Where to stay

Choosing where to stay in Bulgaria comes down to what you want from the trip: a city base, a Black Sea resort, or a mountain town. Sofia leads the country with 41 hotels spread across 5-star, 4-star and 3-star categories, and Sofia-Grad also covers neighbourhoods such as Boyana, Sredets, Vitosha, Serdika, Studentski, Oborishte, Mladost, Iztok and Vazrazhdane, each with its own smaller choice of rooms. Beyond the capital, Plovdiv has 30 hotels, Burgas 30 and Varna 40, while the coast adds Obzor, Byala, Sozopol, Zlatni Pyasatsi, Sveti Vlas, Pomorie and Nesebar.

Inland, Bansko is the largest mountain base with 39 hotels, joined by Velingrad with 39 and Samokov, Razlog, Chepelare and Sapareva Banya. Smaller towns such as Hisarya, Vidin, Shumen, Gabrovo, Kazanlak and Veliko Turnovo suit travellers who want a quieter stay. Parking is listed for most hotels in Plovdiv, Bansko, Varna and the coastal resorts, so a car is practical outside the big cities. Family-friendly hotels are common on the coast and in the mountain resorts, and rarer in Sofia, where only some neighbourhoods list them.

Sofia and Bansko carry the deepest 5-star choice, with 11 and 9 hotels respectively, and Varna follows with 10. If a 5-star room is the priority, those three are the places to start; Plovdiv and Burgas offer 5 and 6 five-star hotels but lean more heavily on 4-star and 3-star rooms. Three-star hotels appear in almost every place on this list, including towns such as Hisarya, Vidin, Shumen and Gabrovo, where they are the only category. Choose 4- and 5-star for pools, resort facilities and central city addresses; choose 3-star for smaller towns, longer inland stays and neighbourhoods such as Mladost and Iztok in Sofia.