Solutions for zero postal address?

Most village houses don't have proper street addresses, it's just how it is. Post is usually held at the post office for collection, not delivered. Courier deliveries will call to ask for directions.

I think you might need to use Google map coordinates, and supply a map and a photo of the house to any guests.

@S25 - Sean

As @janemulberry says, this is totally normal in Bulgaria, and nothing to worry about. In my experience, very little comes by post anyway, it's mostly Speedy/Econt (or a supplier-specific courier). The solution is not having a made-up address but having a Bulgarian mobile number, and making sure you've included it with all your orders! They won't call foreign numbers, and mostly you will get a lot of Viber messages rather than calls.

Nothing stops you from adding a place on Google Maps, you certainly don't need to have it be anything official with the municipality. Loads of folks have given their property a name, and it's marked. I added my street name, but it's not much use anyway... most of the drivers will stop at the fountain at the village entrance (an easy nearby landmark) and then I go up and grab it (if it's small) or get the driver to follow me home (if it's big).

I just added the fountain now, maybe that will be more useful than my street. :-) But, in general, the postie and the couriers don't go looking around for houses/addresses. The item typically is sent to you (by name) at your village, regardless of whether it has an address. The post goes to the post office in your village, or the nearest village with a post office... and courier deliveries go to a landmark in your village. Either way, it's then up to you to manage the final navigation/delivery. If you get regular deliveries, they soon learn there's a crazy new gringo in town. :-)

Alternatively (for smaller stuff) you can often choose to have it delivered to a courier office, or the recent(ish) delivery boxes at the local supermarket.

I actually like the Bulgarian system, it works very well. Like you, I was a bit worried at first, thinking all my mail would go astray, but now I think it's a feature rather than a bug. :-)  And you certainly don't get frustrated Amazon drivers throwing your package at the front door, where it can easily be nicked. In particular, it's a bit more specific to you, personally, and your mobile number (i.e. location independent) rather than tied to a specific address, as in UK.So, if you're not at the house, you can normally get it redirected. Personally, I prefer to have it sit at a SameDay box somewhere, it's less aggravation and I don't have to wait around the house. I do this in the village too, I'd rather have an excuse to drive (10km) into Kazanlak where I'll do some grocery shopping and pick it up while there.

Additionally, normally there's great internet connectivity (we have fibre to our village house in the mountains) and lots of good online shopping now in Bulgaria. I buy mostly online and get stuff delivered. AliExpress for cheap Chinese stuff, including tools and ebikes and escooters. Emag is the local Amazon substitute (I usually buy my mobile phones here). Technopolis for home applicances and other electricals/electronics (fridge, phones, TVs, etc.) JYSK and IKEA for bedding and furniture. Praktiker for DIY and building materials. Baniastil for bathroom bits. Decathlon for outdoor gear and kit.

We have the opposite problem - our house has THREE addresses! 😂 One is the official address according to the municipality and another is the official cadastral (Land Registry) address. Just to make things more interesting, they also can't agree on the name of the road: the Cadastre insists that it's a Boulevard along its entire length, the municipality that it transmutes into and out of an Ulitsa at various undefined points. Paying tax each year was a nightmare, as the municipality's computer system wants to confirm via the Notary Deed and then refuses to accept that, as in every previous year the property really hasn't moved. The Cadastre insist that they are right, the municipality that they are - while KAT and the Migration Department have their own opinions on the question....🙄. We eventually had to get a, probably illegal, Notary Declaration that our property, fortunately also identifiable by its unique cadastral references, is somewhat schizophrenic and has several aliases!

However it doesn't end there, as we also have our choice of several street numbers: our street is one of the longest in Sofia (over 15km) but with many very large buildings along it, thereby thankfully reducing the actual number of addresses but also introducing bizarre anomalies whereby ostensibly adjacent odd and even addresses can be kilometres apart. Our "original" number is in the 200s but subsequent extensive building works over the years have meant that we've gradually moved into the 300s and we're now number 390 - or 390A - or 396 - or 396A....take your pick.

However, as far as the post office is concerned, it's all academic: whatever number we are and whether the street is an ulitsa or a boulevard, it's in a Villa Zone and therefore a no-go area for Postman Pat anyway! 🙄 They do at least call to tell us we have post though - most of the time.

Fortunately none of the courier companies have any trouble finding us - we're known as "the house with the muddy green Dacia parked outside the two garages just past the first right-hand bend after you come out of the "village".."

By the way, in case anyone's really got into the swing of life in Bulgaria and is thinking like a local, the answer to the question you're asking yourself right now is: Yes, it IS possible to live in Sofia City, pay Sofia's (relatively) high municipal taxes, and STILL not have mains sewage...

Bulgaria is beginning to sound like Ireland in the early 1900s 🤣

A little bit backwards, a little bit crazy but a solid sense of community that makes everything work. Guess take everything with a pinch of humour an do as the locals do, integrate as soon  as possible from day one. You guys are awesome. Thanks

Decided to lovingly name the property "Rotty" for it's run down nature, hope there's Cyrillic translation for that. Will literally join the party and put it in Google and bing map coordinates as Rotty 8658 Tamarino. 🤪

Decided to lovingly name the property "Rotty" for it's run down nature, hope there's Cyrillic translation for that. Will literally join the party and put it in Google and bing map coordinates as Rotty 8658 Tamarino. 🤪 - @S25 - Sean

Do excuse the linguistics lesson, it's intended to inform and not in any way to mock or snipe: there's no Cyrillic translation of "Rotty", because Cyrillic is an alphabet used in a number of languages, but not a language itself.  🙂

That said, probably the closest you'll get in Bulgarian is probably "Razvalinka', which is a sort of affectionate diminutive of Развалина, meaning "wreck/ruin" - or '"old tub" if you're Captain Pugwash 😎

Wales seems to be going backwards, in a couple of Facebook groups I'm in, they seem to deliver parcels to anyone's house. Everyday there is a post do you recognise this place, my parcel was delivered there and it's not my house.

In Austria, you wait in all day, they never ring the doorbell, they just stick a note in your mailbox, then you have to go to the depot to collect. DHL is the worst for that.

The Austrian post is OK, because we have the same postie, she knows who I am, so if I walking down the road, she will be stop and give me any mail I have. It pays to be nice and to give a tip at Christmas.

I'm actually genuinely stuck with something delivery related right now.

Flying to burgas on 3rd, train to Jambol. 2 days there. Day 3 train to VT, 2-3 days there for legals, then back to Jambol by the Saturday.

I need to arrange osb plywood to be delivered to board the place up and prevent more damage. So after some translated Cyrillic convo with suppliers, they say 3-5 days delivery, and as pointed out in this thread, they probably won't call my UK mobile and I have to meet them at a church on the main road, 3 mins walk away.

Catch 22 with that idea, hotel in Jambol is 30 mins in taxi, 30km away from property. Middle of winter and the house itself is derelict, so not reasonable to stay and freeze waiting days for wood. Without a set date and drop time, it's a nightmare.

Could be viable if I bring my winter camping gear and forget hotels for a week but they won't allow camp gas, Bushcraft knife and folding saw on the plane lol.

I don't mind roughing it outdoors in winter but only with appropriate kit to avoid hyperthermia 🤣🤣

Does anyone know of camping supply stores in Jambol?

Or a good way to sweet talk supplier into being "timely" I've heard they just turn up when they turn up.

On-line stores like Olx etc, or eMag or Decathlon should be able to supply camping kit. Or Google can give you details of actual shops selling it in Yambol.

Deliveries here are indeed often a bit "laid back" 😂

Could be viable if I bring my winter camping gear and forget hotels for a week but they won't allow camp gas, Bushcraft knife and folding saw on the plane lol.

I don't mind roughing it outdoors in winter but only with appropriate kit to avoid hyperthermia 🤣🤣

Does anyone know of camping supply stores in Jambol?

- @S25 - Sean

Try here: https://tinyurl.com/3facasm7

Looks like Jim has found what you need for the camping supplies. The other option would be to order online and have it delivered to the Speedy or Ekont parcel shops in Yambol, but better to shop local when you can, IMO.

Parcel deliveries here in our UK town are often an issue. I've lost count of the number of times we've had a "parcel delivered" email and had to try to puzzle out from the photo of the front door they've dumped the parcel outside where out stuff actually is.  Almost understandable, as the street numbering for our UK house is as confusing as Jim's place. We are 45 but opposite 144, and the street changes names a few times en route.

The Bulgarian deliveries actually make more sense, if only I can solve the issue of getting a Bulgarian SIM activated! Sean, when you get a SIM, be aware that the seller will want your passport etc to register the SIM. The n you need to activate it. The problem I've had is that it needs access to Bulgarian internet to get the code to activate the SIM online.  I took two phones thinking I could use my roaming internet on my UK phone to activate the Bg SIM, but that doesn't work as the mobile company insists I am in the UK!

So if you buy a Bg SIM, try to get it in your phone and activated in the shop with the seller's help OR find a wifi hotspot in town to activate it before going out to the village. After failing to do it using my roaming internet, I thought I could do this using airport wifi, but the SIM cards sold at the airport on arrival are data-only SIMs (well, they are in Varna, not sure about Sofia or Plovdiv). Though they support using Viber, the online messaging system that's popular in Bulgaria, they won't make or accept regular mobile phone calls. I still haven't managed to buy and activate a SIM that the delivery drivers will use!

I've had same problem in UK with switching Voda to giffgaff past 3 days, trying to get the new phone set up and keep my number. Hotspotting 2 phones and wifi, number exchange in next 24 hrs.

Dreading the same in BG. Will probably have to sweet talk hotel staff to help, I know they'll have free wifi.

As for the wood thing, man they hiked the price up and got super awkward about delivery. Now considering a different supplier. They got some funny systems out there for sure 😂

2 weeks ish left to get sorted but I'm sure it'll all be fine in the end.

I hope you get it all worked out.

Deliveries in Bulgaria tend to be to the property boundary, not to the house. Often the delivery people will refuse to carry stuff to the house, or if they agree to do it, will expect to be paid a lot extra.

Re deliveries: I don't know what it's like for the village folk among us - and it doesn't help with deliveries of large/bulky items - but BoxNow has really gained a foothold here over the last year or two. Some of the bigger companies have had a similar service for several years, but BoxNow seem to have targeted locations that the big boys have neglected.

They're still expanding rapidly and you can find out if they're operating in your neck of the woods yet here: https://boxnow.bg/locker-finder

There's a campsite farm thing next door, I might try to wing it with the translation app and ask them to call the supplier off whatever Sim I can hook up when I meet my surveyor. Try offer them 20 Leva to make a call and explain to suppliers how to locate the gravel track to house because the main Road is 3 mins walk away from what appears to be a closed down church. Not sure if moving 10 big sheets 1 at time is wise in case locals don't see me moving them and think someone left some freebies lol.

I don't know if it's any help but the wood merchants I use (local and "Big Shed") all offer cutting services, at a price.  I bought about 40 full sheets of OSB (just to be pedantic, OSB and plywood are two rather different beasts) and then had them cut down to my requirements (for ease of handling and because 2.5x1.25m boards are too big for easy cutting, even with a track saw) before delivery.  It did add to the cost but saved a lot of struggling and cussing...

Box Now looks useful for smaller deliveries, but still seems to be only in Dobrich, in our region. They have 24 locations there, and none anywhere else in the region! Understandable, as it's mostly very rural, small villages where it wouldn't be worth setting anything up. But I'm hoping they'll open one in Toshevo.

Sean, talking to the neighbours is always a good idea! Mine have been super-helpful. Sometimes things haven't quite worked out, but without their help I would have struggled far more to get things done. The other option, if as I suspect from what you said on a different thread, you're buying with BgDirect, ask Danislava if she'd contact the delivery guys for you. But still talk to the neighbours anyway!