Bulgarian Tourist Pool

Bulgaria - general information

The Republic of Bulgaria is a south-eastern European state situated on the Balkan Peninsula at the Black Sea coast. It spreads on a territory of 111,000 sq. km and has a population of 8,230,371. Bulgarians with their 87 % form the predominant part of the population but there are also ethnic minority groups like Bulgarian Turks, Bulgarian Gypsies, Armenians, Jews, Russians, Greeks, etc.

The Republic of Bulgaria is currently in the process of integration to the European structures. The country is actively involved with the work of the Council of Europe and its committees. Bulgaria forms part of the Central-European Free Trade Area and the Black Sea Area of Economic Co- operation and is applying for a membership to the European Union and have been invited for a member of NATO.

Bulgaria is a cross-roads. A number of transport connections between Europe, Asia and Africa cross its territory. The railway and the highway from Central Europe through Belgrade and Sofia to Istanbul forking to reach Thessaloniki and Athens are highly important. Bulgaria's transport system includes interconnected types of transport - railway, motor, sea, river, air, pipeline, ropeway and urban transport. The sea transport develops mainly through the two ports of Varna and Bourgas and the river transport - on the river Danube. The air transport provides regular flights to Sofia, Varna and Bourgas airports. There are also charter flights to these airports and to the Plovdiv Airport as well. Because of the small territory and the short distances in the country there are domestic flights only to Sofia, Vama and Bourgas.

There exist a lot of and highly reliable transport connections between Bulgaria and Greece. The Bulgaria-Greece borderline is 493 km long. The busiest railway and motor connections through this border lie with the Kulata Checkpoint and the village of Novo Selo. The country maintains railway connections to Greece and to the other Balkan countries. The Sofia-Athens railway is currently being electrified. The motor transport is also well developed. The basic highway network is being reconstructed and new highways are being built. One of these is the Struma Highway connecting Sofia, Thessaloniki and Athens. This is the only highway connecting Athens with another capital city.

Bulgaria has a continental-Mediterranean climate. There are four clearly identifiable seasons: spring, summer, autumn and winter. Sunshine is responsible for the formation of the climate in Bulgaria: - it is around 2,000 - 2,500 hours compared to the 2,756 hours of sunshine for Greece. The average and maximum summer temperatures, especially in the months of July and August, come very close to those in Greece.

The atmospheric pressure reaches its maximum in the winter and its minimum in the summer.The highest value measured is 784.7 mm while the lowest is 705.3 mm.

Winds vary greatly in both direction and speed. The average wind speed for Bulgaria is 1.5-4.0 m/sec while for Athens it is 3.5 m/sec. The weather is windless and calm throughout half of the year. The relative air humidity has its highest values in the winter and its lowest values in the summer. The average relative air humidity outside mountain regions ranges between 40 and 46 % for Bulgaria while for Athens it is
34 %.

The rainfall in the bigger part of the country is characterized with a continental regime while in the south it has its opposite: winter rainfall maximum and summer rainfall minimum just as in the bigger part of Greece and in particular Athens. Snow seldom falls and hardly holds in the southern parts of the country and along the Black Sea coast.

Bulgaria is one of the fourteen countries founders, which took part in the First Olympic games of the modern era in Athens in 1896. Old traditions and high sports results have assigned Bulgaria a place among the elite sports nations. The total number of Olympic medals won by Bulgaria’s athletes is 200, 49 of them gold.

The country has a wide range of adequately equipped and well maintained sporting facilities distributed throughout its territory. The next part of the brochure is designed to give a brief description of the available sports facilities suitable for training of top athletes.
The present guide is designed to give a brief description of the available sports facilities suitable for training of top athletes.

	General information Tourism in Bulgaria Statistic Sport federations