Bulgaria property news and articles

Everything that was to happen later in life had already happened in Rousse.
Elias Canetti, Nobel Prize winner

Rousse is a modern city of 120,000 people and is one of the most important cultural and economic centres in Bulgaria. This is the most European of cities in Bulgaria, both in terms of its architecture and its outward-looking stance.

Though Rousse suffered from economic setbacks after the Changes in the 1990s, it is getting back on its feet through new investment and the interest of domestic and foreign investors. In recent years the historic centre was given a complete facelift by the EU’s Beautiful Bulgaria Project (led by a British urban planner). This trend of renewal is continuing with private investors and new businesses, which are injecting fresh dynamism into the town.

Prices in Veliko Turnovo are increasing, and reflect the region’s ever-increasing popularity. Currently the shell price is on average €600 per square metre for new apartments in the city (without heating, kitchen, bathrooms, flooring, lighting and so on). But prices vary, reflecting the wide range of housing stock and their condition. Older apartments can be picked up for €40,000, with prices increasing to over €100,000 for older houses. In the surrounding villages older houses start from €20,000 for those in need of extensive renovation and can cost up to €100,000 for finished homes.

Veliko Turnovo Location
The region of VelikoTurnovo is located in the centre of Bulgaria and slightly north. It lies within the foothills of the Stara Planina mountains and is regally set on four hills on the banks of the River Yantra.The distances to the main cities in Bulgaria are: 220km to Sofia; 220km to Varna on the Black Sea; 230km to Bourgas (the second-biggest coastal city); 130km to Plovdiv; and 110km to Rousse on the River Danube.

Central Rural Areas

Just a few years ago, the first wave of foreign buyers was pretty much restricted to tourist hots pots such as the coast and the ski resorts. Nowadays there is not a corner of rural Bulgaria where a British person has not bought a house. It would be impossible to give details of all the country’s rural regions, and this book focuses on the most popular and up-and-coming areas. It includes the inland region of Veliko Turnovo and the Stara Planina mountains; the town and its surroundings have become the most popular area for inland property – and prices have reacted accordingly.

Ski Facilities in Borovets

Borovets is an alpine-type resort and provides very good conditions for winter sports such as skiing (both day and night), snowboarding, cross-country skiing, ski jumping, biathlon and skidoo. Thereareski runs for beginners, intermediate and advanced skiers designed with international markings and multilingual signs. Pistes are maintained to a high standard.The resort is a regular host of sports competitions: it has twice hosted World Cup competitions in alpine skiing and its biathlon track is one of the best in Europe. Borovets has developed into a modern ski resort of a high class, and has luxury hotels, restaurants, clubs, shops and a good choice of pistes and lifts.

In the 19th century the ruling Prince Ferdinand built a hunting lodge at Borovets and was followed by various wealthy families and their friends. As a result one of Europe’s earliest ski resorts developed. The modern resort was built in the 1960s to cater for package ski holidays; during the Communist era its proximity to Sofia made it the favoured resort for Party officials and Sofia’s diplomatic set. In the last few years Borovets has attracted considerable private development and investment, but as yet not on the scale of its neighbour, Bansko. Hoping to replicate the success of Bansko, a’Super Borovets’project was planned (see overleaf) as a more luxurious and larger-scale replica of Bankso.

Bulgaria’s second largest city, Plovdiv, is located 75km from Pamporovo. This is one of the most attractive and vibrant centres in the country, a picturesque town full of parks and gardens, museums and archaeological monuments.

Plovdiv is situated on the river Maritza and has an interesting past. Only fragments of the city’s ancient buildings – the city forum, the stadium, the amphitheatre of Philip II of Macedonia (Alexander the Great’s father, who founded the city as Philipopolis), basilicas, hot springs and residences – remain today, but columns, capita Is, friezes, mosaics and bas-reliefs mark the city landscape. The 2nd-century amphitheatre has been completely restored and hosts outdoor performances.

A bustling, dynamic city of two million people set against the stunning backdrop of the Vitosha mountains, Sofia is the place where the influences of east and west come together in a fascinating conjunction. For the past 10 years, Sofia has been transforming itself from a sleepy socialist city to one of Eastern Europe’s most dynamic destinations. Its shops, cafes and nightlife surprise most first-time visitors. While not having the chic reputation of Prague

Bulgaria’s countryside is its hidden gem. Far away from the bustling cities the Bulgarian countryside provides a landscape redolent of times gone by, compared to the mechanized and sometimes lifeless countryside of rural England. Just a few years back, foreign buyers were pretty much restricted to tourist hot spots such as the coastal areas and ski resorts.

The mountains of Bulgaria are quintessential to the character and history of the entire Balkan peninsula – in fact the word ‘Balkans’ itself is Ottoman Turkish for ‘mountains’.

Bulgaria has four major mountain ranges, each with its own character and indigenous culture; they are the Stara Planina, in the centre, and the Rhodope, the Pirin and the Rila in the south. Historically, the mountains have been the cradle of Bulgarian identity, providing a safe haven for Bulgarian culture and literature during the five centuries of the Turkish yoke during which the nation was subsumed into the vast Ottoman empire.