Bulgaria (Lonely Planet Country Guide) [Paperback]

I visited Sofia and Plovdiv for 4 days recently, and for my purposes found this guide to be of average usefulness, nothing more. The coverage on Sofia was underwhelming; the main sights and accommodation needs are all well covered, but the recommended eating and drinking venues are rather run-of-the-mill, even lacklustre. Certainly it does not do justice to Sofia's well deserved reputation as an up-and-coming, ultra-hip metropolitan location, where in my experience there is no shortage of exceptional and perfectly affordable bars and restaurants, e.g. 10 leva for a filling and impeccable two-course "Chef's Recommendations" at Upstairs, and the amazing Vinobar which is worth visiting just to see the winelist of 300 varieties.

As for Plovdiv, the author claims that "Unless you're planning a long stay, or venturing out into the suburbs, the maps in this guidebook will be sufficient." Not so. We got lost on the hills of the old town because many of the streets were not labelled on said map.

Other curiosities, for the lack of foresight, or attention to detail, may be found. In the Bulgarian phrases section at the back, "dobur den" (the most commonly used phrase for "good day" or "hello") is missing for some unknown reason. On how to get to Simenovo from Sofia: "Minibus No 41 runs from Sofia city centre to Simeonovo (1lv)." All very well, but may I ask where in the city centre? The section on Sofia transport completely fails to mention the fact that a line of official yellow taxis exist perpetually outside the airport, so there is no real need to book a cab at the counter inside the airport as the guidebook recommends; had this been made clear to me beforehand it would have saved me some sweat on my arrival at the airport at 1:20am.

The section on postal services deserves special mention. Actual prices for mailing postcards are twice of those listed in the Lonely Planet. Unusual considering the guide is fairly recent, but forgivable. Less forgivable is the fact that the central post office operates in a manner which most outsiders would probably find fairly confusing and daunting; that is, division of labour to the maximum degree, and this guidebook makes not one mention of this. My understanding (limited, given the lack of English signage) is that there are actually three sections to the central post office, one for parcels, one for bills and payments and one for ordinary mail. Within each section, each counter is divided to serve a different function. And even then there is a line of postboxes, one for mail to Sofia, one for Plovdiv, one for Varna, one for international mail, etc. I posted a postcard unknowingly into the yellow box outside the post office door which is probably for some other purpose altogether, I hope my friend will receive it.

My review has so far been fairly harsh, and I make no apologies. I have not used the guide to travel the rest of Bulgaria's cities and countryside, and it may be the case that Lonely Planet Bulgaria excels here. However I believe that if the Lonely Planet is to be "the one" travel guide to have, then it should be solid and dependable by itself all the way through, which unfortunately cannot be said of Lonely Planet Bulgaria. To be fair, it is by all means a usable guide, but you would gain much from making use of Internet resources and the excellent Sofia Insider guide, freely available in hotels and restaurants in Sofia.

I have spent seven weeks this year in Bulgaria, and found the Lonely Planet guide both easy to use and fair minded. The section on the precipitously set,fantasically, beautiful town of Veliko Tarnovo (you must go to this place!) and its historic village neighbour Arbanasi was wonderfully accurate and helped us plan our 3 day stay with great success. (Even the guides explanation to the towns fantastic light show was uncannily spot on, even down to the description of the late arrival of those who had paid for seats!)
Maybe a greater amount of detail regarding the far Black Sea southern coast as far down as the lovely beaches at Sozopol on the Turkish Border, as well as more information on the beguilling Strandzha district would have helped, but perhaps somethings are best left undiscovered by (lots of) western tourists!
The accompanying commentary on the country as a whole was fair minded and thoughtful.... My Bulgarian wife even approved. The country is certainly is one of Europe's best kept secrets.

Surprisingly, this guidebook is not up to the Lonely Planet's usual standards, with much of the information out-of-date or just plain wrong. The maps, also, are somewhat confusing and the local tourist guides were far more useful for navigating around cities. Having said that, I'm sure Lonely Planet do not intend for their guidebooks to be used as accurate city maps - the books cover too much ground.
Bulgaria changes fast: every city we visited had probably over 100 hotels or hostels, while the guidebook only lists a few in each price range. It was the same for restaurants. In general, this was a useful guide but I'd recommend supplementing it with online information about whichever city/cities in Bulgaria you plan to visit.