海角乱伦

Hi Graciela! Like so many areas, it depends on the village. We started off looking for a house somewhere between Veliko Tarnovo and Pavlikeni, but purely by chance ended up buying somewhere in a different area.

I haven't been to Pavlikeni for many years, but it used to have an excellent Tuesday market.

@graciela99

VT district has been very popular with expats (especially Brits) for many years. There are some pretty villages, nice countryside, decorative local stone construction... And VT city itself is a delight.

You might be 30-40 mins outside VT, so you probably need a local town for shopping/cafe/market. Pavlikeni or Polski Trambesh fit the bill, and there are plenty of decent villages near these two.

We have friends in Stefan Stambolovo, who moved from the UK last year. They love it up there!

Hello Graciela, it is a nice area around Pavlikeni. We live in Dolna Lipnitsa and we love it here. There are many english speaking people in every village. Greetings Doreen

hello Graciela, Pavilkeni is a good sized town, been there few times but only passing through.

Seems to have plenty of shops,cafes and there is a train service that passes through from Sofia.

I'm closer to Polski Trambesh which is a nice town, plenty of expats in surrounding villages of both towns, you hear the accents on market days lol.

Many of the younger Bulgarians speak a good level of English, not so many older ones but google translate helps whilst we get to grips with the language.

Where would you suggest the best place for a Single female who doesn't drive, and would require good public transport links to purchase a property in Bulgaria, I'm thinking South somewhere for good weather mostly

Maureen, welcome to the forum! You might want to start a new post for this to get best replies, as the original question is about a town in the north-central area and people may not see the question you're asking.

There are quite a few non-driving women here, either single or in Bulgaria on their own while their partner needs to be elsewhere, so you should get answers. I also don't drive, but the village I'm buying in is in the north-east and not quite as easy for managing without a car as I hoped.

@cowanmaureen

If your budget stretches, perhaps a flat in a large city (Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna, Burgas) would be quite convenient? Bansko (Bulgaria's largest ski/mountain resort) is very charming too, and there are some lower-priced flats still available here.

If you want a house, then I'd recommend villages within about 10km or so of large towns, if you can. It depends on your budget, of course, as the larger the town/city, and the closer your village, the more expensive it will be.

Our village house is 10km from Kazanlak, which has a population of 70,000. Kazanlak is a nice town with a Rose Festival and all standard amenities. The village has good bus service, maybe 5 times per day, and it takes about 45 minutes (2 leva). I'd have to spend a couple of hours in town to get the bus back, or I can grab a taxi for 10 leva. To compare, we drive, and it's 10-15 minutes in a car, and you can go/return when you want. These car things are quite convenient, I believe they might catch on. :-) But I've caught the bus a few times, and it would be painless enough if I were a non-driver.

Some people live further away, but then a trip to the supermarket does kinda turn into a full-scale mission. :-) Depends what you feel comfortable with.

My guess is that anything over 50,000 will have hospitals and cafes and good supermarkets (Lidl, Kaufland, Billa). It's good to have civilization close by when you need it. :-) This would give you plenty of options. If you think your town needs to be 200k, then that narrows it down a lot. If you think a small town of only 10k-20k is good enough (should have basic amenities, including a small market) then there are lots of options including Pavlikeni, Polski Trambesh, Chirpan, Elhovo and so on.

There's a list of cities in Bulgaria by population at the following link, so you can see the full list. The biggest are the major cities listed above. But I like our town (Kazanlak), and nearby Stara Zagora is even bigger and nicer. Veliko Tarnovo is a lovely city, and villages nearby are very popular with expats. Gabrovo is next to the Balkan Mountains too and I think it's very nice. I like Plovdiv district a lot (it has Balkan Mountains and Rhodopes) and its 3 cities are great (Plovdiv, Asenovgrad, Karlovo). Shumen, Ruse, Yambol maybe?

Down south-east is cheaper, but more sparsely populated, so you might be further from a good supermarket, and the bus service might be a bit more infrequent / non-existent. In this area, the towns I'd suggest are Haskovo, Svilengrad, Elhovo, maybe Topolovgrad.

Blagoevgrad (or Razlog) is near Bansko, but bigger, so this might be an option too.

@janemulberry thanks for taking the time to comment, appreciate the information.

@gwynj thank you so much for taking the time to comment on my query, much appreciated, 馃憤