Hello all
my name is Steve and my wife is Shenay,
we are an Australian fun loving couple and are wanting to buy a house in Bulgaria, firstly as a holiday home and as a base to use to travel throughout Europe. We still havnt decided on Beach or Mountains but to use it as a travel base im leaning towards somewhere on the western side of the country, near a skiing area. But later in life as a retirement home it may be better towards the east coast. So im not asking for people to make up our mind as to which would be best, we will argue that point between ourselves, but any thoughts and experiences for either of these areas as to which would be easiest for travel and best for retirement would be great, and also of ideas of which towns are good to stay in and maybe more importantly the towns to avoid any help greatly appreciated.
Steve. 
Which towns are good to stay
Hello Steve and Shenay,
Do you know what airports you would fly into as that may be usefull to you when locating an area?
Personly I have only flew in to the capital, Sofia, but have drove down to the ski resorts in Bansko, and drove across the middle of Bulgaria, Veliko Tarnovo is pretty central? And a good place to be as it is a mix of old and new you are not too isolated there, alternative airports around the coast Varna and Burgas but houses are obviously more expensive here.
I am flying in from Bucharest this year in Romania as it is much closer to my house than flying in to BG.
Anyway good luck with your venture and enjoy visiting the country.
Cheers Steve.
hi Steve
you have posed another scenario for us to ponder. we have worked out so far that it is about $1000 aud cheaper per person to fly to sofia return from Australia than it is to varna, but we had not considered flying into another country and then entering Bulgaria, so more food for thought, thankyou, but still we are wantig to know the best and worst areas to buy, thanks
steve
Hey no worries glad to be of some help.
I've a flight in May UK to Sofia but then in August I am trying this Romanian Otepeni airport.
(it cut's my transfer time down from 3 - 4 hours to 90 minutes and a taxi is only €60 one way too)
It is more £££ for me to fly Uk (Liverpool) to Varna too, SofIa is much cheaper but now too Romania.
(how long is your flight from Oz to BG?)
Bye for now, Steve.
The flights from Brisbane seem to average around the 30 to 35 hour mark with stops
steve
Heck thats pretty epic, have you visited BG before it's got to be chalk an cheese BG to Austrailia?
Countryside is lovely, lush green, the people here seem friendly, depends what you are looking for?
Cheers Steve.
yeh its a long way, but we spend that driving to work every month so not a deterant, no we havnt been there before and are looking forward to it, especially the climate being a lot cooler than it is here.
Well that's for sure the climate will be different, I have never been to Australia or even considered it think it is the long haul thing that deflects me, we tend to holiday from the UK to Spain, Greece, Turkey, in fact all over the Med, we have a week in April booked for Malta.
Maybe I will one day get away from europe/med and go further we have done parts of North Africa, maybe a Oz, USA, or India vacation could be an option?
Anyway it is good to see all or as much as the world I think, I wish you both well and hope to mail again with you.
Regards Steve.
Hi Steve,
Welcome to Expat.com! 
A new topic has been created from your post on the Bulgaria forum.
Hi there
We all love our area so we all gonna say our area is the best but I think before you buy and decide come visit the country from Est to Ouest and from North to South
Then decide, don't jump without coming here to see it yourself
Good luck
Sihemt
Hi both
We have a home near Pleven and we can catch a bus up to 5-6 times a day to Pleven about 20minutes
then we can travel either by train or bus that takes around 21/2 hrs to Sofia which is every hour
We must have landed really well with this and Pleven is a real modern quiet City. Unlike the busy cities of Sofia or the seaside
There is a place near Mezdra we looking at a small house for breaks in the mountains but alas not the funds to buy. we live in a town and really safe as the police station is right opposite, it seems most people go to bed at 9pm there is no restaurant sadly to say but most Bulgarians are family orientated and love cooking.
Pleven have lovely shops and eateries where all laid out to see cooked and hot.
or restaurants Italian type and fishbars. Individual clothing shops rather than the big shops who cater for style.
anyone near Pleven area ????
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