The sea and Bulgaria 2022!
The Bulgarian government has allowed the entry of tourists from Russia from May 1, 2021. Bulgaria expects up to 6 million tourists to visit its resorts during the summer season. Hotels are 100% full for July and August.
Count. Bulgaria It is still not fully accessible direction. There are some inconveniences: with the route and flights, with visas, money exchange, opening accounts, buying and selling and renting real estate.
Route and flight
There are no direct flights from Bulgaria or Bulgaria.
In the conditions of limited transport links between countries in a period of uncertainty, it became difficult to get to countries, but you can still fly to most countries, even European ones.
The problem is that most of the airports in southern Russia are closed. Of the large operating air transport hubs I want to note Adler and Moscow. From there you can fly to Istanbul ?Turkey), and from where it is easy to get by car or bus to Sunny Beach, Burgas, Varna in 4 hours (no more than 6 hours).
This is the most convenient route in terms of price (it was always cheap to fly to Istanbul, the cost of tickets from 11000 rubles) and in terms of getting acquainted with the sights on the road. The route will run through two countries: Turkey and Bulgaria, through the isthmus between the seas: Marmara and Black.
The roads of Istanbul already impress everyone with their height difference, causing associations with roller coasters, it is not for nothing that Istanbul is called the “city of contrasts” in every sense.
The distance of the bus route is about 200 km, but it can be overcome much faster by using the services of private cabs, for example, minibuses.
The distance is comparable to the distance from Krasnodar to Taman (Crimea). Krasnodar people manage to go to the sea in the Crimea for one day, you just need to get up early. However, buses from Otogar (one of the largest bus stations in the world) have not very convenient timetables and depart about 19 hours, looping along the Bulgarian coast, due to which the journey time is extended by 2 hours, and arrival occurs late at night.
The cost of the Otogar-Sunny Beach bus ticket is low - €25, about 2,500 rubles.
That is, you can go to Istanbul for shopping for only 5000 rubles! If you plan a lot of purchases and don’t keep up in one day, the cost of the hotel will add to the cost of the road: on average €30-40, at least €17 (no difference). There are many hotels in Istanbul, wandering through the streets and bazaars, you are sure to stumble upon one of them. I do not recommend booking a hotel in advance, as it simply does not make sense. And these colorful Turkish hotels are not in Yandex, or on Bucking, as well as prices for them.
Visa
To cross the Russia-Turkey and Turkey-Bulgaria border, you will not need anything but a passport, in the latter case with a Bulgarian national visa or a Schengen visa of any country. Vaccination or PCR (72 hours old) at borders is not asked or watched. At the entrance to Turkey put a stamp, as at the entrance to Belarus, when leaving the same.
Since March 2022, the visa centers of Bulgaria do not accept applications from individuals due to problems with paying the visa fee in connection with the sanctions blocking of Russian bank cards of Visa, Mastercard payment systems.
Russians need a visa to visit Bulgaria. The average cost of a national visa to Bulgaria in the regions and in Russia is 15,000 rubles. A foreign passport is required to apply for a visa.
Money.
The current problem in travel: cards of Russian banks payment systems Visa and MasterCard do not work in Europe due to sanctions against Russia. The national payment system "Mir" does not operate in Bulgaria, only in Turkey in a number of banks.
UnionPay co-branded cards combined with another payment system, including Mir, are not accepted by ATMs. Payment does not pass despite the presence of the UP logo.
Also not serviced in foreign ATMs and UnionPay issued by Russian banks from the sanctions list. Unionpay is the only international payment system available to Russians.
Now in Russia, in fact, only the little-promoted payment system “Golden Crown”, created on the basis of money transfers, and Qiwi Bank, created on the basis of electronic wallets, operates. The “Golden Crown” can transfer money to Turkey, and Qiwi carries out transfers to cards of some CIS countries.
The procedures for issuing bank cards in these countries became more complicated and inaccessible to Russians, or banks were subject to the same sanctions as the Russians. Currently, it is not possible to open a bank card or bank account in Turkey, as well as a card or account in Bulgaria. Turkish banks require a residence permit ("kimlik") of Turkey. In Bulgaria, it is difficult to change any currency because of the decisions of private banks to deny the Russians a service. It is possible to carry out a currency exchange operation in Bulgaria (I mean a pair of Euro-dollars, Bulgarian levs) only in the exchange offices of this beautiful friendly country to Russia, which many Russians affectionately call the “second home”. And that is only because currency exchange operations do not require a passport and take for Bulgarians or Ukrainians!
Thus, the transfers announced by Sberbank to Europe through SWIFT, when confirming kinship with the recipient, to an account in a European bank, are actually impossible due to the refusal of the Bulgarian side to participate in this process. It is impossible for a Russian to open an account in Bulgaria even for the sale or purchase of an apartment, payment for utilities and everyday expenses in supermarkets for groceries.
The only way to replenish your wallet and spend a vacation with benefit is to go to neighboring Turkey. There will have to stand the queue and listen to the excuses of the Turkish exchangers (and points of issue at the same time) about the absence of “today up to 16 hours” of cash due to the large flow of those wishing to use their services, then receive the cherished transfer of the payment system “Golden Crown”.
Real estate
Many Russians still plan to visit Bulgaria, especially the owners of resort properties.
Local realtors do not miss the opportunity to earn: as you know, they have no commissions in Bulgaria, so the price can be laid at least several thousand euros, their realtor receives from sale instead of commission.
In everyday life, Russians complain of price discrimination on the basis of Russianness, when the price of their apartment is reduced by half as a result of communications with realtors who want to earn extra money in this form, motivating their behavior by the fact that “there are no buyers”, “do not sell”, “finger on finger without hitting”.
Prices
Sanctions have come back boomerang. The country has an energy crisis, which is accompanied by rising prices. In response to Bulgaria’s decision to stop buying Russian natural gas for rubles, prices jumped. Electricity prices increased by 30%.
Food prices are rising, which can be clearly seen in the rise in vegetable oil prices: it recently cost 2.5 leva, and now 5 leva.
Prices for rental and sale of real estate have increased. Back in 2019, you could find a very attractive price tag on the studio and one-room apartments €13,000, and currently there are no prices below €20,000.
The average price tag for real estate of any rank is about €30,000. Private houses in remote villages of Bulgaria have also risen in price: up to €50,000. Renting an apartment for the season in Sozopol can cost €1,500 per month with a prepayment for three months, has become the usual price tag for renting a studio apartment in Sunny Beach €900 per month.
Ecology.
The lower price tag for the purchase of apartments can still be found in the area of the Copper Mine of the city of Burgas. "Meden Rudnik" is the worst and cheapest remote area of the city, adjacent to the famous Chernomorets. The name "Copper Mine" speaks for itself and suggests the presence in the area of the mine, which really was there: uranium. When mining, the ore is crushed, waste remains. They are radioactive by a bouquet of radiation from thorium, uranium, radium.
There are 78 uranium mines in Bulgaria, of which 35 were under development. Today, uranium is not mined there, but the question of the environmental dangers of these mines is open. An abandoned local mine often turns into a chemical bomb. It contains half of the Mendeleev table, while the concentration of a number of metals exceeds the norm by a thousand times! Almost everywhere there is alpha activity, dangerous in case of getting inside a person, that is, if you do not drink water from the mine, everything will be fine. The cause of the radiation is not even in radioactive waste storage facilities, it is a legacy from old uranium mining mines.
Bulgarian environmental organizations received unpleasant results following the inspection of one of the uranium mines (mentioned as a place with high radioactivity).
Tailing reservoirs create an additional headache: they were designed based on possible earthquakes of 7 points, and modern requirements for similar objects in Bulgaria suggest seismic resistance to 9 points. Rehabilitation of mines is not carried out.
Despite the Bulgarians’ insufficient attention to the issues of their own ecology and the active profit of local developers and realtors in depressed areas, Bulgaria is actively positioning itself as a civilized European country.
There is no doubt about this when you see a beautiful country planted with rose bushes, clean beaches, and many sunny days a year!
Holidays in Bulgaria can not be called dangerous for the life or health of tourists, as well as the purchase of real estate, if you do it carefully, relying on reason and logic, your own awareness.
Beaches and cafes
Fifteen kilometers of excellent clear sand, real sand dunes - this is the most popular Bulgarian resort Sunny Beach. Many beaches of Sunny Beach offer tourists and guests of Bulgaria a wide service of entertainment. These are paid sunbeds with umbrellas (500 rubles), and beds with snow-white pillows and sheets and a variety of fish menu.
There are a lot of people here during the season.
And prices by the standards of budget Bulgaria are simply space. Compared to our beaches, Bulgaria is very clean. It is not customary to come with beer, there are watermelons or seeds by the sea. The beaches are quiet and calm. Only rare ladies along the coastal strip disturb the peace of regular sunbathing ladies.
Algae on the beaches in the vicinity of Sunny Beach, of course, there are, but they are removed quite quickly. The more seaweed the further away from the new Nessebar. The sea itself is very warm.
I must say that the seabed here resembles a "frog", sandy pleasantly hollow and far into the sea - shallow. The resort has to rest with children, for whom moon parks, Ferris wheel, water slides, pirate park are open. Between Sunny Beach and Old Nessebar on the peninsula runs a small train for 5 leva (250 rubles).
In Old Nessebar, gourmets will enjoy an abundance of beautifully decorated in the ethnic style of restaurants, which serve fish, mussels and snails.
Of the beaches stretching along the surf, we can note: Ptaya, Colonel, Guava, Goal, Hawaii, Karaoke, Bikini, Xo, Blue bar, Kikki, White Beach (it is awarded the Blue Flag). The latter has a stage and a giant covered hall.
Nightlife in Sunny Beach is even more active than day life. Erotic shows replace performances of erotic singers.
A similar situation with water entertainment – there are a lot of them and they are offered for every taste from a banana to parachute flights or diving.
Hotels like Dune, Roma. The level of service in many of them is not inferior to Turkey or Egypt, and the price is much lower.
So if you are looking for an alternative to the usual holiday, welcome to Bulgaria.
Recommendations
Recreational areas can be recommended: Sunny Beach, closer to Old (New) Nessebar, according to the parameters of the purity of the beach bordering Nessebar: awarded for the purity of the water with the UNESCO Blue Flag.
For the purchase of a second Bulgarian house in terms of ecology good areas along the coastline closer to Balchik towards Romania.
I recommend buying real estate directly from developers, as margins on the secondary housing market are skyrocketing. And do not apply to real estate agencies for sale in order to avoid professional descent of real estate "for pennies" to investors or the agency itself, many of which also invest!
You will only need a lawyer to sell. Only the builder for the purchase. It is best to rent from the management companies of complexes from the developer, who rent apartments of residents in their spare time. That is very convenient from the point of view of real estate management and payment of support fees - to the owner of the apartment, a pleasant amount of rent - to the tenant.
All you need to travel is cash in euros or dollars. To use any bank card will not work, to exchange rubles in Bulgaria as well.
It is better to entrust the opening of a visa to an accredited visa center, since despite the energy crisis, Bulgaria continues to refuse to accept money in rubles: it itself pays with them and accepts them as payment.
Legalization, adaptation, naturalization, and political refugee programs in Bulgaria are difficult or impossible for Russians. Bulgaria does not accept political refugees, cases of political refugees are isolated, with a deep violation of the procedure (you will need to obtain a residence permit, stay to prove your rights to protection).
A day for food in the supermarket you will need about 10-15 leva, about 700 rubles. The restaurant is about 50 leva, 2500 rubles. The most inexpensive dish for every day can be called fried shells (4 leva or 200 rubles) and chicken (from 1.5 leva or 70 rubles for a ham), as well as sour milk for 30-40 rubles.
You will have to spend your hard-earned money in Russia, no one will give you money in Bulgaria, but they will react to your money and property. How not to remember the nearest neighbor of Bulgaria - Romania - which according to legend - the country of the Roma? But it's just a legend.
Anyway, be careful. Sunny Beach was created specifically for tourists who want to quickly part with money, the karma of this place actively helps in this.
Text and photo: Madeleine Barr
Relevance of information at the time of publication: July 2022
Dear friends!
Order excursions in Bulgaria Other countries can be visited by guides on our website.
Allow yourself to travel in a well-known and popular format - an individual tour with a separate guide.