Active Travel: Sofia

Stockholm - check! Sofia - check!

Yes, I took an early-morning flight to Sofia, Bulgaria on Ryanair thanks to their 30 pound return ticket! I stayed for three nights there and had some pretty active days, while also eating lots of cheese, yogurt, and baklava...

First day, I woke up at 3 am to catch a bus to Stansted. When I landed, I checked into my hotel called Hotel Light (super well-priced by the way with free buffet breakfast), took a nap, and then went on a Sofia Running Tour with Valentin. It was so much better-priced than the one in Stockholm. I was glad I went on this, since not only was Valentin a great tour guide, Sofia is not an easy city to run in. We didn't see any other runners. Also people here don't really speak English, so if I got lost, it would have been bad. Anyways the 10km was absolutely fantastic and I made another running friend on Strava!

I also went on the Sofia Hike Tour (free tour by the way) with my guide Stefan and a group of other tourists. We hiked the Vitosha Mountain, Bulgaria's first national park. They meet everyday at the theatre in the morning. Thankfully, May is not a high-season, so there weren't that many people clogging the hike. It was a great choice. I woke up that morning thinking I wanted to just take it easy, but I am so glad I went! It was such a beautiful hike and I couldn't have gone without someone local. I learned more about the country and got to see beautiful views along the way. Would definitely recommend this tour!

The Boyana Waterfall!

Hike group that day!

Bonus picture: Schopska Salad, which is apparently a really common Bulgarian dish made wish cheese, pepper, tomato, and olive oil, as well as a yogurt-based dish! Did you know that in Japan, there is a very famous yogurt brand called "Bulgaria"? So I definitely had to try their yogurt...

Active Summary:

1 run - 10.6 km with Valentin

1 hike - 8.3 km, 536 m climb

Lots of dairy!

#sofia #bulgaria #running #runningtour #hiking #travel #traveltips