Travel Risk Atlas

Bulgaria

Southeast Europe · Capital Sofia

Level 1 United States Exercise Normal Precautions FCDO United Kingdom No advisory against travel Green Netherlands Green — you can travel Level 1 Canada Take normal security precautions AA Germany No warning in force

Each opens that government's own advisory for Bulgaria — the authoritative version, updated far faster than this page.

17.5 Very low risk
Atlas Risk Score · 52nd safest of 220
Rila Monastery — Bulgaria
Photo: Raggatt2000 / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0

Bulgaria is cheap, safe enough and increasingly popular, and almost all of the trouble visitors report is concentrated in two places: the Sofia airport taxi rank and the Black Sea party resorts in summer.

The Sunny Beach strip in July and August is the outlier in the country's risk profile — drink spiking, inflated bar bills and theft from drunk tourists at a scale that has nothing to do with the rest of Bulgaria.

Where the risk actually is

Risk is rarely spread evenly across a country. The base colour is the code the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs gives Bulgaria as a whole; shaded regions are those the UK Foreign Office names in an advisory against travel.

Blagoevgrad — No specific warningBurgas — No specific warningDobrich — No specific warningGabrovo — No specific warningGrad Sofiya — No specific warningHaskovo — No specific warningKardzhali — No specific warningKyustendil — No specific warningLovech — No specific warningMontana — No specific warningPazardzhik — No specific warningPernik — No specific warningPleven — No specific warningPlovdiv — No specific warningRazgrad — No specific warningRuse — No specific warningShumen — No specific warningSilistra — No specific warningSliven — No specific warningSmolyan — No specific warningSofia — No specific warningStara Zagora — No specific warningTargovishte — No specific warningVarna — No specific warningVeliko Tarnovo — No specific warningVidin — No specific warningVratsa — No specific warningYambol — No specific warning
What governments advise No specific warning

What the warnings actually cover

  • Whole country — No specific warning. No government currently advises against travel to any part of this country. The colour reflects general caution levels only, not a warned area.

Shading marks whole regions named in an advisory, but a warning is often narrower — a border strip, one road, or a single city. Read the wording, and check the official advisory linked below.

What drives the score

Each pillar is scored 0–100 against every other country. Longer bar = more risk.

Political stability
10% of score
41/100
111th of 220
Crime
15% of score
34/100
93rd of 220
Natural hazards
10% of score · mainly earthquakes, flooding
33/100
70th of 220
Road & transport
10% of score
21/100
79th of 220
Health & medical
15% of score
14/100
57th of 220
Conflict & terrorism
15% of score
5/100
51st of 220
Official advisories
25% of score
0/100
42nd of 220
Women's safety
not in the score
43/100

Biggest factor here: political stability. Risk of unrest, coups and abrupt instability disrupting a trip.

Practical facts

The things worth knowing before you land.

Emergency number
112
Single European emergency number — police, fire and ambulance, free from any phone
Currency
EUR €
Euro — no conversion from the eurozone
Languages
Bulgarian
Visa (EU passport)
Visa free
US: 90 days visa-free · UK: 90 days visa-free
Population
6.4m
World Bank 2025
Capital
Sofia
Driving
On the right
9.2 road deaths per 100k
Power
Type C, F
220-240V
Safely managed water
96%
Widely available · of residents, not a tap-water verdict
Dialling code
+359
GDP per capita
$20k
A rough guide to price levels
Visitors a year
12.6m
International arrivals, 2019

When to go

Average daytime high and nightly low for Sofia, over 2010-2019. Bars are rainfall; the colour band is how hot the days get.

Mildest and driest around May to September.

Daytime high cold mild warm hot
Top figure is the average daytime high, below it the average nightly low, and millimetres of rain under each bar. Figures are the average daytime high; bar heights are the month's rainfall. Shaded months are the mild, drier ones. Source: NASA POWER daily observations, 2010-2019, public domain.

Common scams in Bulgaria

Patterns reported repeatedly by travellers and local police. None of this is about individual businesses — it's about set-ups you can learn to spot in seconds.

Look-alike taxi firms at Sofia airport

Sofia Airport, central Sofia ranksVery common

A taxi in near-identical livery to the well-known operator charges a per-kilometre rate many times the standard, displayed legally in small print on the door.

How to avoid it: Book at the official taxi desk inside the terminal, or use a ride-hailing app. Read the door tariff — a normal Sofia rate is roughly one lev per kilometre.

Sources Sofia Airport — official transport information UK FCDO Bulgaria — safety and security

Drink spiking and inflated bills on the resort strip

Sunny Beach, Golden Sands in summerCommon

Spiked drinks, bills far above the menu, and theft from people too drunk to notice. Some bars serve counterfeit spirits, which has caused serious illness.

How to avoid it: Buy your own drinks and watch them poured, stick with your group, and check prices before ordering. Prefer bars attached to hotels over the beachfront strip.

Sources UK FCDO Bulgaria — safety and security

Card skimming and rate switching

Coastal resorts and Sofia tourist areasCommon

Skimming devices on standalone ATMs, and terminals offering to charge in euros or pounds at a poor rate. Bulgaria uses the lev.

How to avoid it: Bank-branch ATMs only, cover the keypad, always pay in BGN, and check statements during the trip rather than after.

Sources Bulgarian National Bank

Risk hotspots

Specific places that come up again and again — either in government advisories or in traveller reports. Everywhere else in Bulgaria is not automatically fine, but these are the areas worth a plan.

Sunny Beach in July and August Street crime

Spiking, theft and inflated bills concentrated in a few hundred metres of bar strip. Out of season it is an empty resort.

Sofia airport taxi rank Street crime

Where the look-alike taxi firms wait. The single most common complaint from visitors to Bulgaria.

Mountain roads in winter Traffic

Winter tyres are legally required from mid-November. Rural road surfaces are poor and lighting is often absent.

The imitation taxi company trick

Sofia's long-running scam is a taxi firm whose name and livery closely resemble the main reputable operator, differing by a word or a letter. The tariff on the door is genuine and enormous, so the meter runs honestly to a fare ten times what it should be.

Check the per-kilometre rate printed on the window before you get in, and use the airport's official taxi desk or an app rather than a car waiting at the kerb.

Compare with neighbours

Sources for this page

Vaccinations, malaria and outbreaks. This atlas does not give medical advice — it is personal, it changes, and it is the one thing worth getting from a doctor. Both national services publish current advice for Bulgaria:

CDC Travelers' HealthTravelHealthPro (NHS/UKHSA)

Check the official advisory before you book. This page reflects data as of August 2026. Advisories change without warning, and only your own government's advice affects your travel insurance.