If you're reading this on burgas2027.org, the headline probably isn't news to you. So why are we even writing it?
Honest answer: this is our very first article, and we just couldn't wait to say hello. We tried to come up with a second, more meaningful reason — there isn't one. We simply wanted to start filling this site with guides and news, and every site has to start somewhere.
So, where exactly is Burgas?
Burgas sits on Bulgaria's Black Sea coast — the country's third-largest city and one of the region's main resort hubs. Getting there is easier than it sounds: the city has its own airport, Burgas Airport (BOJ), which handles flights from dozens of European cities during the summer season.
If a direct flight for your dates isn't available, or the fares look painful, Istanbul is a solid backup — about 5 hours away by car, and flights to Istanbul are available from almost anywhere, almost always. There's also frequent bus service between Istanbul and Burgas — dozens of departures a day, including direct routes from Istanbul straight to the Burgas South bus station (it sounds like Burgas-Yug). So skipping a car entirely is a perfectly workable plan too.
It's a tourist city — you'll be fine on that front
Burgas is a resort town, which means hotels are genuinely not a problem: plenty of them, at every level and budget. The contest lands in May — right at the start of Burgas's tourist season. Things are just getting going then; the real crowds arrive later, in peak summer. So in May, the city won't be packed to capacity, and finding a room shouldn't be an issue (though booking ahead never hurts, obviously).
A few notes on Bulgaria, for first-timers
A couple of things worth knowing if you've never been:
Bulgaria uses the Cyrillic alphabet — signs, street names, and café menus may be written in letters that look tantalizingly close to familiar ones but rarely spell what you'd expect. Don't worry, you'll manage.
The currency is the euro: as of January 1, 2026, Bulgaria officially adopted the euro, so there's no need to hunt down a place to exchange Bulgarian lev.
None of this should worry you much, though — for an event of this scale, signage is usually well duplicated in English, so getting lost is unlikely even without reading a word of Cyrillic.
This one's short — think of it as a warm-up. More is coming: a deeper dive into getting here, where to stay, and what to do in and around the city. See you at the contest!
