24 HOURS in Sofia | BEST THINGS TO DO, WHAT TO SEE in the capital of Bulgaria. 

I visited Bulgaria a few years ago before I got cancer and couldn’t travel anymore. Your video brought back a lot of happy memories for me. I love your travel vlogs. Always interesting.

I loved Sofia when I visited a few years ago, but Plovdiv is even better. A bit of a hidden gem off the radar of a lot of us in western Europe.

What a fascinating place to explore, sure a bit rough around the edges, but so is every city back home! That big cathedral was something else!

Hey, a Bulgarian here. It's not forbidden to film in supermarkets, so don't worry. Russian and Bulgarian are actually close languages, they both derived from Proto-Slavic and we have many similar words and expressions, as well as we have with other Slavic languages. But Cyrillic alphabet was actually invented in Bulgaria and then some other nations started using it. Most of the beautiful buildings you have seen in the city centre are designed by Western architects (mainly Austrian, German and French ones) and they are influenced by Western architecture by the time they had been designed and built - it's the end of 19th and beginning of 20th century. As far as I know the buildings in Russian Empire are also designed by Western architects, so at least regarding buildings it's not Russian influence in Bulgaria, it's Western and Central Europe influence in both Bulgaria and Russia. The monument of the Soviet army is not demolished, it's moved and the idea is to be exposed in a museum of Soviet art. It's a very long and controversial story. There are several restaurants for traditional Bulgarian food in the centre, you should have probably used Trip Advisor and you could find them. Anyway, I am glad you liked my country. If it happens to return here some day, you could try to visit other cities as well - Plovdiv is very beautiful, also the old Bulgarian capital Veliko Tarnovo.

Inside the Metro station, its has the roman ruins incorporated into the station design, pretty cool to see.

The Russian language is a dialect of the Bulgarian language. Bulgaria gave Russia the Bulgarian Cyrillic script and the Bible translated into the Old Bulgarian language in the 10th century, when Bulgarian priests spread Christianity in Russia and between the 9th and 11th centuries the Bulgarian language became an international language.

A lovely, interesting and under-rated city. The rest of Bulgaria is also well worth a visit.

Full of Charm and beauty is Bulgaria. That's before you even get to eat! the food is incredible. Pork Kavarma is out of this world 😋

I love it when Scott smacks his chops when tasting his first or second coffee of the day. When I use my bean to cup machine at home, in the morning, I sort of impersonate him!

Уникално Българско сирене, кисело мляко. Патентът на сиренето е Български. Вулгарико, Бацилико! ❤️🇧🇬❤️🇧🇬❤️

There are more beautiful parts of Bulgaria 🇧🇬 than the capital. Haskovo ( my second home 🏠 ) Plovdiv, Burgas & we have just returned from a spa break in Velingrad. 👍😊

Happy Bar & Grill sells loads of Bulgarian 🇧🇬 dishes but it is a chain of branches all over Bulgaria. It's ok but the best place for a meal in Sofia is Vitosha Boulevard 👍😊 There are normal police, Tourist police & Boarder police & I think they actually said hello to you Infront of the Russian Monument 🤣 The Cyrillic Alphabet was given to Russia as a gift it's actually Bulgarian & I use to get told off for saying that it's Russian 🤣

Cold, wet, and windy? Oh, a typical summer's day in Scotland

I had a fleeting visit to Sofia a bit like you. My flight was diverted to Sofia due to bad weather but I never got off the plane. I love Bulgaria and have been on holiday there a number of times.

Sofia is fantastic city, i been there between 1998-2004 I had best time there. Still missing that days. Thanks for your video. :)

I was just in Sofia in February for 4 night's and got to see loads and great value 😁🇮🇪

Those "pigs feet" are trotters and many years ago I was in a British night club band playing in Bavaria and as we were guests of honour at a suckling pig barbecue we had to have the pigs snout as its a delicacy...it appeared the pig hadn't shaved that day and I still have the nightmares 😏

I thought 20hrs on the coach from London to Prague was bad enough, Fair play to you :)

in Sofia a few years ago, made some great friends-some still on Facebook-i`ll have to revisit one day.Look for the theatre built i believe in the old SOVIET days, and there is a synagogue if i recall near the old market .Great video,Scott.

I really miss Sofia. Can't wait to go back.

Thank you for your video! I will be living in Sofia until the end of June and this video included some really good tip on what to see. I saw the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral yesterday and might even take another look at it. Shame about the weather. I was almost shocked at how bad cold the weather was for most of March, but now it is actually around 25 degrees.

Loved Sofia! I just visited two days ago…

Perfect timing as I'll be in Sofia for a very important trip in a couple of weeks

Epic whirlwind day tour of the city. What happened to the Bulgarian meal for dinner?? 😅😅😅

There's a Happy restaurant in Piccadilly Always big queues..

The longer format here really works well, as we see not only Sofia, which any tourist guide could show, but your reaction and thoughts about them. Liked the Archaeological museum best, but probably alone there. 😊

Hello Scott and happy easter 🐣. You seriously earn ever subscriber you have, those long long coach journeys must be gruelling at times. I am not a keen flyer and for that reason I may book a London to krakow bus, not that bad at 35 hours

I visited Sofia in 2018 and they were happy for us to have a look around the mosque and take photos. Also a nice art nouveau synagogue on the other side of the market if you go back.

Thanks for that tour,Sofia has beautiful architecture,love history myself,I will be going to Bulgaria myself,in July on the Black Sea Coast,to Nessebar for a week,looking forward to it,and I will be doing the easy way a plane straight from Glasgow Airport straight to Bourgas Airport,I stay in Renfrew so not far from my airport,that would actually kill me doing 2 days on a bus and being sleep deprived. I would be walking about like a zombie😂😂

Another great vlog Scott, and just to say thank you for stopping and giving me your time to have a chat , it was lovely to meet you in person 👍

Belgrade in 1991? Now that's a story we want to hear!

Thank you for keeping my memories alive. Been there last October, same hotel, for almost the same reason. And I was also taken by the charme of this beautiful city. Though I did find a nice bulgarian PECTOPAHT...

6:52 i just realized thats the garden where me and my friends play lol

The Cyrillic alphabet is a Bulgarian creation and the Russian language is a dialect of Bulgarian, so the influence is here towards Russia

Bulgarian McDonalds is still Bulgarian :-) Great vid - lots of ideas for a visit which I really appreciate. Really enjoyed it - as usual.

The ‘baths’ aren’t baths anymore - it’s the Sofia museum! Remiss of the guide to overlook this.

That was great. Thank you

Great video Scott, looking forward to next week.

Thank you for taking me along.

Thanks for another great and inspiring travel story!

Great city tour. Thanks!

Good vid Scott. Very informative and real.

Happy Easter to you! Thank you for your videos!

Bulgarian here. Vey good vlog. You really need to come in the summer when it's hot, the vibe is totally different. And you need to try Bulgarian food, cause it's really good. There is traditional restaurant called "Moma" in the city center. And also "Chevermeto".

Excellent Vid , visited Sofia last year ..Primarily to get the train to Varna as part of my 'Biscay to Black sea ' rail odyssey . The Military museum is excellent , lots of tanks / soviet era weaponry coupled with historical material documenting Bulgaria's various conflicts , good deal in English too . Returning in September to do the Sofia to Istanbul Express [ which you'll have probably done by then !

Perfect length, loved it mate

Lovely Scott, tfs. What an interesting place.

I love your vlogs, Scott! It's like visiting with a good friend. Thanks for your hard work! Cheers!👋

A great video Scott. Your views on the coffee made me laugh. Thanks for the upload

Well worth watching, we're off to Sofia and Eastern Bulgaria in September. Many thanks👍.

I always enjoy seeing your trips Scott as you don’t sugar coat anything

Another good day showing us places we possibly would never see otherwise, looking forward to the next leg of your journey. Just finished re-watching End-to-End and have a long journey coming up so it could be a chance to re-read the book. Keep up the good work!

Sofia is great! Worth visiting!

Interesting to see Sofia. Never been there. Thanks for your video!

Terrific video about your visit to Sophia! It looks quite interesting with some lovely cathedrals and what you were able photograph there! 😅😮

I do enjoy your videos another good vlog you must have walked some miles or a mega load of steps on your tour of Sofia look forward to the next one 😊😊

1:25 - the Best Western staff may have been a few minutes late, but the room came with a GoPro 😉

Very interesting and some beautiful buildings. Wow. I always enjoy when you visit a local grocery store. I’m geeky like that. :) Next week’s video sounds intriguing. Can’t wait.

I can't get over how beautiful this video is! Thank you so much for your effort!

Enjoyed this thanks

Good video as always.

Great Video Scott

I watched this late at night last week hence I didn't comment but fantastic video interesting you are right about railway heratige apart from pictures in perth station 😊is all we got far as I know and best western hotel was great thanks Scott keep up the fantastic work

Hi Scott. Boadicea here! That bus journey to Sofia was superhuman! Many years ago in the 80s, I took my 3 children skiing to Innsbruck on an overnight bus. At least we had a toilet! Never again though. Your hotel looked lovely. Bulgarian Architecture is great! Safe journey. 👌🙋🇮🇪🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🙏

Your vids getting better every time man!

Enjoying your travel

Nice one Scott👍👍

Another very interesting video - City now added to our Eastern European City Breaks Dashboard.

Enjoyed thanks

Great video Scott. I hope you managed to get some nice grub in the end.

There's actually a Happy in London right by Piccadilly Circus. I'm not completely sure why it is there but couldn't complain about the food, even if the prices aren't exactly McDonalds. The best part though was when my Bulgarian friend/boss switched from English to Bulgarian half way through...

Very amazing video well done and keep up the great work and I am fully blind and Ryanair does not allow a person who is blind to travel on there own 😢hopefully I can get travelling the world soon

Hope u said prayer Scott.Happy Easter.

I enjoy your content. It is a nice break from Jeb Brooks or Sam Chui, who just travel in first class. Abit surprised to see all the graffiti in Sofia. I thought that was more an American/ Western thing.

The railway museum in York is pretty amazing. You could easily spend most of the day there.

I enjoyed visiting Sofia with you, Scott. (I’ll admit to frequenting McDonalds in foreign cities more often than I care to admit, also!) Looking forward to next week’s video.

We have driven to Sofia from the UK three times now - lovely place.

That Parkmart gave me to a similar vibe as the market by Arguelles Metro station and Nebrija University's main campus-my university while abroad

I'd have to have gone in those baths I've got wonderful memories of the public baths in Rhodes old town, 40 years ago 😊

Very informative thanks ... i was surprised at the pricing in the supermarket!!

Subscribed! Brings back good memories when i was in Sofia back in 2017 also travelling alone from London to Istanbul but not 50hrs by coach 😂. 39:20 I took that sleeper train to Istanbul.

Hi Scott. An earlier video, the best livery was monarch airlines. Loving the vids, I go abroad 6 times a year. From an Edinburgh guy. I got held up two years ago easy jet 8 hours. Got my money back. Clive

Thank you once again for taking us to a place few of us have or ever will see. Love the architecture, the buildings, the ruins, the mix of cultures. Too bad you didn't find a restaurant for Bulgarian specialties. I also like to visit food/supermarkets in my travels in the US, Europe and elsewhere to compare prices for common items, see items we don't have at home (for me the NYC area of the USA). While the prices to us seem low, for the locals that is still very high due to lower incomes.

I visited Sofia twice in the last six months and loved it. Great city with a lot of interesting things to see. Had no problems taking photos in the mosque - maybe video is more difficult. Conversely at the Alexander Nevski cathedral the staff were pouncing on people taking photos without a ticket - I shelled out the £4 fee to avoid this (it's worth it to take much better photos). Many good restaurants there too and the metro system was wonderful. Definitely worth a return visit when it's warmer - but not via the 50 hour coach!

Great video Scott! I have only seen Sofia through a walk to the main train station from the East via the airport, fair to say that wasnt a great representation of the city because it is a bit rough in that area, may need to give it a proper go. Went on to Plovdiv from there which gets a firm recommendation. Surprised you didn't indulge in any Banitsas or Mavrud (the national wine)

Been all around the world with you and love it 😂😂

Days of Culture and Heritage, every September, most places of worship participate.

Love your vids! Try Sarajevo next Scott. Super cheap, lovely example of recovery from the difficulties.

The reception staff must have seen you coming and run to your room to deep clean it before you broke out the dreaded UV dirt finder torch 🔦 Happy Easter, another very interesting video!

Lived in Sofia from 1987 till 1992 ... so many memories.

the goat🐐🔥🔥

The golden artifacts you saw were some of the oldest gold artifacts found in Europe. Also skipping the second museum was a mistake. Even though we are a small country we have many different traditional clothing and jewels. And they are very different from one another. And yes not pictures in holy places is something thats universal for most churches and monasteries. Filming inside is only by special permission. Now some of the largest churches allow filming because of tourism.

I went to the Ethnographic museum in Yambol last February. It was quite a fun experience. I was the only visitor, the two female staff had to open all the exhibits for me and we had a fun conservation with the help of google translate. At one point they mentioned they are working on a traditional female dress and google translate chose the word "hot clothes" which didn't match at all. I showed them what images come when searching for "hot clothes" online and we all had a huge laugh.

i'd love to go to bulgaria sofia looks amazing 😍 x

nice one 👍🎥💯

Great video. Good to see you being honest about your preferences. Skip it if you dont like it 😅

Super 🔥🔥

hi man , very intresting video , u must visit Bulgaria in summer when is sunny and hot , and don't forget to visit black sea riviera

Wow 50 hours without sleep..me personally must have 7/8 per night ..great video thanks.

I had read that the actress who played Umbridge and the actress who played Ms Trawaney (divination teacher,) are best friends. They loved doing this movie together. As usual loved being with you for your reaction. Steven King said that the lady dressed in pink was the best villain he has seen in a long time. JK Rowling is a master writer.