A Guide to Eating and Drinking in Sofia
- Sofia Information
- Eating & drinking in Sofia
- Things to do in Sofia
- Where to stay in Sofia
- Sofia street map
As is increasingly the case across Central and Eastern Europe, eating, drinking and nightlife in Sofia are made up of an engaging mix of the brash and new (and increasingly quite expensive) with the more down-to-earth and traditional.
Bulgarian cuisine is a mix of Mediterranean and more Eastern European styles. One of the most popular traditional dishes is Kavarma, which is a wonderfully hearty hotpot of pork, peppers, onions and mushrooms.
The traditional Bulgarian salad, known as 'shopska', is also well worth trying. A good one will contain tomatoes, cucumber, green pepper, feta cheese, olives and plenty of olive oil and makes for a good side or starter dish, especially with some crispy bread.
There are a huge number of restaurants in the center of Sofia, and few tastes or budgets aren’t covered. However, many of the cheaper Bulgarian eateries (which cater to a largely local custom) can be found on the outskirts of the city.
Many of the better places to eat within the heart of the city itself, meanwhile, can be found to the south, not far from the majority of Sofia hostels and hotels. There’s a particular concentration of places on and around Bulevard Vitosha and Ulitsa Graf Ignatiev while, out to the east, ulitska Rakovsy has some of the smarter options.
Nightlife in Sofia can be fun if you find the right places, and the top joints on weekends are usually jam-packed. The best way to start an evening in Sofia, though, is in one of the many cafés that surround the National Palace of Culture, to the south of the city in the Yuzhen Park.
From here, the hub of Sofia nightlife can be found on and around Bulevard Vitoshka, with chic places to see and be seen lining ulitska Rakovsy and a lively student scene out in the southern suburb of Studenski grad (near the university).
Really, though, Sofia is a town that likes to party: with no formal licensing regulations, even the nights that start off quietly enough over a cup of tea in a café, invariably end up long and wild… It’s just that sort of place!