Best small cities in BG

[mike-t]

Hi,

I'm interested in what you guys think are the nicest small towns (5-15,000 people) in Bulgaria.

I'm interested in an early retirement some ten years from now, and I'd prefer a small town. I'm partly of Greek background, and I've considered that country, but property is more expensive there. I'm also of part "Macedonian" background and can speak that language, but I've spent some time learning Bulgarian and can read it and understand complete sentences if they're spoken slower than normal. Bulgaria seemed like a pretty nice place (nicer than Mak, anyway) when I was last there in 2004, and I imagine it will be even nicer in ten years (well, I hope so, anyway).

Give me some ideas.

[bgrs]

I like Tryavna, it's a beautiful place.

BTW, Macedonian and Bulgarian are very close....actually the closest languages IMO.

[ВОДА]

^^ Something like Shopian and Bulgarian. ;)

I suggest Tryavna too. :)

[[s2jc]hyp]

Tryavna is good. Arbanassi also (it's a village close to Veliko Turnovo). Smolyan is my best guess (in the Rhodopes).
What do/did you do for a living if it's not a matter of secret?

[mike-t]

^^ Something like Shopian and Bulgarian. ;)


I speak a heavy Bitola dialect. Probably incomprehensible to you guys.

I suggest Tryavna too. :)

Okay, three people have suggested Tryavna. What's so special about it?

What is the geography of the region like? I'd prefer hilly/mountainous with nice forest.

[mike-t]

hyp;23641194'] Arbanassi also (it's a village close to Veliko Turnovo).

I was after towns, not villages. Not even 500 people live there according to wiki.

Smolyan is my best guess (in the Rhodopes).

Too big for my tastes. I'm after something from five to fifteen thousand people.

Is that region a stronghold of pomaks and turks in Bulgaria? I'd prefer not to live around too many of them, in all honesty.


What do/did you do for a living if it's not a matter of secret?

No secret. I sold mortgages and got lucky for the few years I traded stocks and futures. I'm not going to retire rich by any means: something like 2000EUR/month from passive investment, indexed to inflation; more if I opened a business, but I'm not decided on that. I fancy myself as something of a writer and I'd like to be able to spend time pursuing that, even if nothing comes out of it.

[mike-t]

Is there anything near the Greek border you might recommend? I spent some time in Bitola and greatly enjoyed taking day-trips in Greece.

[Turnovec]

This is Tryavna (http://tryavna.info/index.php);

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3113/2584368953_ffec69fe67_o.jpg

The Municipality of Tryavna occupies a territory of 270 sq.km. Placed along the northern slopes of the Tryavna Balkan Mountain and Fore-Balkans. The relief is diverse - from mountain to river valleys, hills and gorges. The elevation varies from 380 m to 1489 m from the sea level.

A substantial part of its territory, as much as 130 sq. km, is covered mainly with oak and beech forests. The farming land is 126 sq. km or 47%, half of which comprises of meadows and pastures.

The town lies halfway the Sofia-Varna route (250 km. away from each), 170 km. from Plovdiv, 219 km. from Bourgas and 130 km. from Rouse. The railway line linking North to South Bulgaria runs trough it. Daily trains and buses connect Tryavna with Sofia and Gabrovo..

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[ВОДА]

Sandanski would be a very good choice but it`s 25-30 k town.

It is SPA center, and it`s closed to Greece, and there is a good connection to it via Struma Motorway after all. ;)

[mike-t]

Thanks for the pics, Turnovec. It looks very nice indeed. Does the town attract much in the way of international tourists?

Voda, is it the spas (natural springs, you mean?) that give Sandanski the edge over Petrich? I remember driving into Petrich from Mak once: it was a game of dodge 'em with the holes all over the road. :)

Also, is there a border crossing into Greece from Gotse Delchev?

[JloKyM]

^^ Last week I was in Gabrovo, which is close to Triavna..There were thousands of Romanian tourists passing through Gabrovo on their way to Triavna :banana:

[Ivanski]

Dupnitsa - an example for Bulgaria. :D

[mike-t]

Dupnitsa - an example for Bulgaria. :D

Haha, it does look nice, though.

Do you have any suggestions? You must have been somewhere you thought, "Hm, this place is really nice," no?

[Vojvoda]

Hello there, Mike...

Now let me tell you few things about a nice, easy-going southern town. Sandanski has like 30 000 permanent residents, i.e. rather 'large' by your criteria. The place has sun, mineral baths, restaurants, parks, tourists, but not too many of them. You will lack neither peace nor enough leisure time options to keep yourself entertained.

Another advantage is its location close to the Greek border which makes Sandanski perfect for a leap over to the Aegean resorts. As far as I understand this is something you insist on. No nasty minorities in high concentration too.

For further research do visit the message board at http://www.mybulgaria.info/, by far the largest online community of foreigners in Bulgaria. You will find many helpful people there!

Good luck with your pursuit of the perfect retreat!!! :cheers:

[avtomat]

Hello kind sir. Here is my entry:

The beautiful town of Rzlog has a population of ca 13 000 inhabitants and is situated in the Razlog Valley between the Rila and Pirin mounains. It is also relatively close to the Greeck border. As far as I remember last time it took us 1.5 hours to get to the Aegean see. People are also very nice and friendly. This is definitely my favourite place to llive in Bulgaria. I hope one day to be able to by my own property there :)

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Every year around the 2nd of January (as far as I remember) they have this spectacular carnival in Razlog:

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[dia]

mike-t, it's either Razlog or Zlatograd that you are looking for.

Zlatograd is a also very cozy place, a bit more than 7000 people, extreamly close to the Greek border.

http://www.zlatograd.com/

Pictures in Google:

http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=златоград&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi

http://www.pbase.com/ngruev/zlatogradarea

The place is magical

[ВМРО]

Hi,

I'm interested in what you guys think are the nicest small towns (5-15,000 people) in Bulgaria.

I'm interested in an early retirement some ten years from now, and I'd prefer a small town. I'm partly of Greek background, and I've considered that country, but property is more expensive there. I'm also of part "Macedonian" background and can speak that language, but I've spent some time learning Bulgarian and can read it and understand complete sentences if they're spoken slower than normal. Bulgaria seemed like a pretty nice place (nicer than Mak, anyway) when I was last there in 2004, and I imagine it will be even nicer in ten years (well, I hope so, anyway).

Give me some ideas.
Considering your origin, I think that Bansko would be a good choice.It's close to Greece and Macedonia and furthermore there a lot of foreign tourists who speak English.But the property is relatively expensive because the town is gradually becoming a centre of the winter tourism in the country.There are several towns situated at the seaside like Nesebar, Kavarna, Pomorie and Primorsko which offer good conditions.In the interior of the country there are nice places as well and the prices are more reasonable, however these towns might look too underdeveloped in your eyes.
It would be good if you provide us with more information.For instance, what type of property you are looking for- flat or house(how many floors) or probably you want to buy only the plot and to build a new house?; how much (approximately) are you ready to pay; what are your requirements for infrastructure because this is a serious issue in the small Bulgarian towns which don't develop active tourism.
As for the language, you might have some difficulties in the beginning(in case you decide to move to BG) but the locals will understand you almost perfectly.Prior to the codification of modern Bulgarian(based on Veliko Turnovo's dialect), the dialects in Thrace, Pirin Macedonia and North-Western Bulgaria were closer to each other and respectively to the dialects in Vardar Macedonia.That's why despite being the only official, V.T.'s dialect has absorbed many words from the other dialects and today we can say one thing in several ways(including the form in Macedonian) whereas the same isn't in force for the codified Macedonian.Even in 1878 Plovdiv was intended to become capital as being the biggest town and Ohird's dialect to become official for the whole Bulgaria because of the historical importance of the town but several months later they both became part of the Ottoman Empire and the initial plans changed.

[Turnovec]

Considering your origin, I think that Bansko would be a good choice.It's close to Greece and Macedonia and furthermore there a lot of foreign tourists who speak English.

^^
Bansko is not a tiny, pretty and nice town anymore ... It is already a construction site with the size of Pazardjik :nuts:

[avtomat]

^^ Thats why I suggested Razlog which is 10 min away from Bansko. You can live in a nice calm mauntain town like Razlog and be 10 min away from an International skee resourt and hour and a half (170km) from the Greeck sea side.

[bgrs]

Razlog is going to become the same...soon.

[avtomat]

I don't think so. There are already too many new apartments that cannot be sold in the reagion. Besides I think that Razlog learned from Bansko's miskate and wont repeat it.

[Dutch_BG]

Hi! I passed by this page and registered especially to react to this question. As already mentioned by some, I also would suggest Tryavna. I live in Varna and Tryavna is for me the most appreciated place for short holidays. Besides the beauty of the old part of Tryavna, I like the clean air and the pace of life people seem to maintain there. After a short holiday in Tryavna, returning to Varna seems absolute hell. Mind you, Varna was elected as best city to live in in Bulgaria. They do their best to lose that title though...it's getting uglier, more dirty and crowded by the day.