Choosing the right village

Would be interested to know how much work you are prepared to do and how you get on with your visit. We are renovating in Kramolin, Sevlievo.

It depends on how much work needs yo be done but we are looking for mild refurbishment ptoject.

There are some very nice villages in the Veliko Tarnovo area, which is the area I've visited the most. LOL, so why did I end up buying a house sight-unseen in a village I've still not visited?

But there are nice villages all over Bulgaria, and your hubby won't be able to visit everywhere! People in the forum are spread out all over the country so hopefully you'll get some good suggestions

It depends what else you want besides space and quiet - what facilities like shop, school, post office, buses you need the village to provide; distance from a major town; near the beach or the mountains; lots of expat social life or none; how much you have to spend; how much renovation work you're willing to do?

We recently moved here to a village called Sinapovo, near Elhovo. It’s in the south so a bit warmer than the north. Elhovo is about 20 mins drive & Yambol, a bigger town, is 40 mins. Our village has a couple of small shops/bars, around 500 residents & surrounded by beautiful countryside. About 25 mins from the Turkish border & 75 mins to Burgas. We are new here but love it.

Hi Mel ,
Thanks for replying
I have seen some beautiful houses over there : )

We bought in a village near Asenovgrad (South of Plovdiv). No sea, but the Rhodope mountains are really close. So far happy.

We're in the same boat.  Hopefully doing a house/ place hunt around April coming from N. Ireland. I'd love to hear more about villages.
We're looking for peace, some ex pats, a bar, cafe etc country or sea, and a renovation project thats not too complicated to do mostly ourselves. We're 59 and 63 so nothing too outrageous

I second Jane, vielko tarnavo and surrounding areas are great, we are in a small town 40 mins from VT and have been welcomed amazingly by the small town, kids in school, teachers are great, language is an issue but they’re learning for me 🤣🤣

Surely Bulgarian sounds challenging lol

Charlotte, that’s cunning. I like your style 😂

Hahaha got to be done Mel, I’m useless. I can get away with “
Hi how are you” but that’s about it 🤣🤣🤣

Snap! 😆 But it’s early days for us both, who knows, we may progress on to ‘My name is..’ within the next year 😂

I'm a big fan of the mountain ranges for some hiking/mountain biking, and loads of different trails close to the house. (I have form on this, as I was a ski instructor, and lived in Andorra and the Chilean Andes.) There are several lovely ranges (Rila, Pirin, Rhodopes, Balkan) here, so there are plenty of options. There is some spectacular scenery around.

For example, Bansko (Pirin) is a very quaint little town, and Bulgaria's top ski resort. There are loads of great trails here. I enjoy it, but it just a bit too touristy (= more expensive) and a bit too far from a big town for my taste. But there are many who have it as a year round home.

I like the Balkan Mountains too, with the Central Balkan National Park which is not far from my house. The range goes across all of Bulgaria (but much lower at the coast), so there are lots of towns/cities/villages close by. So Troyan, Karlovo, Kalofer are not far from me. Veliko Tarnovo is on the north side, and it's lovely too (although not close enough to mountains for my taste).

I am in a small village near Shipka, which is a delight, I often sing its praises here. As I bought it sight-unseen (I was motivated mostly by how many trails showed up on google maps, and what the view of the mountains was like), I feel pretty lucky. Unlike many depopulating villages in Bulgaria, mine is a little boom town (boom village?) with all the old houses getting renovated, several fancy new mansions getting built, one of the residents digging a trench from Enina to bring fiber optic cable, and the mayor digging up all the streets to put in sewer lines. I just spent 2 years of Covid lockdown there, and it was kinda awesome... I didn't miss even one day of walking (testament to Bulgarian weather).

But there are several very nice villages in this area (known as Valley of the Roses, or Valley of the Thracian Kings). But Kazanlak is only 10 minutes drive, and maybe 40 minutes to Stara Zagora. So civilization is close by.

And it doesn't have to be mountains. There are other national parks. And the Black Sea coast with beach villages and inland villages. And down near the Greece and Turkey borders. So many places that you could choose!

@gwynj hello this been a great read I am also looking for a rural place to buy a renovation property in amongst the forest be a dream I'm looking for a village where I can come back to the UK and leave the house in bg empty knowing when I return it will have all the windows intact and not broken in to hope you can help as in best village with rural feel