Looking for information on the village Tyzha (near Stara Zagora)

@angelus1969

Welcome to the expat.com forum, and good luck with your potential move to Bulgaria!

As a Dutch (EU) citizen, relocation ("EU Citizen Registration") is very easy, and the Bulgarian health system is good, especially in its public/private integration. (I've only used private hospitals, so far, even though I'm entitled to free or nearly-free public treatment.)

Tyzha is in the general area of our village house. As in, the "Valley of the Roses" and the "Valley of the Thracian Kings"... and next to the Balkan Mountains and not far from the spectacular Central Balkan National Park. Personally, I think it's a wonderful area, and I'm a big fan! I like pretty much anything between Karlovo and Kazanlak. The roads are good to Plovdiv and Stara Zagora and the coast, so you have those to visit too. Getting over the mountains is a bit of a pain, but there are some nice places on the north side.

You'll see that your neighbours are Kalofer and the White River Ecotrail, Pavel Banya (spa town) and the fancy Damascena complex (rose oil factory & museum & events). Karlovo is a lovely town right next to the high peaks, and Kazanlak has a big annual Rose Festival and the UNESCO-listed Thracian Tomb. There are actually loads of popular sites that you can go check out, and lots of good restaurants not far from you.

If you like the outdoors and/or have dogs to walk, this could be a great place for you. I think your village is maybe 1km or so from the National Park, you're even closer than we are! In most countries, being in/near a National Park is a very expensive option, so I think you have to factor in the value of the location when assessing the village/house. Our house is stacked up with mountain bikes, my electric bike, my motorcycle... and I walk/hike pretty much every day. And you can even do water sports at Koprinka.

https://bulgariatravel.org/national-park-central-balkan/

For me, personally, your village is a tad far from the mountains (I'm spoiled, we have trails from our house)... and a bit far (30 km ish) from the big supermarkets (Kaufland, Lidl) in Karlovo or Kazanlak. But the main road is very good, so it's not like it's a huge drive. I wouldn't want to do it every day, but once or twice a week should be no big deal.

I don't know the village that well, but I drive past it often, and I've ridden my motorcycle through it a few times when exploring the back roads. I think there are some nice renovated houses there, and I've seen a couple of decent houses advertised. Usually, Google Maps/Street View is the ideal research tool, but your village only has a 2012 visit, I was surprised. There's more recent imagery for villages along the main road. Even so, for 10 years ago, it looks like a decent village... and if you've already been there, you've looked around and seen for yourself what state the roads/houses are in.

The mountains are definitely popular, and this is a relatively wealthy region. Obviously, closer to Karlovo and Kazanlak is more desirable, but much more expensive. Our village (next to Shipka, also famous) has gotten very expensive... now there are plots for sale for almost what we paid for our house a few years ago. So it's not easy to find a good house for a decent price. We're lucky to have stumbled on the region and our house, it's tip-top, innit.

Similarly, I don't have detailed knowledge of this village's infrastructure... but, as it's a good area, I don't think one needs to worry unduly. Our electricity is good, and only gets cut during large thunderstorms. You can mitigate this with an UPS or add some solar panels/battery backup. I haven't bothered with either, but solar panels are now very cheap so it's on my list. The water is good in the mountains, and you can easily get a borehole dug (my neighbour does lots of deep wells in the region).

Internet is variable, but these villages are surprisingly well-connected. Our house has fibre internet from a local guy for 20 lev per month... I think I have 100 Mbps wifi, which is pretty decent for remote work, especially in the middle of nowhere. :-) You can also go for mobile broadband from the big guys (Telenor/Yettel, A1, Vivacom). I have a little MiFi box with its own SIM as backup.

If you're a fan of remote work, I don't need to sell you. But Bulgaria is an ideal remote worker location - earn some fancy foreign salary, while enjoying cheap-as-chips local costs. I was working IRL in Plovdiv, teaching at 2 schools... travel and dead time hanging around between lessons, expenses of being in town all day, not many hours paid, and pay of 5-6 euros per hour (not average per day, actual per worked hour). Tutoring online is more like 25-35$ per hour, no travel, work when I want.

@angelus1969

'cos I'm an obsessive, and I love the region, I'll give you some highlights... :-)

Central Balkan National Park

Botev Peak (2,400m) - that's 2,350m higher than the Netherlands, you might get dizzy :-)

gondola next to Karlovo (Sopot)

Sredna Gora (lower mountains) to the south

Rose Valley and Rose Festival

Valley of the Thracian Tombs with multiple tombs/megalith in the region, including the main UNESCO one in Kazanlak

Lots of museums related to the Thracian History and the Rose Industry

Lake Koprinka (the Thracian capital Seuthopolis is drowned, but that's more stuff for the museums)

The K towns - Karlovo, Kalofer, Kazanlak

White River / White River Restaurant / White River Ecotrail

multiple monasteries

National Heroes (Vasil Levski and Hristo Botev) are local boys (Karlovo/Kalofer) hence bunch of monuments/statues

the awesome Buzludzhka Monument (and Nature Park Bulgarka)

Shipka and Shipka Pass with fancy church, and Shipka monument

Pavel Banya spa town

Damascena complex

Lavender and Rose fields, very pretty

Troyan Pass (with monument) to Troyan and Shipka Pass (with monuments) to Gabrovo

@gwynj

Thank you for the comprehensive explanation! Perhaps I should have mentioned that I've been living/working in Bulgaria for more than 6 years already

I 'know' the area around Stara Zagora pretty well with regard to things to see and do as my wife is from Stara Zagora, but we're not that familiar with the villages/towns a 'bit' further away. We saw a house in Shipka which we liked (although not as much as the house in Tyzha), but it's too small for us and the price was indeed, as you mentioned, quite a lot higher.

Yesterday we went back to explore Tyzha as the weather was a lot nicer than the first time we saw it, but as the village is quite neglected/run-down, we have decided to look elsewhere. The amount of rubbish that's nearly everywhere is quite staggering, even worse than the village where we lived before (in the Veliko Tarnovo region). Even Stara Zagora got much worse in that aspect as well, it was quite shocking for me to see how the town has degraded as I hadn't been here for about two years.

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With regards,

Angelo Machils

@angelus1969

Yes... that would have helped. My travelogue on Stara Zagora was not very useful, and I didn't know much about Tyzha. It would have been a very short answer. :-)

I was a bit suspicious about the village as Google Street View hadn't visited for many years.

Shipka (and Enina) are great villages. If you can find something there, that could be a very good option. We are in one of the smaller villages next to Enina. These are closer both to the mountains, and civilization in Kazanlak.

We definitely could have paid significantly less for a house elsewhere in Bulgaria. But we found a super house in a great village, and I feel the extra money for a great location is money very well spent.

I have explored the south of Kazanlak too (heading towards the Sredna Gora mountains, where you'll find the fancy King's Valley Spa Hotel), and there are some nice villages there too. Similarly, there are good villages just outside Karlovo.