Summer in Bulgaria. Help!
Feb 12th, 2018, 06:20 AM
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Summer in Bulgaria. Help!
My family will be traveling to Bulgaria this summer and I could use some advice on which flight to buy. We are 34 and 33 with three young daughters (9, 7, & 4). I've got two options of flights I could book and just can't figure out which one to buy. Our rough itinerary includes Sofia, Rila Monastery, Plovdiv, the coast (maybe Sozopol), possibly VT and a day of hiking in surrounding forests).
The first flight lands us in Sofia the evening of June 6th and departs from Sofia the evening of June 16th. It's a good price (less that $700pp), doesn't have terrible layovers (coming from San Francisco), and we feel the weather will be a nice temperature. It only gives us 9 days of exploration.
The second flight is lands us in Burgas the evening of June 27 and departs Sofia the evening of July 9. It's a decent price, but about $200 more per person than flight option #1. The layovers are fine as well to/from Bulgaria. We are concerned about it being too hot at this time. We come from Northern California where summers are very hot (100°+ F), but we're also not out and about exploring and walking and vacationing most days while at home. We've heard it's HOT in Bulgaria (Sofia and Plovdiv mainly) in July. Will we be miserable walking around all day? This option gives us 12 days of exploration.
What should we do?!!
The first flight lands us in Sofia the evening of June 6th and departs from Sofia the evening of June 16th. It's a good price (less that $700pp), doesn't have terrible layovers (coming from San Francisco), and we feel the weather will be a nice temperature. It only gives us 9 days of exploration.
The second flight is lands us in Burgas the evening of June 27 and departs Sofia the evening of July 9. It's a decent price, but about $200 more per person than flight option #1. The layovers are fine as well to/from Bulgaria. We are concerned about it being too hot at this time. We come from Northern California where summers are very hot (100°+ F), but we're also not out and about exploring and walking and vacationing most days while at home. We've heard it's HOT in Bulgaria (Sofia and Plovdiv mainly) in July. Will we be miserable walking around all day? This option gives us 12 days of exploration.
What should we do?!!
Feb 12th, 2018, 07:36 AM
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Are the flights RT? If so, are you using Turkish Airlines? If so, are you aware that the return trip will be very long? We did a RT to Bulgaria and other European locations using Turkish Airlines, and decided to break up our return by spending a few days in Istanbul. I do not know if that is still an option with changes (or were they temporary) in visa requirements and obtaining one. I wrote a trip report. View the forum by country, in this instance Bulgaria, and you will find my trip report.
I can't address your concerns about summer temperatures since we were there in the Spring.
I can't address your concerns about summer temperatures since we were there in the Spring.
Last edited by Michael; Feb 12th, 2018 at 07:39 AM.
Feb 12th, 2018, 08:55 AM
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Flights are RT, but not through Turkish airlines. We'd stopover in Rome on the way there and Paris for a night on the way back.
I'd also like to point out that our dates from June 5-17th are very tight and don't allow for added days on either end of the trip. The July dates have more wiggle room on the later end. Is 9 days enough time to do all that we are hoping to do. We'd like to spend 2 days in Sofia and at least 3 in Plovdiv. That takes up half the trip. Would 5 days be enough time to do a trip to the monastery and the coast? Should we just kick out VT and the forests?
I'd also like to point out that our dates from June 5-17th are very tight and don't allow for added days on either end of the trip. The July dates have more wiggle room on the later end. Is 9 days enough time to do all that we are hoping to do. We'd like to spend 2 days in Sofia and at least 3 in Plovdiv. That takes up half the trip. Would 5 days be enough time to do a trip to the monastery and the coast? Should we just kick out VT and the forests?
Feb 12th, 2018, 01:11 PM
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If you read my trip report you will find that we did two full day excursions from Sofia. One is perhaps indispensable, that is Rila Monastery. But the other one is also interesting as it takes you up in the mountains to a village that has strong ties to Bulgaria's independence movement and is now a summer vacation destination. I can't make any decision for you, especially since my readings of the guidebooks and then the transportation issue to get from the coast to Bucharest made us skip the coast--we are not beach people anyway. For us, Veliko Tarnovo made more sense.
