I visited the startlingly cheap European city where beers are £1.50, five-star hotels are affordable and flights are £19
EUROPEAN city breaks can easily break the bank.
One museum, two cups of coffee and a short taxi ride in Paris or Rome can have your banking app in the red before you have even considered lunch.
But, in Bulgaria’s capital, the grandest sight has a golden dome and a whole day on public transport costs a startlingly low £1.70.
Say “dobŭr den” (good day in the local lingo) to Sofia, a leafy, lively city, which is a brilliant value getaway still slipping under too many Brits’ radar.
I have been all over Europe, the US and the Gulf states and yet when it comes to the deal of the century, there is one country that stands head and shoulders above the rest — and that’s budget-friendly Bulgaria.
For proof, the latest Eurostat data showed Bulgaria has the lowest overall consumer prices in the EU, with hotels and restaurants around 48 per cent below the average.
In short, Sofia is a city where your holiday money can stretch almost as far as the eye can see.
Do not mistake the price tag for a lack of star power, though.
The mighty Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, all green copper and glittering gold, has that wow factor.
From there, you can stroll past grand old buildings, pavement cafes and Vitosha Boulevard, which stretches toward the mountain of the same name, rising in the distance like a blockbuster backdrop.
I checked into the magnificent Grand Hotel Millennium Sofia — a luxurious 5* retreat with 400 rooms and apartments, plus an amazing spa centre, gym and four themed restaurants and a one-of-a-kind Sky Bar, overlooking the city.
All that luxury would set you back upwards of £300 in one of Europe’s big-hitting capitals like Paris. But this was less than half that cost.
As part of the hotel complex, there is also a casino, the Palms Royale, which offers classic games such as roulette, poker, blackjack and modern slot machines as well as its own 24-hour restaurant and an upmarket Asian eatery.
Casino owner Milo Borissov, who is keen to welcome more British visitors, tells me: “We attract customers from Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
“Over half are weekend tourists who come specifically for the high-class service and games that the casino offers, combined with the restaurants, and the modern hotel accommodation.”
If you are out of luck at the casino, all is not lost, for Bulgaria also has some of the lowest prices in Europe for public transport, clothing, food, alcohol (you can still find a beer for about £1.50) and tobacco.
So where should you head first? St Petka of the Saddlers is a tiny, single-nave church partly sunk into the ground beside the bigger city sights.
It is so modest you could almost miss it, but make sure you don’t.
Standing on the site of an earlier Roman religious building, it preserves murals from several centuries. Duck inside and you can swap traffic noise for candlelit calm in seconds.
After this, head towards the former Central Mineral Baths.
Bring a reusable bottle: a restored marble fountain by the baths delivers warm mineral water from the city’s historic springs.
It is the sort of pleasingly simple freebie that makes you feel you have joined the locals, not just ticked off a landmark.
For another bit of time travel, go down to the Serdika area and take a lingering look around.
Roman-era Sofia is not sealed behind a museum door here — archaeological remains including excavated streets and ancient basilicas are right in the heart of town.
The cleverest hidden stop, though, is the Eighties-style Red Flat, on Ivan Denkoglu Street.
This is not a dusty museum. It is an interactive, four-room apartment that lets visitors touch, poke about and listen their way through the everyday life of a Bulgarian family in the Communist era. It’s an educational eye-opener.
For lunch, skip the obvious international chains and go on a mini food crawl.
Browse the Women’s Market for colourful stalls of fruit and veg plus ceramics and souvenirs, then seek out a Bulgarian cafe for home-cooked delicacies, such as banistra (cheese pastry) and kyufte (spiced, grilled minced meat rolls).
Then finish off your day with a glass of local wine or coffee in one of the side streets.
In fact, why not stretch to two? With prices this low, you’d be mad not to.
GO: BULGARIA
GETTING THERE: Ryanair flies from London Stansted to Sofia from £18.99 each way.
See ryanair.com.
STAYING THERE: Double rooms at the 5* Grand Hotel Millennium Sofia are from around £146pp per night.