How much does a trip to Bulgaria cost? Daily budget and prices

These totals are per person per day, assuming two people share a room at mid-range and comfort. A solo traveller pays close to the same for the bed, so add roughly €10–25 a night at mid-range and more at comfort. Long-distance buses, trains, flights and car hire are not included; put those on a separate line.

Budget travel in Bulgaria is genuinely cheap by Western European standards: hostel or guesthouse bed, bakery breakfast, one mehana meal, city transport and one or two paid sights. Mid-range buys a good hotel or apartment, restaurant meals with wine and taxis. Comfort covers top hotels, fine dining and a private driver.

Prices are small enough that most days are decided by food and beds, not by tickets. A banitsa and ayran breakfast is the cheapest solid start to a day; a mehana dinner with salad, grill and rakia is the classic splurge and still lands under €25. Museum and monastery entries are usually a few euros, and many churches and historic sites are free to enter.

The Rila Monastery itself is free; the museum inside is about €5. A guided Rila day tour from Sofia runs €30–50 and replaces both a transport and a sights line for that day.

Two seasons move Bulgarian prices sharply. The Black Sea coast in July and August — Sunny Beach, Nessebar, Sozopol, Primorsko — charges 30–50% more for beds, and the same applies to Bansko and other ski resorts during school ski weeks. Book those early or shift to June, September or a shoulder week.

Sofia and Plovdiv stay fairly stable year-round, with the odd conference or festival bump. Villages and small guesthouses in the Balkan Mountains are cheap but often cash only, so carry some euro notes. If you hire a car, fuel and tolls are modest; the rental itself is the main cost and is worth pricing before you commit.

Bulgaria adopted the euro on 1 January 2026, replacing the lev at 1.95583 lev to the euro. The lev stopped being legal tender after January 2026, but banks and the Bulgarian National Bank still exchange old notes. During the transition some menus and tags may still show lev figures beside euro prices; pay the euro amount.

Cards work widely in cities, hotels and larger restaurants. Small villages, family guesthouses and markets can be cash only, so keep €20–50 in notes. Use bank ATMs rather than independent exchange booths with small-print rates, and at card terminals and ATMs always choose euros rather than your home currency so you avoid a conversion markup.

The biggest saving is the bed. Hostels and family guesthouses outside Sofia and the coast bring the daily total down to the low €30s. Booking direct with a guesthouse sometimes beats the platforms, and shoulder-season rates are lower without much loss of weather.

Food is the second lever: bakery breakfasts, a set lunch (obedno menyu) at a neighbourhood restaurant, and one proper dinner. Buses beat taxis for intercity moves and cost a fraction of a hire car. Many of Bulgaria's best days — Rila, the Seven Rila Lakes, city walking routes, Black Sea beaches — are free once you have paid to get there.

Add three lines to the daily totals: getting to Bulgaria, getting around inside it, and any tour or car hire. Flights into Sofia from Western Europe are often €40–90 one way outside peak weeks; Varna and Burgas are similar in summer. Intercity buses are cheap — Sofia to Plovdiv €8–10, Sofia to Varna about €25 — so a two-week loop by bus adds little.

A practical mid-range figure for a 10-day trip, excluding flights: about €900–1,300 per person sharing a room, with a Rila day tour and a couple of restaurant dinners built in. Budget travellers can do the same route for €450–650. Use the trip cost estimator to adjust for your own style and dates.