Taking a break in Sofia

If you live in northern Greece – let’s say in Thessaloniki – you can arrive in Sofia in just 3 hours from the straight motorway and the straightforward Bulgarian customs.

It’s only 300 kms distance. It took us two weeks to arrive here and more than 1100 kms. This is The World Offroad way…

It’s our fourth day in the Bulgarian capital and we could easily stay for more for two reasons: first, Sofia is very convenient, affordable and pleasant to stroll around. Second, we have found a camper stop for 10 euros north of the city and next to the Lomsko Shose Metro station, with hot water, 220V electricity, a friendly host – Mr. Ivan – superfast wi-fi and interesting neighbours – fellow camper families from Germany, Holland and Austria. And Lidl is next door. 

What to do in Sofia? Start from the Serdika metro station next to Largo and the Bulgarian Parliament and head south towards Vitosha Blvd., a pedestrian road with tens of coffee shops and restaurants right there and on the nearby roads.

Before leaving Largo, don’t forget to visit the underground ruins of Serdika, the Roman town on top of which Sofia was built. It’s interesting how they managed the ruins – a whole part of the Roman town with baths and temples and houses – when they were building the new Metro in 2012. 

You can walk for hours without hustles here, take the picturesque tram –  it looks like the classic yellow tram of Lisbon – or the efficient subway train. You don’t need any tips from us as there are no real dangers or trap in the Bulgarian capital.

Locals are not super warm, but they are calm, sincere people who will not try to sell you anything for anything. The just do their job. Cuisine options are vast, from turkish style donner or greek style gyros to pizzerias, burger houses, chinese wok or japanese sushi, so you will never need to enter an american franchisee restaurant like McDonalds or KFC (there are a lot). Prices are good, let’s say half price from the average in Europe at least. For 3 pizza’s at Franco’s – next to Vitosha Blvd. – we paid 17 euros today.

There are also impressive malls starting from the Tzum on the Largo Sq. to Vitosha at the south.