Total area: 101.912 sq.km.

Population: Approx 8.1 million

Religion: Bulgarian orthodox. Several minority’s within other religious communities.

Capital: Sofia

Other big cities: Plovdiv, Bourgas and Varna.

Visa: No, EU-citizens only need a valid passport.

Language: Bulgarian, a Slavonic language which uses the Cyrillic alphabet. In the bigger cities, holiday-resorts, hotels and restaurants English and German is also spoken.

Currency: Leva. (1 lev = 100 stotinki). Lev follows the Euro. 1 EUR= approx 2 LEVA

Credit card: Can be used in bigger cities, but it is easiest to pay in cash. More cities and banks have ATM, where cash cards as VISA. MASTERCARD, DINERS and others can be used.

Time difference: Central European

Drinking water: It is recommended to drink lots of spring water, which can be bought in bottles everywhere.

Opening hours: Many small shops are open around the clock. Banks and public authorities work as usual from Monday till Friday, from 8 AM till 12 AM & 1PM till 5PM.

CLIMATE
Bulgaria has a typical continental climate, with warm summer and cold winter.

Notice: The bath water south of Bourgas is up to several times warmer than the average temperature.