Bulgaria Travel Overview
Important facts
Capital: Sofia (See more on ITYPEJOB.COM)
Official language: Bulgarian
Currency: Lev 1BGN = 0.51EUR
Continent: Eastern Europe
Vacation in Bulgaria
Vacation on the Black Sea
Long beaches and chess grandmasters. In addition to these well-known sides, Bulgaria has many other unknown faces.
Location
According to Countryaah, Bulgaria is located on the Balkan Peninsula and borders Romania in the north, Turkey and Greece in the south, Serbia and Macedonia in the west and the Black Sea in the east. The Danube flows over 200 km in the north along the border with Romania.
In addition to international flights, bus or train, you can also reach Bulgaria by ship. You can book cheap river cruises from Passau, Vienna or Budapest.
Nature
The country lies on the Black Sea, whose long beaches are increasingly being discovered by tourists from all over Europe. Furthermore, the country is criss-crossed by the Balkan Mountains, which are ideal for hiking trips.
security
Remember that in Bulgaria corruption is a major but tolerated problem across the country. Often it is better to pay than to wait for hours at so-called “road blocks”.
particularities
Orthodox churches have long existed in the Balkans. Many fell victim to communism. In Bulgaria, some survived this time. The Aleksander Nevski Cathedral in Sofia – the capital of the country and the Cathedral of Varna – a port city on the Black Sea with many sights are worth seeing.
useful information
Did you know that 33 chess grandmasters have come from Bulgaria since the 1970s? Playing chess has a long tradition in the country south of the Danube.
Important facts
Capital: Sofia
Official language: Bulgarian
Currency
Currency (sub-unit)
Lev (100 stotinki)
ISO 4217 code
BGN / 975
Geography
Continent: Europe
Region: east
Geo coordinates: N 42 ° 44 ‘2 ” E 25 ° 29’ 9″
Highest mountain: Musala (2,925 m)
Total area: 110,910 km²
Mainland: 110,550 km²
National border: 1,808 km
Coastline: 354 km
Politics
Dependency: Ottoman Empire until 1878
UN member since: 1955
Form of government: People’s Socialist Republic
Houses of Parliament: unikameral
Party system: A lot of
State building: centralized
Political culture: Subject culture
Economy
Export goods: Mining, machinery, tobacco, wines
BSP: $ 30.855 billion
GDP: $ 33,571,200,000
GDP purchasing power parity: $ 85,220,000,000
Economic growth: 5.7%
GDP share of agriculture: 9%
GDP share of industry: 31%
GDP share of services: 60%
Inflation rate: 4.6%
Unemployment: 10.8%
State budget revenue: $ 4294967295
State budget expenditure: $ 4294967295
National debt: 33.5%
Export: $ 14,060,000,000
Import: $ 16,460,000,000
Foreign debt: $ 14,660,000,000
Gold and currency reserves: $ 10,270,000,000
Electricity consumption: 31,060 million KWh
Gas reserves: 5,947 million m³
Gas production: 1 million m³
Gas consumption: 5,350 million m³
Oil reserves: 8 million m³
Oil production: 3,500 million m³
Oil consumption: 109,000 million m³
Cultivation area: 30.06%
Bovine: 650,000 pieces
Pigs: 993,000 pieces
Sheep: 2,670,000 pieces
Fishing: 74,000 t
Demographic data
Residents: 7,385,400
Residents in cities: 5,137,000
Minorities: 9.4% Turks, 4.7% Roma
Average age: 40.8 years
0-14 years: 13.9%
15-64 years: 68.7%
> 65 years: 17.4%
Population growth: -0.86%
Birth rate: 9.66 / 1,000 residents
Death rate: 14.27 / 1,000 residents
Migration: 4.01 / 1,000 residents
Ratio men / women: 0.93
Fertility: 1.38 children / woman
Infant mortality: 19.85 ‰
Life expectancy men: 68.68 years
Life expectancy women: 76.13 years
Country codes and abbreviations
ISO 3166 Alpha 2: BG
ISO 3166 Alpha 3: BGR
ISO 3166 numeric: 100
Top Level Domain: bg
IOC country code: BUL
UN / LOCODE: BG
Source: Abbreviationfinder
Communication
Telephone connections: 3,210,000
Cell Phones: 2,810,000
Radios: 4,520,000
TV: 3,810,000
Computer: 824,000
Internet users: 1,273,000
Transportation
Railway lines: 4,294 km
Paved roads: 94,424 km
of which expressways: 328 km
Cars: 2,489,000
Merchant fleet (ships over 1,000 GRT): 75
Pipelines: 2,920
Health
Number of doctors: 27,300
Daily food intake: 2,640 kcal / resident
HIV- infected people: 300
Education
Illiteracy: 1 %
History
Foundation: 679
Last sovereign since: 1878
Religion
Main religious group: Christians
Distribution of religions: Bulgarian Orthodox
Crime
Prison inmates: 10,900
Military
Armed forces (troop strength): 43,000
Main battle tank: 1,440
Battleships: 1
Submarines: 1
Warplanes: 160
Helicopter: 100
GETTING THERE
Arriving by plane
Bulgaria’s national airline is called Bulgaria Air (FB) (Internet: http://www.air.bg/en).
Other airlines that have Bulgaria in their program are Aeroflot (SU), Alitalia (AZ), Austrian Airlines (OS), Bulgaria Air (FB), Czech Airlines (CSA), El Al Israel Airlines (LY), Lufthansa (LH), LOT Polish Airlines (LO), Swiss (LX), British Airways (BA) and Air France (AF).
Flight times
Frankfurt – Sofia: 2 hours 15 minutes; Munich – Sofia: 2 hours 05 minutes; Vienna – Sofia: 1 hour 40 minutes; Zurich – Sofia: 2 hours 10 minutes
Arrival by car
Cars and passengers in pass via Greece (Koulata, Novo Selo), Romania (Ruse, Kardom, Durankulak, Silistra), Turkey (Svilengrad, Kapitan Andrikeevo), Serbia (Kalotina, Zlatarevo, Vrashkachuka) and Macedonia (Guyeschevo) to Bulgaria. Foreign vehicle owners must be able to show the necessary papers when entering Bulgaria.
Long-distance bus: Eurolines buses (Internet: www.eurolines.com) travel from Germany and Austria to Bulgaria.
Arriving by train
There are no direct trains from Bulgaria to Western Europe, but there are scheduled connections from Sofia to Hungary (Budapest), the Republic of Serbia (Belgrade), Croatia (Zagreb), Romania (Bucharest), Greece (Thessaloniki) and Turkey (Istanbul) with dining car on all routes. It is best to buy first class tickets.
The Transbalkans connects Sofia with Thessaloniki and Bucharest.
Other international trains operate on the routes Swilengrad – Athens, Plovdiv – Sofia – Belgrade and Sofia – Thessaloniki – Athens
Discounts for rail travel in Europe:
InterRail:Children (4-11 years), adolescents (12-25 years) and adults (26 years and over) who have had a permanent residence in Europe, the CIS or Turkey for at least 6 months can use InterRail.
The InterRail One-Country Pass is available for travel in almost 30 European countries including Macedonia and Turkey and is valid for 3, 4, 6, 8 days within 1 month in one country. Children aged 4-11 travel at half the adult price.
The InterRail Global Passenables travel through several countries and is offered with different validity periods. Either 5 days out of 10 days total validity or 10 out of 22 can be selected. A continuous period of 22 days or 1 month is also possible.
Arrival by ship
The Danube (Internet: www.danube-river.org) connects Bulgaria with the other Danube countries. There is a direct connection to Central and Western Europe via the Danube. Ruse is the largest port on the Danube. There are border crossings to Romania on the Danube between Vidin and Calafat (ferry) and Ruse and Giurgiu (bridge). Bulgaria’s main international ports on the Black Sea are Varna and Burgas. There are regular ferry services from Varna and Burgas to Ilichovsk in Ukraine, the Russian Federation and the Mediterranean.