It was only a few years until Bulgaria caught up and became a major holiday destination. In fact, the country has always been a major tourist destination.Most of the tourists used to arrive from the former communist bloc countries. Much has changed – there are now millions of international travellers pouring into Bulgaria’s beach and ski destinations annually. Many are enjoying a village holiday in Bulgaria.

About sixty percent of Bulgaria’s territory is covered with mountains ranges separated by long valleys, dotted with hundreds of small towns and village. Many of these towns and villages have made a major push to become attractive tourist destinations and many of them have been successful. Actually, this is the preferred type of travel for most Bulgarians. This has become known as village tourism, although the destinations are not always in villages. Increasingly, foreign tourists are discovering the appeals of this type of a holiday.

A typical village tourism (селски туризъм in Bulgarian) outing is over the weekend but it could also last a week or longer. The destination is typically a village or close to a small town where holiday seekers can enjoy natural beauty. This could be next to a mountain or a lake as is the case with the Central Balkan area. There might be some cultural attractions nearby such as monasteries or a town with a renovated historic center such as Lovetch, Veliko Turnovo or Plovdiv. So, the appeal of village tourism is that it puts one squarely into nature but, by virtue of Bulgaria being a relatively small country with short distances, one is also very close to various attractions. Sometimes, it is the village part that is the main attraction. Many Bulgarian villages presents sights long forgotten in the West such as a old woman walking around with a few goats, donkey carts, and old time village pubs.

Another appeal, and that’s very relevant to many Bulgarians who live on a budget, is that village tourism is relatively inexpensive. Out of the main cities, the industry offers hundreds of private rental villas as well as B&B’s run by their owners. They have 3 to 4 rooms and a small restaurant, essentially a B&B. Staying in the guest houses or renting a villa cost a fraction of what it cost to book a hotel room or a private apartment in one of the main resort. 

The world famous Golden Sands Bulgaria resort on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast in Bulgaria has been awarded the International Blue Flag award as an ecologically clean region. Golden Sands Bulgaria was originally planned as a quiet beach resort that combines the natural beauty of the surrounding mountains of the Golden Sands park with the nice beach. Golden Sands is named after its famous golden sand on the 100m wide and about 4km long beach (златни пясъци хотел in Bulgarian). Golden Sands is famous as the pearl of the Bulgarian Black Sea coast because of its natural beauty – wonderful climate, unique nature park, exquisite golden sand and healthy hot springs.

As most of the rest of the world, Bulgaria experienced a construction boom in its beach and ski destinations in the last few years, including in Golden Sands. In earlier times, the resort had about a dozen large hotels, fairly spread out, with outside restaurants in-between.  Now, the old Golden Sands Bulgaria hotels (have been thoroughly renovated and some of the space between them has been filled with new developments. There are a number of apartment buildings in addition to the hotels where one can rent a holiday apartment from a private owner, often at a good discount. Despite the active construction of the last several years, Golden Sands has not become a sprawling beach resort as Sunny Beach due south. The surrounding mountain hills and protected forests have limited development, and this is good news for many tourists who prefer smaller, cozier beach destinations. In fact, Golden Sands is generally considered the more upscale of the two largest beach reports in Bulgaria.

For international tourists, Golden Sands is easily accessible via the Varna international airport. Varna is the largest city on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast and boasts the title “sea capital”. It is in fact a beautiful city with a large pedestrian center and a spacious old sea garden along its beach. Traveling between Varna and Golden Sands is made easy by regular public transportation. The distance between them can be covered in about half an hour. Therefore, many people stay in Varna and go the beach at Golden Sands and many people who stay in Golden Sands frequent Varna.

The home countries of the tourists that come to the resort include a number of Western European countries such as Germany and the Netherlands as well as the traditional visitors from Poland and the Ukraine. The Romanians who had never before traveled to Bulgaria during the times of communism, started vacationing in Bulgaria during summer and winter months, helped by the close proximity of their capital to the border with Bulgaria.

Bulgaria has increasing become a favourite holiday destination in Europe and deservedly so. It offers a long coastline on the Black sea that has a number of large beach resorts as well as old fishing towns. Also, about half the country is mountainous with three major ski resorts – Bansko, Borovets and Pamporovo. These are all visited by hundreds of thousands of international tourists annually.

Bansko is by far the largest of the three ski resorts. It is located about 120 km from the capital Sofia at the intersection of three mountains – Pirin, Rhodopa and Rila. Basko’s splendid center still preserves the ancient architecture typical of houses and other buildings in that part of Bulgaria. After Bulgaria started its transition from communism, opened its economy for international investment, and allowed privately funded projects in its tourism destinations, Bansko took off. Within a few years, it was transformed into a sprawling ski resort with dozens of hotels and condo buildings. British, Irish, and Russian investors flocked in to purchase holiday properties which then became available for rent. The city and private investors developed the ski runs which, while available under communism, did not have the modern facilities required by international skiers.

Borovets and Pamporovo were the most prominent ski destinations during communism and continue to be such despite taking second place to Bansko. Borovets is easily accessible as it is located only 60 km from Sofia. One car rent a car to visit Borovets or use the regularly scheduled public transport. A large needle tree that is quite popular in that part of Bulgaria gives the name Borovets. In winter, the large trees, heavy with snow, line the streets, walking paths and ski runs giving a feeling of warmth. The resort did not develop many new facilities, partly due to its location within the mountain that does not allow much new development, but it is a great destination nonetheless.

Pamorovo is in the southern part of Bulgaria, about 100 km from the second largest city of Bulgaria Plovdiv. It is situated in what many Bulgarians and international visitor consider to be the most pristine and beautiful mountains in Bulgaria – the Rhodopas. With large rolling hills, this mountain indeed presents a remarkable spectacle of nature. Pamporovo is a bit different from Borovets. While Pamporovo is quite spread out among a series of large hills in the Rhodopa mountain, Borovets is nested on a smaller area with its hotels and restaurants clustered in greater proximity.  Between Bansko, Borovets and Pamporovo, the Bulgarian ski resorts offer not only skiing opportunities but also different settings and ways to experience nature.