Vratsa (dead link: January 2023) is a city of 53,000 people in North Bulgaria. It's at the foot of the Vrachanski Balkan, and is the starting point for numerous caves, waterfalls and interesting rock formations. The most famous of them are the Ledenika Cave, Skaklya Waterfall and the Vratsata Pass.
Vratsa can be reached by train, bus or car.
The main railway station connects the city with the capital of Bulgaria, Sofia, and also with the cities of Vidin, Lom, and Mezdra. The train frequency is acceptable. An express first-class-only train runs once a day from Plovdiv (via Sofia) and back.
The omnibus station is near the railway station. Buses connect Vratza directly with Sofia, Vidin, Kozloduy, Lom, Oriahovo, and many other cities. Nearby villages are also connected via bus links. The bus frequency to and from Sofia is very good, from early morning to the late afternoon. In summer, there are also bus lines to some Black Sea resorts. There are also buses to Spain and Portugal, but not as often as the inter-Bulgaria connections.
Vratsa is on the international E-79 route, and thus easily accessed from Vidin (2 hours), Sofia (1.5-2 hours), etc. Road signs are mostly written in the Cyrillic and Latin alphabets.
There is no regional or international airport in Vratsa. The nearest civil/international airport of entry is in Sofia (IATA: SOF).
There is no boat transportation to Vratsa. The nearest ports are in Oryahovo and Kozlodui (Danube River).
Most sites in the centre of Vratsa can be reached by walking. Remote places can be reached by a taxi, a bus or a trolleybus.
Some remote places can also be reached by bike (like Hizhata), see it like a nice work-out. Cycling on the road can be dangerous, since not all car drivers keep distance and tolerate bikers. Cycling through the main street in the rush hour or in the weekend can be quite challenging when trying to avoid crashes with the huge number of pedestrians. Some pedestrian areas are forbidden for bikers.
There is a ski and bike rental shop on Ul. Polk Buyukliyski (2 lev/hour). Ring the buzzer if you can't find the shopkeeper, someone upstairs might help you or at least say something out the window. The shopkeeper is often not there, so maybe not a good idea to rent here if you need your passport back by a certain time.
The yellow cabs can be spotted very often and are rather cheap. The prices are shown on the windshield of the vehicle. Mind that there are different fees (like call fee) that are added to the regular kilometre fee.
This kind of transportation connects the remote parts of the city and the centre. Although rather slow it is a good and cheap alternative to the taxis. This is the means of transportation that is most often used by the locals.
The two biggest squares in the city offer a free but rather unreliable Wi-Fi access. Most cafés along the main pedestrian street offer also free wireless access. Or you can use the sometimes few crowded internet cafés. The mobile network coverage is good.
2nd-order administrative division
Primary administrative division