 1 leva.

Sleep

Upscale

View our map of accommodation in Burgas

Keep Connected

Internet

Internet access is widely available in Bulgaria, although about 60% of the population has regular access. Broadband internet is available through cable, ADSL, fiber optics, WiMax and LAN connections. You can also access internet with your mobile phone, via GPRS or 3G. Speeds are pretty fast in the capital. Outside Sofia, speeds are significantly lower. Internet cafes are available in most towns and cities, and in some villages. Computers are usually not available in libraries, or in public places such as train stations, but free wireless access is often available in such public places and in gas stations. Many pubs and hotels will also have WiFi that is free of charge to use. In recent years, wireless access has been growing, especially in biggest cities, but is still rather limited. Paid wireless access is also available. Speeds in Bulgaria are surprisingly good! In fact Bulgaria is in top 10 of the countries with fastest wireless Internet speeds worldwide.

Phone

See also: International Telephone Calls

The country calling code to Bulgaria is: 359. To make an international call from Bulgaria, the code is: 00
There are three mobile operators in Bulgaria: Globul, MobilTel & Vivacom. You can buy phone cards from post offices, kiosks and other street vendors.

The pan-European standard number 112 for all emergency calls is working everywhere in Bulgaria since September 2008. If, for some reason, you can not connect to 112, dial 166 for police, 150 for ambulance and 160 for the fire department.

Post

Bulgarian Posts is the national postal service of Bulgaria. Services are fairly reliable and have been getting better and faster of the years. Still, it takes anywhere from days (domestic) to weeks (intercontinental) to send postcards, letters and/or parcels. They also have a very handy price calculator for all items, both priority as well as non-priority. Bulgarian post offices generally are open from 8:00am to 6:00pm, though some are also open on Saturday (mornings) or keep longer evening hours (mostly the central post offices in big cities or in tourist areas along the coastline). You can buy stamps and postcards at the post offices or at newspaper kiosks. Single stamps for domestic services start at 0.45 leva, for international destinations prices vary by region. For sending packages, you can also use more expensive but faster courier services offered by for example UPS or DHL. TNT and local ones like City Express or Econt are also options.

External Links

Official Website