Russians cannot visit Bulgaria without a Schengen or national visa. Moreover, since last year, new requirements have been introduced when obtaining the right to enter: undergoing the fingerprinting procedure for everyone who is twelve years old or over, and taking photographs at the visa center. Prints and photographs are valid for the next five years.

Do Russians need a visa to travel to Bulgarian resorts?

Visa-free entry into Bulgaria is prohibited due to the fact that it is part of the European Union, where it is impossible to enter without special permission. This possibility is also hindered by the country’s desire to enter the Schengen zone, in which the issuance of visas at the airport is prohibited, as is practiced by Türkiye.

How to get a visa: methods of obtaining a permit and their distinctive features

You can obtain a visa giving the right to visit Bulgaria by contacting the following organizations:

• visa centers;
• departments of the Bulgarian Embassy;
• Consulates General;
• travel companies.

When cooperating with Visa Centers, you must provide a package of necessary documents yourself.

Holders of a Schengen visa (tourist type C or national type D) are entitled to enter Bulgaria according to the rules provided for by this visa. It allows you to stay on the coast for ninety days every six months. Days spent on vacation are not counted in countries located in the Schengen area.

Having a Bulgarian visa does not give you the right to travel to countries that have signed the Schengen agreement, since Bulgaria is not included there yet.

Documents required to obtain a visa

The list of documents depends on the type of visa and whether you are traveling with or without children. The mandatory package consists of the following documents:

For a tourist trip, additional documents are required confirming its purpose and the availability of sufficient funds (at least five hundred euros for the trip):

Additional documents for holidays with children

If minor children without parents are traveling to Bulgaria to relax in a camp, then it is important to ensure that they have a notarized travel permit for their mother and father. You will also need to attach a copy of the ticket and a copy of the visa of the person accompanying the child to the package.

For each child, a form must be filled out (signed by a parent or legal representative) and the required package of documents must be collected:

• a copy of your birth certificate (take the original with you as well);
• a power of attorney for the removal of a child from a parent who is not going on vacation, certified by a notary in the case of being accompanied by a second parent, or from both if he is accompanied by relatives or third parties;
• a photocopy of the passport of the parent who wrote the power of attorney (first page).

If one of the parents is absent, you must provide documents confirming these facts (a copy of a single mother’s ID or death certificate).

Children included in the parents' passport who are six years old must be photographed in order to correctly fill out the application form.
Young tourists who have reached the age of fourteen can go on vacation only if they have an issued foreign passport.

If at the time of submitting documents to the visa department the child is not yet four years old, then a multiple-entry visa can be issued for him, the validity of which will be two years; a child between four and five years of age is eligible to apply for a visa valid for one year. IN in this case The package of documents should be accompanied by the consent of the mother and father for the child’s departure, certified by a notary, the validity of which should be equal to the validity of the visa.

Photo requirements

To obtain a visa, a photograph measuring 3.5x4.5 (color image on a white background) is required. The full-face image of the face should occupy about seventy-five percent of the field and be clear. Photos with red eyes, with faces in dark glasses, cut out from amateur photographs, taken against a dark background are not accepted.

Process of obtaining a Schengen visa

The above list of documents can be submitted to the Bulgarian Visa Centers in Moscow in several ways:

• on a first-come, first-served basis;
• through a proxy;
• through an accredited travel agency;
• using the service of the Bulgarian Visa Centers “Visa to home”;
• through cooperation with companies involved in visa processing (the client does not have to fill out forms and go somewhere independently).

For children under 4 years of age, a visa can be issued for 2 years.

Through a proxy

The authorized representative must provide a power of attorney from the owner of the international passport, certified by a notary. This document is not required if you brought the package to the Visa Application Center close relative(mom or dad, spouse, adult child, grandparent). Any of these family members must have a document indicating their relationship.

After accepting the package of documents, the Visa Center employee gives the client a receipt, which will be needed to receive the documents.

How to register yourself in Moscow?

You can apply for a category D visa at the Consulate General or Embassy of Bulgaria.

You can submit documents to the Visa Center in Moscow (31 Sushchevsky Val str., building 2 (Maryina Roshcha metro station)) by making an appointment at +74955043678. It should be taken into account that due to the large flow of people applying to the embassy in person, the waiting time will be long. All documents are accepted working week from nine in the morning to four in the evening. Visa issuance starts at ten.

You can submit documents in Moscow on the street. Mosfilmovskaya, building 66, where the Bulgarian Embassy is located. Reception of visitors from nine to eleven thirty from Monday to Friday. Make an appointment by calling +74991436230.

Through a travel agency

A tourist visa is issued when a person buys a holiday package to Bulgaria. The maximum period of stay of a tourist in the country is 90 days for a visa issued for a single entry, 30 days for a double entry into the country. When obtaining a visa this way, you must also have a tourist voucher - an agreement confirming the provision of travel agency services.

“Home visa” service

Bulgarian visa centers offer clients to apply for the “Home Visa” service via the Internet by filling out an application on the website or by calling +74959551977. In this case, a courier will come to your home and pick up a prepared package of documents for a visa. The cost of such a service varies depending on the distance from the Visa Application Center. It does not include service and visa fees.

Price

When applying for a visa to Bulgaria, you are required to pay two fees:

1. Consular - thirty-five euros (2,520 rubles) for any type of visa, seventy euros for an urgent visa (prepare three days in advance).
2. Service – equal to approximately twenty euros.

They are paid on the spot in cash. Children under six years of age are exempt from paying the consular fee. If your close relatives (children, parents, spouses) live in Bulgaria, then you also do not contribute it.

If a visa is refused, fees will not be refunded.

When applying for a visa through a travel agency, the visa will cost approximately ten euros more, since the company charges money for its work. But the client’s personal presence is not required.

You will find additional useful information about obtaining a Schengen visa to Bulgaria from here:

Registration deadlines

Visas granting the right to a short stay in Bulgaria are issued in approximately one working week. The deadline is affected by the place where the application is submitted. Urgent single-entry visas of this type can be issued in two days.

Summer is the long-awaited time for vacations. Some people dream of finishing the repairs, for others fate has prepared a place in the garden beds, but for the lucky ones there is a direct road to the sea.

In our unstable times, when in the resorts of Turkey and Tunisia the situation is not at all stable, and often revolutionary, you want peace and confidence that when you wake up in the morning, you will not become a hostage. Although such difficulties and dangers are just for the Russian person.

In a word, where to relax, everyone decides for himself, but our choice fell on Bulgaria. Why?

Firstly, it was the first time our whole family traveled abroad, and Bulgaria seemed to us a wonderful country from which to start traveling abroad.

Secondly, the climate of the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria is similar to the climate of the Russian coast, and we hoped that our little daughter would not have to experience acclimatization.

In favor of Bulgaria was the fact that the Bulgarians are the same Slavs as we are, and speech, similar to Russian, pushed the boundaries of communication.

The main contingent of vacationers in Bulgaria are: Romanians, Moldovans, Ukrainians, Germans and Russians. There are far fewer English-speaking tourists, Spaniards and Italians.

If you are going to Bulgaria for the first time, then this article is just for you. We will tell you what you must take and what you should not take under any circumstances. We are confident that our recommendations will help you pack the most necessary luggage and be prepared for any situation. Only useful information first-hand, since we just returned from a trip a week ago.

The Atlas Hotel, which will be the subject of a separate review article, was waiting for us on the second line of the Golden Sands, famous since the times of the USSR. But before we talk about the holiday itself, important information about what you need to take with you on a trip.

In addition to the tour itself, be sure to take out medical insurance! No matter how confident you are in your health and the health of your loved ones, insurance is a must, and we were convinced of this when our daughter got sick.

Choose your insurance company carefully; the difference between regular and cheap insurance from an unknown company is minimal! But you shouldn’t save money in this case. We have witnessed when a doctor refused to provide assistance due to the fact that they medical institution does not work with such an insurance company.

Full business class life insurance, which includes expenses of 30,000 euros, cost us only 10 euros. Agree, it’s not such a high price to pay for confidence.

An additional cost when traveling to Bulgaria will, of course, be a VISA. Its price is significantly higher than the Turkish one and is 65 euros per person. Children under 5 years old inclusive also apply for a visa, but it is free for them.

“What currency should I take with me to Bulgaria?” - this is one of the most asked questions. In Bulgaria, the national currency is the Lev. Its exchange rate is strictly tied to the euro exchange rate, and if you take euros on the road, you will not go wrong.

You can also exchange leva at home in Russia, but, as a rule, this currency is not available at exchange offices, and you need to order it. You will have to wait several days. So if you're in the middle of last moment If you are puzzled by the question of what currency to take with you to Bulgaria, then it is better to take the euro.

The best and safest option is to exchange currency with your guide. Yes, it is “a little illegal”, but you will 100% not be deceived. In addition, their rate is very, very favorable. It is advisable to change all your cash at once, so as not to run around to exchange offices later.

About exchangers, you will often hear stories from your guides about how often they cheat. They are also called “deceivers”. Yes, the signs of all exchangers display very favorable exchange rates, however, in reality you will receive less money than you expect. Or you may even receive banknotes that have long since gone out of circulation. All kinds of asterisks, small print and other tricks of currency swindlers will ruin your mood, so it’s better to change your currency with a guide or at the hotel.

If you have rubles with you, they can be easily changed at the hotel reception.

For clarity, we give an example of the currency exchange rate in Bulgaria, Varna, Golden Sands.

For VISA card holders, not everything is smooth either. We experienced this ourselves. Taking part of the currency in euros and leaving part on the card, we planned to right time exchange money via plastic card. Imagine our bewilderment when at our Atlas hotel our card was not read. It was also not possible to read the data from the card at the Admiral Hotel, where everyone is sent to exchange currency, even the guides.

You probably thought that our card simply did not work, but we easily made purchases with it. A call to Sberbank support shed light on what was happening. It turns out that the terminals that were in the hotels did not support the chip installed in the card.

I managed to withdraw it through an ATM. By the way, using the Google map, we were able to find only 2 (two) ATMs in Golden Sands! If you are planning a trip to Golden Sands, then you need to know that the best ATM is located on the back side of the Admiral Hotel building next to the Raiffeisen Bank office. Accident or not, the office itself is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. local time.

Hotel "Admiral".

By the way, about local time: it differs from Moscow by exactly one hour. And when in Moscow (Samara) it is 12 o’clock in the afternoon, then in Bulgaria it is 11 o’clock in the morning.

How much money should you take with you? This is at your discretion and your wallet, but if you are planning shopping and going to cafes and restaurants, then you will be pleasantly surprised by the prices - they are the same, as in Russia, at least in Samara.

Out of ignorance, on the day of departure we rushed to buy “beach ensembles” for the sea at the Kirov market, imagine our surprise when, going for a walk along the shopping streets of Golden Sands, we saw better and more fashionable resort items for the same money.

So, if you are planning shopping before your trip, it is better to buy everything on the spot. You will have less luggage, and you will also get better quality items made in Turkey and Bulgaria.

Set aside money from your budget immediately for gifts and souvenirs. There are all kinds of magnets, plates and other souvenir paraphernalia in abundance. Their prices are as follows:

Small magnets from 1 leva.

Plates on a stand from 6 lev.

Large decorative plates from 18 levs.

When communicating with Bulgarians, you will be surprised how easily you will understand each other. The older generation speaks Russian very well and even without an accent, but the younger generation often inserts English into the conversation.

If your hotel only provides breakfast, then lunch and dinner can be spent in a cafe on the embankment. A wide variety of national cuisines will not leave gourmets indifferent. Here you can find Mexican, Italian, Georgian and Russian cuisine and, of course, Bulgarian national cuisine.

If you are an avid fan, then you will not miss a match of your favorite team. Matches of Russian teams are broadcast in cafes and on large monitors.

Prices in the cafe are very affordable, and all cafes have promotions like “buy 2 cocktails and 3 for free”, “buy 1 pizza and Coke for free”.

A clean embankment with good-natured sellers, departments with souvenirs, clothes and barkers in cafes, who are not as intrusive as in stories about Turkey, make a walk along it fascinating.

Eiffel Tower Cafe.

There are a lot of artists on the embankment who practice this style of drawing, such as realistic, which cannot be distinguished from photography.

You can leave your photo to the artist, and for 80 levs (about 1,700 rubles) he will amaze you with his skill. Several independent photographs of loved ones can be collected into one family portrait. The price we quoted is for one portrait drawn in pencil. If we are talking about a color drawing, then the price is correspondingly higher.

Gambling people will love the casino, the scale of which is amazing.

There are a lot of shops for adults, a lot of tattoo parlors where you can get both a real and temporary tattoo for yourself and your child.

A small “tattoo” costs from 6 levs (about 130 rubles).

In general, when converting prices to a rate that is understandable to us, Russians, simply multiply the price by 20. Well, for those who are strong in mental calculation, then by 22 rubles.

Fast food lovers will love the presence of McDonald's on the beach. Speaking about the beach, it is impossible not to mention that the beach in Golden Sands, as in all of Europe, is the property of the city, and there are no fenced hotel areas on it.

There is a rope stretched along the entire length of the beach; it separates the paid part of the beach from the free one. The distance of 3-5 meters from the sea to the rope is free, and it is always filled with vacationers. All other areas are paid. Payment is required for the sun lounger, mattress and umbrella. Day rental complete set per person will cost 19 levs. With our money, this is about 420 rubles for a comfortable time.

As a rule, the paid territory is always empty; only a few afford such comfort.

An exception to the rules is the beach area, which belongs to the Astera Golden Sands hotel. Sun loungers and umbrellas are provided to vacationers at this hotel free of charge not only by the pool, but also on the seashore.

The beach is empty starting at six o'clock in the evening. Either all the vacationers, 99.9% of whom on the beach go to the hotel for dinner, or the setting sun and evening winds give vacationers goosebumps.

There are no annoying sellers of “churchkhela” and other food on the beach. During our seven days of rest, we only saw a souvenir seller and a photographer a couple of times, by the way, without a boa constrictor and a monkey!

The photo is taken right on the beach and the price for a 15x20 photo is 10 levs (220 rubles).

When going to Bulgaria, be sure to take warm clothes: a blouse, pants, etc. In the evenings, and especially at night, it is a little cold, and the sea winds subside only at 8-9 o’clock in the morning.

In order not to repeat our mistakes, we will list those things that we took with us, but never wore or used.

1. Iron - although it was purchased specifically for the trip (a lightweight camping iron), we never had to use it. It is humid outside at night and hot during the day. Just leave things on the balcony overnight and hang them on hangers in the morning.
2. Hairdryer The hotel had an excellent hairdryer with good power. But this is not in all hotels and not in all rooms, depending on your luck.
3. Evening shoes on high heels. Best shoes for relaxation - these are slates; you can grab ballet flats or moccasins for evening walks.
4. Skirt, shorts, sundress and pareo for the beach - one pareo is enough, which will replace your skirt, shorts and even a sundress. Moreover, it does not wrinkle, is easy to wash and dry quickly, and it also takes up minimal space in your luggage!

Simplify your vacation, take everything to the minimum! Buy everything you need locally.

Perhaps the only thing we haven’t talked about yet is roaming in Bulgaria. Of course, we monitored which SIM card to go with and what the prices for calls and SMS were before the start of the trip.

If you do not activate special services and tariffs, then the price of a minute of conversation with Bulgaria will be around 69 rubles. You can find out more about the tariffs on the websites of mobile operators. Our choice was between the following tariffs:

Advantageous “Multipass” service for roaming in Bulgaria.

The choice was obvious - Beeline and its “Multipass” promotion with 5 rubles per minute of conversation. Most of the money spent in roaming was on calls to Sberbank support service. For seven days of rest we spent about 600 rubles on cellular communication in roaming.

If you manage to find more favorable rates, then write to us, it will be useful for your next trip, and we definitely want to go to Bulgaria again!

We will tell you where to go and what to see in our subsequent articles, and if your

Do Russians need a visa to Bulgaria in 2019? Russian citizens require a visa to visit Bulgaria, for which they must apply to Bulgarian visa centers or to the visa departments of the embassy.

A visa to Bulgaria is issued independently in the same way as when applying through a travel agency, the difference is that in the first case, documents must be submitted to the visa center yourself. In general, obtaining visas to Bulgaria is practically not associated with any difficulties, so Russian tourists travel to the country quite steadily.

Holders of valid Schengen visas types C and D can freely enter the territory of Bulgaria and stay there within the framework provided by the Schengen visa. The maximum period is 90 days within six months.

Types of visas to Bulgaria

Visas to Bulgaria for Russians in 2019 are obtained in the same order. This needs to be separately stated, since there was a lot of information that the Bulgarian side plans to issue visas to Russian tourists directly upon arrival in the country, but such a practice would be contrary to the rules of the European Union, of which Bulgaria is a member.

Documents for a visa to Bulgaria

Standard and mandatory package of documents

• A completed application form for a visa to Bulgaria (all fields of the application form must be filled in. The application form must be signed by the person leaving in person);
• A valid international passport with a validity period of at least 3 months after the end of the intended trip (+ a copy of its first page). The owner's signature in the passport is required;
• Color photograph 3.5x4.5 on a light background (including for the child included in the passport);
• Health insurance policy valid in European countries for the entire duration of the trip. The amount of coverage must be at least 30 thousand euros;

Medical travel insurance for a visa to Bulgaria. Enter your country and travel dates, then select suitable option and take out a policy.

• Air tickets (copy) or confirmation of ticket booking or documents for the car (copy of registration certificate, copy of driver's license, copy of Green card, free form itinerary).

Tourist trip

• Confirmation of hotel reservation (fax copy/electronic reservation). The confirmation must include the names of all travelers, length of stay, and hotel details. It is also necessary that the invitation confirms that the applicant has paid for the hotel;
• Certificate of employment on company letterhead with a stamp, indicating the address, work telephone number, position and salary of the applicant. Pensioners have the right to provide pension certificate instead of a certificate of income;
• Evidence of sufficient funds for the trip (certificate of currency purchase, traveler's checks or current bank account statement, etc.) at the rate of 50 euros per night per person (but not less than 500 euros for the entire duration of the trip).

Important information! Take part in the joint Tourist campaign. Ru and Booking.com. You will get 4% back of your hotel booking price on Booking.com. More details at.

Private visit

Transit

• Photocopy of the visa of the point (country) of destination;
• If the applicant has a visa-free regime, it is necessary to provide documents confirming the purpose of the trip (invitation, hotel reservation, real estate documents, etc.).

Business trip

• Invitation from Bulgarian legal entity established sample (original and photocopy);
• A letter of recommendation issued by the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry or the Bulgarian-Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Moscow, or a copy of the contract, certifying joint business activities and intentions related to upcoming trips;
• Certificate from the place of employment on company letterhead with a stamp, indicating the address, work telephone number, position and salary.

Traveling with children

For children, regardless of whether they are included in the parents’ passport or not, a separate form is filled out, to which

A complete set of documents is attached. In addition to general list You must provide the following documents:

• a copy of the child’s birth certificate (it is advisable to have the original with you);
• if a child is traveling accompanied by one of the parents or third parties, a notarized power of attorney for the removal of the child from the remaining parent and its copy, as well as a copy of the first page of the principal’s passport, is required.

If one of the parents is deceased or absent, it is necessary to provide the relevant documents (death certificate, original police certificate, copy of a single mother’s book, etc.).

Children over 6 years of age who are included in their parents' passport must have a photograph attached. Children over 14 years old must have their own passport.

Photo requirements

• The photo must be in color, size 3.5x4.5, on a light background (including for the child included in the passport).
• The face in the photo should be clear, large, only from the front and occupy 70-80% of the photo. The eyes should not be red.
• Photos with tinted glasses or photos taken in a makeshift way or cut from amateur photographs

Submission requirements

To speed up the application process, the documents attached to it must be folded in the following order:

• A completed application form for a visa to Bulgaria with a pasted photograph;
• Foreign passport;
• Photocopy of the main page of the passport;
• Documents confirming the purpose of the trip;
• Insurance policy;
• Air ticket reservation;
• Certificate from place of work;
• Documents confirming the availability of sufficient funds;
• For minors traveling unaccompanied by parents or guardians: a copy of the birth certificate and a notarized copy of the permission to travel from the parents;
• Additional documents.

Visa validity periods

Validity of short-term (entry) visas

• A single entry visa gives the right to a single entry and stay in the country for up to 90 days within 6 months from the date of entry. The specific length of stay is indicated on the visa sticker;
• A double entry visa gives the right to two entries and stay in the country for up to 90 days within 6 months from the date
  first entry. The specific length of stay is indicated on the visa sticker. However, double-entry visa holders cannot enter the country twice through the same border crossing;
• A three-month multiple entry visa is valid for three months. The visa entitles you to multiple entries and a total stay in Bulgaria for up to 90 days. The specific length of stay is indicated on the visa sticker;
• A six-month multiple entry visa is valid for six months. The visa gives the right to multiple entries and a total stay in Bulgaria for up to 90 days. The specific length of stay is indicated on the visa sticker;
• A multiple-entry annual entry visa is valid for twelve months. The visa gives the right to multiple entries and a total stay in Bulgaria for up to 90 days within six months from the date of first entry. The specific length of stay is indicated on the visa sticker.

A transit visa (single, double or multiple) gives the right to travel through the territory of Bulgaria to third countries with the possibility of staying in the country for up to five days for each entry.

Cost of a visa to Bulgaria in 2019

The following categories of citizens are exempt from paying the consular fee::

In case of visa refusal, the consular fee and service fee are not refunded.

Duration of obtaining a visa to Bulgaria

Short-stay and transit visas are issued within 4-6 working days (depending on the place of application), and urgent single-entry short-stay visas and urgent single-entry transit visas are issued within 48 hours. You can find out about the status of processing visa documents on the page.

Who doesn't need a visa

Citizens of a number of countries do not need a visa to Bulgaria. These are the countries of the European Union, USA, Great Britain, Japan, Israel, Australia, New Zealand and some others.

A visa is not required for a short-term stay on the territory of the republic for holders of valid double and multiple-entry Schengen visas, long-term visas, as well as residence permits issued by the Schengen countries. The only condition for holders of such visas is that the number of entries and the visa corridor of the Schengen visa must not be exhausted.

Victor Pashinsky

You can go to Bulgaria on your own in your own car or fly in by purchasing tickets from.

In this article we will try to describe in as much detail as possible the process of independently organizing a holiday in Bulgaria and highlight the main ways to save on a hotel, tickets, insurance or visa.

Do you need a visa to Bulgaria, how much does it cost and how to get it?

To Bulgaria indeed need a visa, but it's very easy to get. To open a visa to Bulgaria, you will need:

• Bank statement— on the account at least 70 Euros per person, the statement is less than a month old. Done at your bank.
• Certificate from place of work(on letterhead) - you must indicate your position and wages. The certificate is also no more than 30 days old.
• International passport- when you leave Bulgaria, there must be at least 91 days left until your passport expires.
• Regular passport- must be valid.
• Your photo– 2 copies of photo for a European visa
• Medical insurance- for a minimum amount of 30,000 Euro.
• Hotel and flight reservations— issued immediately after their purchase.
• Payment of consular fee- 35 Euro regular (per week) 70 Euro - urgent (per day).

In fact, a visa to Bulgaria is issued very simply. For example, we did not submit either a bank account statement or a certificate of employment. And nothing, we got everything fine (however, tourist visas for Ukraine follow a simplified scheme). You can get a visa yourself at the embassy - it will be cheaper than through an agency.

If all this is difficult for you, we advise you to use it - everything is described in detail there. All you have to do is get a consultation, collect the necessary documents, and the visa will be delivered straight to your home. This simplified visa service costs approximately 2,500 rubles including delivery.

Travel insurance for a trip to Bulgaria - where to get it cheaply and quickly?

To obtain a visa to Bulgaria, you must purchase health insurance. For example, we bought a trip through an agency and our insurance didn’t include anything: even insurance against rain and hurricanes. Seriously. It’s scary to imagine how much we overpaid for all this happiness.

Minimum sum insured medical insurance for a visa to Bulgaria 30,000 Euro. It's up to us to choose the ideal insurance - he compares the prices of reliable insurance companies that will really help if something happens. We use it ourselves and recommend it to you. By the way, if you add a couple of additional options to your insurance, the price often increases very slightly.

Prices for package tours to Bulgaria in 2016

It is no secret that package tours to Bulgaria on the Internet can cost less than those from travel agencies - their markup is about 10%, but on the Internet it can be only 1-3% due to reduced costs.

When searching for tours, we use a service that automatically searches for the most profitable options among the largest tour operators and offers them to you at reduced prices (less commission).

But this is not even the main advantage. At an agency, you usually choose from 2-3 options, but here you are offered a choice among dozens of offers.

How much will you have to spend on air tickets to Bulgaria?

The most profitable way to buy tickets to Bulgaria is from Moscow to the airport. If you do not have a clear connection to the departure dates, we advise you to look for tickets to neighboring dates. This often results in savings of about 20-30% of the cost of the flight.

It is quite difficult to search for tickets on airline websites (although sometimes there are exclusive offers, and sometimes the same flights are more expensive), we recommend using the low price calendar from Aviasales:

You need to select the city of departure and arrival (it’s worth looking for both Burgas and Varna), indicate the number of people, select the month in which you want to fly and evaluate the minimum ticket prices by day of the week.

How to choose hotels in Bulgaria at the lowest price

To search for hotels, we usually use . It allows you to automatically compare prices in different booking systems and choose the cheapest option.

The key advantage of the service is the ability to quickly sort hotels by the desired number of stars and price, go to the map and choose a hotel near the sea and away from the noisy center.

It is also very important to be able to look at prices in different months and book a room with a sea view in just 15-20 minutes.

Of course, each hotel is accompanied by a photo, description and list of services and a rating with reviews from guests.

On Sunny Beach, for example, it is very good choice hotels

Many of them are in no way inferior the best hotels 4* and 5* Turkey and Egypt

There are, of course, cheaper options, which you can easily book using the button below.

Prices for renting apartments and rooms in Bulgaria

If you want to live not in a popular resort like , but in a normal city, we advise you to stay not in a hotel, but in a rented apartment. In our experience, the price turns out to be almost the same, and living in own apartment much nicer than in a hotel.

We usually search for and rent housing through the popular rental service AirBnB. It is quite convenient, very fast and very reliable. As they say, we use it ourselves and recommend it to you.

Pomorie is divided into a new and an old part. The new one is being actively built up, while the old one is mainly used for renting out apartments that are several decades old.

As you know, Bulgaria is a favorite holiday destination for Russians. In addition to the favorable climate, sandy beaches, delicious national dishes and the absence of a language barrier, tourists from Russia are attracted by the opportunity to purchase local real estate. For travelers who constantly travel to Bulgaria and book hotel rooms on their own, the issue of obtaining a national visa is especially acute. Not here we're talking about about Schengen holders - they are allowed to visit with permits issued in different countries. Information about what documents are needed for a visa to Bulgaria will become more useful and relevant for ordinary people. This article is devoted to this issue.

Methods for obtaining a Bulgarian visa

The process of obtaining a visa to Bulgaria is not complicated; in practice, this can be done in two ways: contact a travel agency or go through all the steps yourself. Today, most tourists have absolutely no time to independently collect documents for a visa to Bulgaria. It’s easier for them to contact specialized service or an accredited travel agency. For travelers who can afford to visit visa centers, completing all the documents will not be difficult.

Obtaining a visa through a travel agency

In Russia there is large number companies and travel agencies that deal with issuing national visas. They work directly with visa centers and control the process of obtaining documents. You only need to bring the necessary papers, they will do the rest themselves. Some companies even deliver visas to your home. Of course, this service is not free.

If the documents are submitted not by you personally, but by an authorized person, you need a power of attorney written by the owner of the foreign passport and certified by a notary.

Obtaining a visa yourself

It is not at all necessary to turn to intermediary companies for help; many travelers deal with the issue of obtaining tourist visas themselves. First you need to have necessary list documents. A visa to Bulgaria is made on the basis of the collected papers.

Visa centers in all regions of Russia are open five days a week from morning to evening. There is no pre-registration, so you can contact the document processing service at a time convenient for you. A visa center employee checks that the application form is filled out correctly, and after accepting all the necessary papers, the employee is obliged to issue you a special receipt with which you can receive a visa.

Information on the location of Bulgarian embassies and consulates in Russia will be useful. The Consulate General of Bulgaria is in Novosibirsk, St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg. If you need an embassy, ​​then for this you will have to go to the capital. As for visa centers, they are located in the same largest Russian cities, including Moscow.

What else do tourists need to know? You need to pay a certain amount for paperwork. This fee is called 35 euros for a regular visa to Bulgaria (the list of documents is presented below). Russians also need to pay for urgency; the consular fee for such a document will be 70 euros. In addition to this mandatory fee, you must pay a service fee. It is charged from citizens in the amount of 836 rubles. This amount is the same for all visa centers and must be paid each time, regardless of the type of document.

Residents of the CIS countries, including Belarus and Kazakhstan, comply with all visa regime rules; the consular fee for them is 2,640 rubles. However, if traveling with children, residents of neighboring countries must pay for a child visa. This applies to children under 6 years of age.

The processing time for a regular permit takes on average 5-8 working days, and for an urgent permit - 3 days. Only after a personal visit is it possible to obtain a visa to Bulgaria. Documents can be collected from 11.00 to 16.00 at the Visa Application Center.

Tourists who have only or have not traveled anywhere are provided with some bonuses. Thus, travelers with “clean” passports are usually issued a visa for six months. If you have already been to Bulgaria, then you have the right to count on a different permit period - 1 year. However, the question of the period for which a national visa will be issued is not discussed with tourists.

Documents for a visa to Bulgaria

To travel abroad, any Russian tourist needs to obtain a special permit. To do this, you need to collect a whole package of documents:

1. Visa application form.

2. Foreign passport. Note to travelers, it must be valid for another 3 months, including the end date of the trip.

3. Color photography. Size - 3.5x4.5.

4. Copy home page foreign passport (2 pcs).

5. Copies of pages with valid visas.

6. Ticket or reservation (copy and original).

7. Certificate of medical insurance for a coverage amount of at least 30,000 euros (copy and original).

8. Evidence of funds. The amount is calculated at 100 euros per day per person. Even if you are traveling for a couple of days, the amount of insurance must be at least 500 euros - this is the limit.

Traveling with children: documents for obtaining a visa

Young travelers also need a visa to Bulgaria. What documents are needed if you are planning to go on vacation with children?

1. (copy, it is advisable to have the original with you).

2. Completed application form. It is necessary even when information about children is included in the passport.

In the case when a child travels abroad with third parties or one of the parents, it is necessary to take with him a power of attorney from his mother/father, who remains in his home country. In addition, copies of the notarized permission and the initial page of the passport must be available.

When traveling with children you need to know that:

There is no need to pay a consular fee for a child if he is under 6 years old;

A child's photograph of their baby must be pasted into the mother/father's passport. This rule applies to children who are included in the parent’s foreign passport. Age restrictions - 6 years.

Documents for obtaining visa D

A long-term stay visa is issued to foreigners who are planning long-term or permanent residence in this country. Such citizens are issued a so-called visa D to Bulgaria. Documents need to be collected by those who wish to carry out either labor or commercial activities. In addition, the following have the right to obtain such permission:

Foreign specialists who arrived in the country under an international treaty;

Citizens who have grounds for permanent residence(for example, a marriage certificate with a resident of Bulgaria);

Representatives of companies that are registered with the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry;

Family members of a citizen of the Republic of Belarus;

Foreign media correspondents, etc.

This permit is issued to those who plan to stay in the country from 90 to 360 days, but no more. A temporary residence permit is regulated by the Law of the Russian Federation “On Foreigners in the Republic of Belarus”, Article 24. The fee for processing such a document is 100 euros, the period for preparing the permit is from 30 working days.

Private visit to Bulgaria. What do tourists need to know?

For a personal trip, Russians can use an invitation from a citizen who has a residence permit, or from a native resident of this country. Based on this paper, a visa to Bulgaria is issued. Required documents must be notarized, and the permission must be noted in Public organization at the place of residence of the inviting party. The same applies to family members of a Bulgarian citizen, the only difference is that instead of an invitation, you need to provide a civil status act, which takes into account the types of connections - family or marital. In order for spouses to enter the country, they must provide a marriage certificate, and children must provide a birth certificate. Both originals and copies of documents are required.

Personal tourist travel requires proof of hotel reservation to be provided to the visa center. Most often, they provide a copy of the fax with the signature of the responsible person. This confirmation must indicate all components of the tour: travel dates, name of the hotel, its address, e-mail, telephone. In addition, it is necessary to record the payment of the hotel by the applicant. Sometimes the Visa Application Center may require them or therefore it is better to have them with you.

In principle, tourists from Russia can obtain documents for a visa to Bulgaria without any problems. The standard package allows you to do this without wasting time searching for some “important” information. A fairly simple visa regime for our compatriots is one of the main reasons for our boundless love for Bulgaria.