Bulgaria Ski Accomodation and Black Sea Vacation Rentals

Bulgaria has become one of the must-visit, must-own vacation rental property destinations for Western Europeans, especially those from the British Isles.

About Bulgaria

The Republic of Bulgaria is located in Southeastern Europe, bordering Romania to the north (mostly along the Danube, which flows from the Black Forest in Germany, close to the French border, all the way to the Black Sea), Serbia and the Republic of Macedonia to the west, and Greece and Turkey to the south. The Black Sea defines the extent of the country to the east.

Since ancient times, the country has served as a major crossroads between Europe, Asia and Africa. Five of the ten Trans-European corridors run through its territory.

Bulgaria has a reputation for rich folklore, distinctive traditional music, rituals and tales.

From a vacationer's point of view, geographically and in terms of climate, Bulgaria features notable diversity with the landscape ranging from the Alpine snow-capped peaks in Rila, Pirin and the Balkan Mountains to the mild and sunny Black Sea coast.

Bulgaria's Mountains

The mountainous southwest of the country has two alpine ranges — Rila and Pirin — and further east stand the lower but more extensive Rhodope Mountains. The Rila range includes the highest peak of the Balkan Peninsula, Musala, at 2,925 meters (9,596 ft); the long range of the Balkan mountains runs west-east through the middle of the country, north of the famous Rose Valley. Hilly country and plains lie in the southeast, along the Black Sea coast in the east, and along Bulgaria's main river, the Danube in the north.

Rila and Pirin feature around 260 glacial lakes; the country also has several large lakes on the Black Sea coast and more than 2,200 dam lakes. Many mineral springs exist, located mainly in the south-western and central parts of the country along the faults between the mountains.

Bulgaria has a temperate climate, with cool and damp winters, very hot and dry summers, and Mediterranean influence along the Black Sea coast. The barrier effect of the Balkan Mountains influences climate throughout the country: northern Bulgaria gets slightly cooler and receives more rain than the southern regions. Precipitation in Bulgaria averages about 630 millimetres per year. Drier areas include

Dobrudzha and the northern coastal strip, while the higher parts of the mountains Rila and Stara Planina receive the highest levels of precipitation. In summer, temperatures in the south of Bulgaria often exceed 40 degrees Celsius, but remain cooler by the coast.

Tourism in Bulgaria

In the winter, Samokov, Borovets, Bansko and Pamporovo become well-attended ski resorts. Summer resorts exist on the Black Sea at Sozopol, Nessebur, Golden Sands, Sunny Beach, Sveti Vlas, Albena, Saints
Constantine and Helena and many others. Spa resorts such as Bankya, Hisarya, Sandanski, Velingrad, Varshets and many others attract visitors throughout the year. Bulgaria is becoming an attractive tourist destination because of the quality of the resorts and the prices well below those found in Western Europe.

Bulgaria has enjoyed a substantial growth in income from international tourism over the past decade. Beach-resorts attract tourists from Germany, Russia, Scandinavia, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

Bulgarian ski resorts are a favoured destination for British and Irish tourists.

Bulgaria now attracts close to 7 million visitors yearly. Tourism makes a major contribution towards the country's annual economic growth of 6% to 6.5%.

Foreigners seeking additional homes have recently boosted the Bulgarian properties market. Buyers come from across Europe, but mostly from the United Kingdom, encouraged by relatively cheap property-prices and the country's easy accessibility via air-travel.

Other Facts About Bulgaria.

Bulgaria's larger cities include Sofia with 1.3 million inhabitants, Plovdiv (377,000) and Varna (349,031).

Bulgaria has a rich and varied history, having been ruled at times by a Roman administration, the Slavs, the Byzantines, the Ottoman Turks, as well as having its own empires on two occasions. After World War II, Bulgaria became a communist state and part of the Eastern Bloc. In 1990, after the Revolutions of 1989, the Communists gave up their monopoly on power and Bulgaria transitioned to democracy and free-
market capitalism. Economic difficulties and a tide of corruption have led over 800,000 Bulgarians, most of them qualified professionals, to emigrate. Since a reform package inroduced in 1997, the economy has returned to growth.

Currently, Bulgaria functions as a parliamentary democracy under a unitary constitutional republic. A member of the European Union since 2007 and NATO since 2004, it has a population of approximately 7.7 million, with Sofia as its capital.

Economy of Bulgaria

Bulgaria has experienced rapid economic growth in recent years. The country still belongs amongst the poorest member states of the EU, but standards of living have started to rise. Bulgaria has tamed inflation since the deep economic crisis in 1996-1997, but latest figures show an increase in the inflation-rate to 12,5% for 2007. Unemployment declined from more than 17% in the mid 1990s to nearly 10% in

2007, but the unemployment-rate in some rural areas continues in high double-digits. An Industry Watch report predicts inflation rate of 5% for 2008, with unemployment dropping further to a record low of 6.5%.

Some multinational companies have set up regional offices and headquarters in Bulgaria, most notably Hewlett-Packard, which built its Global Service Centre for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) in Sofia.

Telecommunications is one of the growing industries in the country. Three GSM mobile-telephone operators — Globul, Mobiltel and Vivatel — provide almost 100% coverage each and recently most villages have acquired fast connectivity and VoIP; BTK offers DSL connection in larger cities. Bulgaria has about 298,781 Internet hosts (2007).