Local time:
GMT+ 2
Climate:
Temperate continental (2, 000 to 2, 400 hours of sunshine per year). Four seasons. Dry and hot summer, mean temperature+ 23 °C (April-September). Cold winter with snowfalls, mean temperature 0 °C. Mean annual temperature 10.5 °C.
Population:
7,364,570
Language:
Bulgarian.
English, German, French and Russian is spoken in the country’s resorts, hotels and restaurants.
Alphabet:
Cyrillic. Signs along international motorways, in airports and resorts are also spelled in Roman letters.
| Аа – Aa | Кк – Kk | Фф – Ff |
| Бб – Bb | Лл – Ll | Хх – Hh |
| Вв – Vv | Мм – Mm | Цц – Ts ts |
| Гг – Gg | Нн – Nn | Чч – Ch Ch |
| Дд – Dd | Оо – Oo | Шш – Sh sh |
| Ее – Ee | Пп – Pp | Щщ – Sht sht |
| Жж – Zh zh | Рр – Rr | Ъъ – Uu |
| Зз – Zz | Сс – Ss | Ьь – ….. |
| Ии – Ii | Тт – Tt | Юю – Yu yu |
| Йй – Ii | Уу – Ou ou | Яя – Ya ya |
Religion:
86.6% of the population is Eastern Orthodox, 13% are Muslims. The Bulgarian Church is autonomous and headed by a Patriarch.
State government:
Bulgaria is a parliamentary republic.
Official holidays:
January 1 – New Year
March 3 – Bulgaria’s Liberation from Ottoman rule – the National Day
Easter – one week after the Catholic Easter
May 1 – Labor Day
May 6 – Bulgarian Army Day
May 24 – Day of Bulgarian Enlightenment and Culture and the Slav Script
September 6 – Bulgaria’s Unification
September 22 – Independence Day
December 25-26 – Christmas
Capital:
Sofia (pop. 1,270,284)
Large Cities:
Plovdiv, Varna, Veliko Turnovo, Sliven, Stara Zagora
National currency:
Bulgarian lev (pl. leva). Fractional coins are called ‘stotinki’ (100 stotinki = 1 lev). The exchange rate against the euro is fixed at Lv 1.95583/EUR 1.
Electricity:
mains voltage 220 V/50 Hz, round two-pin plugs.
Tipping:
Tips of 10% of the bill are appropriate for waiters and taxi drivers.
Bank Opening Hours:
Monday – Friday 09:00 – 16:30
Visas:
EU passport holders, as well as those of USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Israel and some other countries with reciprocal agreements, are visa-free for a stay up to 30 days in Bulgaria.
You can get a consular information at the site of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria http://www.mfa.bg/en/
