Sofia Guide

General Information

Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, is situated in the western parts of the country at the foot of Vitosha Mountain. The city is the major one and represents a symbol of the economical growth, the deep in time history and the cultural remnants of different ages. All over the city there are buildings from variant epochs – from old houses from the Ottoman Empire to brand new business buildings, from large luxurious malls to the small markets in the neighborhoods. Sofia can be perceived as a puzzle of modern and antic concepts in its architectural structure.

Food

The city can be enjoyed in many ways and can satisfy the needs of a travelling businessman and of visitors without any problems. For the gourmets there are plenty of restaurants and their menu offers several types of foreign cuisine. The Italian and Chinese cuisines are easy to find all over the city, meanwhile the Turkish, Indian and Serbian cuisines are not so popular, but yet there are several restaurants with rich menus and skilled chiefs. Of course, the Bulgarian cuisine is not to be forgotten and it’s not only about the food, there are few drinks too that are typical for this nation – rakia and boza.
 

Nightlife

After a fine dinner, there’s always the chance of tasting the nightlife in Sofia. It can be enjoyed to the fullest in one of the many clubs and discos. The choice of music is wide – some discos are enormous and hold several halls with different type of music, others have a program for every night of the week and the last ones never cheat on their chosen style of music. There are salsa schools that sometimes expand their work in some discos, and then there are the rap bars, the rock and metal pubs, retro discos and trance halls. The most played music however is the Bulgarian folk that is also called “chalga”.

Artlife

For the people who aren’t so much into the nightlife and who prefer a calm stay in Sofia, there are plenty of museums like the National Historical Museum, the Bulgarian Natural History Museum, the Museum of Earth and Men, the Ethnographic Museum, the National Museum of Military History, the National Archaeological Museum; and then some galleries: Sofia City Art Gallery, the Bulgarian National Gallery of Arts, the Bulgarian National Gallery for Foreign Art. For the antic taste of streets of Sofia help many old churches – St. Nedelya Church, a Russian Church, Hagia Sophia Church, Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, there’s a public bath, and remnants from the Romanian Empire.
 

Activities

For those interested in the active side of life Sofia offers several stadiums, a winter palace, a Museum of Sport, a horse-riding academy and tennis courts in the heart of the city, and skating rings during the winter. Being surrounded by mountains, Sofia is therefore surrounded by different winter resorts. The most famous resorts are Bansko, Pamporovo, Borovets. Vitosha park, the Borisov garden, the South Park and the Panchareevo Lake on the other hand are favourite places for many metropolitans to spend the weekend at. These are locations where people can have picnics, play football or badminton, sunbath, relax. Another beautiful place is the Ariana Lake at the Borisov garden, where in the winter you can ice skate and in the summer you can take a tour around the lake with a water wheel.
 

Festivals

In the past few years the Bulgarian capital hosted various festivals like Earth Sky Veggie Pie, Vola Open Air, Sofia Film Fest, Mellow Music Festival, Nothing like before Fest (which started this year), Sofia Dance Week, Sonisphere Festival, ecc. The Sri Chinmoy Centre in Sofia every year take out their Chariot of light and make a trip across the pedestrian streets, surrounded by flowers, “music of the soul” and admirers of that philosophy course. No matter the cause and time of visit, preparations should be made and the most important of them is checking the cultural events during the planned stay in Sofia.

Location: Sofia Airport 

B/w Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 
Address: 140 "Mimi Balkanska" str. 
Mobile.: +359 888 333 548 
Phone.: +359 2 9815381 
e-mail: office@toprentacar.bg

Hiring a car in Sofia

Sofia is Bulgaria’s biggest city and one of Europe’s most compact capital cities.A lot of business tourists visit Sofia as well as travelers heading to the Black Sea or the ski resorts such as Bansko and Borovets. If you are going to visit Sofia and you haven’t book your car hire, you can do this using our car hire booking engine on the left side of the web site. We have  Sofia car hire office next to Sofia International Airport on “Brussels” 3 blvd. Top Rent-A-Car offers also holiday apartments for your stay in Sofia.
 
Sofia became preferred business destination for big corporations and investors during the last years and confident cosmopolitan European capital. In the streets of Sofia you can see next to the remains of Bulgaria’s long history, fancy shopping malls, five-star hotels and some of the best bars and clubs the country has to offer. You can visit all these interesting places in Sofia, reserving a car hire. Sofia is also vary green city - parklands within the city boundaries and the ski slopes and hiking trails of mighty Vitosha Mountain right on the doorstep.

Sofia is nevertheless an attractive tourist destination and cultured city with plenty to keep you browsing for several days or more. It has developed very quickly over recent years and if you are planning to visit the city you will enjoy the trendy international boutiques, hotels and casinos as well as the museums, art galleries, theatres, fine restaurants and clubs, you can find them all here. The best way to see all your places of interest in Sofia is to rent a car. You can see our Sofia office location on the map below, or you can search quick and easy for car rentals with our booking engine at the left side of our web site.

Top Rent-A-Car’s Car Renting Tips

Choosing a Vehicle To Hire

After choosing your pick up place, date and time, you will be taken to our result page with all available cars you can rent for the requested period. You have to think very carefully about what kind of vehicle you'll need to hire. If you're traveling with children or with a lot of luggage, you will probably need some large sedan, minivan or SUV. Or if you're looking for the best car hire deal, you'll need to reserve the smallest available model or some of the latest car rental discounts, which you can see at Car Hire in Sofia Hot Deals Section.

Top Rent-A-Car offers also, many optional extras like ski rack, roof racks, snow chains, baby seat or GPS system. You can choose any of the extras on the third step of the car rental reservation process.

Booking Your Car Rental

Top Rent-A-Car offers the best local rates, especially for long rental periods. Also, we provide 24 hour road accident assistance in case you break down, unlimited mileage, collision damage waiver and theft protection, all these for free!

If you haven't already, consider joining our car rental company's loyalty program. If you are Top Rent-A-Car Club Member, you will receive constant privileges when picking up your vehicle, we will have your affiliates saved, allowing you to simply get into the car you have booked and go forward to your journey, rather than filling out paperwork every time you pick up your car. You will also be eligible for car hire specials and free upgrades. For more affiliates, about Top Rent-A-Car Club Card membership, contact us or ask the local representative.

Read Our Car Rental Terms And Conditions

Read Top Rent-A-Car General Terms And Conditions carefully before confirming your reservation. If you are not sure about any of the conditions of you reservation, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

The Total Cost Of Our Car Rentals

All rates of the car rentals on “Step 2” are with no local taxes included ( the local tax is 20% and you will have it calculated in the final third step of the car rental reservation process). In the total price you will get included:

√ Unlimited mileage
√ Third Party Liability
√ Road taxes
√ 24 hours road assistance
√ Airport surcharge
√ CDW – reduces the renter’s liability in case of damage of the vehicle up to the amount of the deposit (excess). CDW is valid only valid if a protocol from the Police Authorities is presented. Does not cover damage to the vehicle due to driving under the influence of alcohol, other intoxicating substances or due to violation of the Bulgarian Traffic Laws.
√ TP – reduces the renter’s liability in case of theft of the vehicle up to the amount of the deposit (excess). TP is valid only if a protocol from the Police Authorities is presented and the car keys and documents are returned.
There are No Car Rental Hidden Costs!

At Pickup Time

When you are picking up your car rental, you will be assisted by our car hire agent to  inspect the car for any body damages, scratches etc. All details will be checked in your car rental contract. Be sure the lights and turn signals are working properly, and check the mileage odometer. If there are any defects, please report them to our local car hire agent. 

It is important to make yourself familiar with the workings of the car before you start the engine and leave the parking lot. Check which side your gas tank is on, and learn how to use the headlights, windshield wipers and turn signal. It may seem obvious, but you'll also want to memorize the make, model and color of your car -- that way you won't lose it the first time you park in a busy lot!
Consult your map. Our car rental agency will give you a map of the area if you need one, so take it out and consult this map, and formulate your route. Next, hand the map to a copilot if you have one, who can conceive any enhancements to the plan.

Don’t forget to:

- Fix your mirrors
- Figure out how the radio is working
- Find the window controls
- Find the turn signals
- Find the windshield wipers
- Locate the lights
- Figure out the high beams
- Check the emergency brake

Returning Your Car

Always fill up the tank before returning the vehicle.
Before leaving the vehicle, please check for any personal belongings and don't forget to check the trunk! In case of forgetting some personal stuff, you will receive an e-mail.
You can be sure that our car rental agent will inspects the car's body in your presence.
Start your perfect car hire trip in Sofia using Top Rent-A-Car services!

Top Rent-A-Car’s Tips for driving in Bulgaria:

Drive on the right side of the road in Bulgaria
There is a legal minimum age for driving, which is 18 years.
To drive on Bulgarian roads you must have a valid driving licence. All citizens of EU countries and Switzerland are allowed to drive with their valid national driving licences because Bulgaria is a member of the European Union. If you are a citizen of non-EU country, you may drive in Bulgaria with your national driving licence for one year only.
It is mandatory to wear a seat belt including in the back seats, the belts on the back seats must be fitted.
Children under the age of 12 may not travel in the front seat.
If you are motorbike driver, you must wear safety helmet.
Headlights must be on at all times from 1 November until 1 March. Top Rent-A-Car advice all
customers to drive with turned on daylights during the day, all year round.
Do not use mobile telephones without a "handsfree" system.

General speed limits in Bulgaria:

130 km/h on highways
90 km/h on roads outside built-up areas
50 km/h in built-up areas

Top Rent-A-Car’s Tips for parking in Bulgaria:

You can park only in the restricted parking areas in the big cities. In Sofia there are also parking zones marked as either Blue or Green where you can park and pay with text message (SMS) to 1302or directly on the parking warden. The payment is by the hour. After sending the text message, you gets a confirmation that the payment is successful. Before the pre-paid hour elapses, you will receive a notification for renewing your payment. There are a lot of paid parking lots, too. The average fee is about 1 euro per hour. If you travel by plane, you will probably be interested in Top Rent-A-Car’s Airport Parking Service. It is a convenient way to guarantee your safe parking space and to receive meet and greet service on your way back.

In case of any emergency you can call the national emergency phone number: 112

Car Hire in Sofia from Top Rent-A-Car

Sofia Museums

The National  Military History Museum
tel.: + 359 2 946 18 05 e-mail: m.museum@bol.bg
Working Hours: 10.00 to 18.00

Ethnographic Institute with Museum,
tel.:  +359 2 988 41 91 e-mail: eim_bas@mail.bg

Earth and Man National Museum
tel.:  +359 2 865 66 39 e-mail earth.and.man@gmail.com
Working Hours: 10.00 to 18.00

National Museum of History
tel.: +359 2 955 42 80 e-mail: nim1973@abv.bg

Archaeology Museum
tel.: +359 2 988 24 06 e-mail: aim-bas@aclubcable.com
Working Hours: 10:00 to 18:00.

National Polytechnic Museum
tel.: +359 2 831 30 04 e-mail: polytechnic@abv.bg
Working Hours: 09.00 to 17.00

Natural History Museum
tel.: + 359 2 987 41 95
Working Hours 10.00 to 18.00.

The House-Museum of Bulgaria’s most famous writer Ivan Vazov
Museum of Paleontology and historical geology
tel.: +359 2 930 82 00

Public Galleries

National Foreign Art Gallery
tel.: +359 2 988 49 22 e-mail: ngfa@abv.bg
Working Hours: 11:00 to 18:00

National Art Gallery
tel.: +359 2 980 00 93
Working Hours: 10:30 to 18:00

Sofia Art Gallery
tel.:  +359 2 987 21 81
Working Hours: 10:00 to 19:00

Sofia City Art Gallery
tel: +359 2 987 2181

Churches in Sofia

Alexander Nevsky Cathedral

Boyana Church
tel.: +359 2 959 09 39 e-mail: nmbc@nmbc.orbitel.bg
Working Hours: 09:00 to 17:00.

St. George Church

Hagia Sophia Church

St. Joseph Catholic cathedral
tel.: 02/9815548 Holy Masses: SAT 5,30pm & SUN 10,30am bulgarian; 12,00pm latin; 6pm bulgarian

Banya Bashi Mosque

Sofia Synagogue.
Working Hours: 09:00 to 16:30

Historical buildings in Sofia

The Amphitheatre of Serdica

Battenberg Mausoleum

The monument to Vasil Levski

The monument to the Tsar Liberator

The monument of the Unknown Soldier

Knyaz Battenberg's Palace

Sofia Public Mineral Baths

City Parks and Squares

Sofia’s biggest city park is called “Borisova gradina”.

The City Garden is one of the oldest public gardens in Bulgaria. It exists since 1872.

Alexander Battenberg Square is big square in the centre of Sofia often used for big celebrations and demonstrations.  

Very famous in Bulgaria with its book market is the Slaveykov Square.

Another large open-air square is Patriarch Evtimiy Square.