Bulgaria has a climate of hot, dry summers and wet, cold and snowy winters.
The average temperature in the summer months is 28°C with the winter around 3°c.
The Black Sea has an average summer temperature of 24°C - warmer than at most Mediterranean resorts making bathing a pleasurable experience!
There is usually around 1.5 to 2m of snow in the ski resorts between December and March.
The currency of Bulgaria is leva. Prices are often quoted in euro´s for tours, top hotels, air fares and car rentals although you can also pay in leva. Credit cards are very rarely accepted although you can get cash advances in banks. A word of warning if you intend taking Scottish Bank Notes to Bulgaria - you will find it VERY difficult to exchange them for Leva, even the banks refuse to accept them! ATM´s can now be found in most large towns and cities. Only change money in banks, hotels and authorised money exchanges. Be aware of people in the street offering to change money it will either be counterfeit, old or you will be given the wrong amount. Travellers cheques are not always easy to change and banks will only usually accept American express and Thomas cook and you will be charged commission.
Currently UK and Irish citizens as well as most other European Nationals are allowed to stay in Bulgaria for up to 90 days within each period of 6 months. Anyone wishing to stay for longer needs to register with the immigration service as a long term resident. Please check the Bulgarian Embassy website for further details as the rules on immigration and in particular registration are constantly changing.
Telephones
Phoning home is very easy and cheap from either telephone exchanges, public booths or hotels. To phone the UK 0044 the area code minus the first zero then the number. For Ireland 00353 the area code minus the first zero then the number.
Post
Sending a postcard generally costs 0.35 lv and takes about a week. Most towns have a post office.
Internet
Even the smallest towns generally have at least one internet cafe and with prices starting at around 1 Lev per hour you wont have to worry about a big bill!
Language
The official language is Bulgarian although English, German and Russian are often spoken in the main resorts. The Cyrillic alphabet is predominantly used throughout Bulgaria although increasingly signs are also now written in English.
The water is safe to drink in Bulgaria however people generally drink bottled water as it is so cheap and easy to buy.
