Is Bulgaria safe for solo female travelers?
Safety rating
Make travel friends
Meet other female travelers, find travel buddies and stay with local women for free through hospitality exchange.
How safe is Bulgaria for female travelers?
Travel safety index
based on 39 experiences from female travelers
Sofia, Solo travel
I met a lot of very interesting and kind people, eat a lot of good, local and traditional food. I really recommend bulgarian kitchen and atmosphere, it's really cozy i nice. Visited some atmospheric places, bars and interesting attractions:)
Posted: September 3, 2025Experienced: July, 2025Sunny Beach Resort, Solo travel
Sunny beach is a place to party, you cannot do anything else. But the parties are amazing, guys are good looking, it’s really cheap and far away from any West Country. I meet amazing people, spent so much good time and I have memories that I’m never gonna forget. I went there to work, alone, it was a though decision, but one of the best in my life. Since none of my friend were crazy enough to come with my I decided to go there by myself, and now I’m going to meet some friends in different countries and it really changed myself. I loved travelling alone and partying like this, it’s not something that I usually liked, however I think I could enjoy anything if I do it with people I like ❤️
Posted: August 17, 2025Sofia, Couple travel
Overall, the city is beautiful and has so many gorgeous buildings with clearly different influences from history. Sofia feels very lived in, but overall it’s a chaotic place in my opinion. It’s a very walkable city with lovely public parks and green spaces to chill. We were really lucky with the weather and had a lovely time walking around. We stayed near Serdica metro, which was very convenient. However, at night time we felt a bit unsafe as there were a lot of people drinking on the street and being rowdy together. I also spent some time on my own and was followed from a cafe all the way to the Main shopping street by a man. That was very scary, and in broad daylight where nobody intervened as he was saying things to me. We visited some museums - the National Gallery which had a beautiful host of Bulgarian painters, as well as French and a (slightly misleading) Picasso exhibition. We also went to the museum of natural history which was charming, but mostly for kids and a little stuck in the 90s aesthetic wise. I also did the free Balkan Bites tour, it was so fun and my tour guide was really knowledgable. We got to try local cuisine, fusion items, and some Bulgarian wine. You are expected to tip though! Food wise: I highly recommend Kuzina for Greek food, Mezza for Turkish and Middle Eastern food, and I do not recommend Happy as my chicken was bright pink even after I send it back to be recooked.
Posted: June 20, 2025Experienced: June, 2025Sofia, Solo travel
Even though a few streets seemed sketchy literally nothing happened, the transportation was extremely well organized and not too overcrowded, plus even when it was nobody pushed personal boundaries. I stayed in an apparent next to the biggest square and it was amazing
Posted: May 12, 2025Sofia, Solo travel
I felt safe, but I did not do a lot of things. I met cool people and tried some bars and a flea market. The problem was also the friends I visited on my stay, who did not make it easy. Overall I would recommend
Posted: May 12, 2025Experienced: May, 2025How safe is Bulgaria for women?
Local safety index
Based on 95 local experiences
Local crime index
Based on 95 local experiences
Varna
I would say its pretty safe, especially public transport. Night life is safe too, at least in my experience and what I've heard. The only thing that I'm worried about is locals reaction to gay or alt looking people. There were multiple accidents when teenage boys have beaten somebody just because of their looks (but the targets are usually teenagers too).
Posted: September 18, 2025Plovdiv
Plovdiv is rather safe for a woman. However, I prefer to warn that for non-white people it is unfortunately much more complicated. My boyfriend is black, and we face a lot of stares that we mostly interpret as curiosity in general since we haven't seen any people of color since our arrival. On the other hand, we experienced a serious incident that shows you have to be very careful depending on who you come across (a nazi salute directed at us + insults in Bulgarian). So, for a white woman it is generally quite safe to walk around, but I give a huge warning about the pervasive racism, notably due to the rise of the far right with nazi influences in the country. From what we have seen, there are indeed groups to watch out for.
Posted: September 7, 2025Sofia
There are areas which could be more dengerous, a lot of abandoned places, for example around the railway station but there are also a lot of really nice and helpful people who are ready to help. They often try to speak English or communicate even if they don't speak well. My expirience is quite good in general
Posted: September 2, 2025
Mirella
Pazardzhik
The city is not that big and there is police car in almost at every quarter during the night. There are no reports for crimes for sexual abuse or missing people since years. The city is calm, the people here - also.
Posted: August 20, 2025
Maggie
Sofia
I think it's fairly safe, compared to other capitals. It's important to be aware of your surroundings, avoid the area of Lavov most, NDK and paradise mall after midnight. If you're driving, be extra careful, the road is dangerous here.
Posted: August 12, 2025Safety in Bulgaria
