Car Hire: Take advantage of the special easyJet inflight rates. Visit the Europcar desk on arrival or call +359 (0)88 750 3030. Open from 9am-9pm seven days a week.

Airport Transfer: Pre-book your door-to-door transfer with easyJet’s transfer partner, Holiday Taxis—from home to the airport, then city or resort (easyjet.holidaytaxis.com).

Taxi: A journey to the centre takes 30 minutes and costs about BGN14.

Bus: Bus 84 picks up from Terminal 1 and Bus 284 from Terminal 2 every 10-15 minutes, and it takes about 30 minutes to get to the city. Tickets: BGN1.

Mini Bus: The white vans are called marshrutkas and number 30 goes to the centre. Tickets: BGN1.50.

Mimas
( 68 Vasil Levski Boulevard. )
Burgers come with a wad of deliciously greasy French fries stuffed inside. Döner kebabs and falafel fill out the menu. Open 24 hours.

Bistro Zita
( 86 Iskar Ulitza. Tel. 846 4323 )
A small restaurant with two rooms, each with four or five tables. On offer are salads, grilled meats (try the ribs or the banski starets—sausages), fish, spaghetti and pizzas.

Sushi Bar
( 18 Denkoglu Ulitza. Tel. 981 8442 )
Conveniently situated just round the corner from the fashionable shops of Vitosha Street, this Oriental eatery offers a lengthy sushi menu, all excellently prepared and accompanied with portions of fresh ginger and wasabi paste.

Sakura
( Kempinski Hotel Zografski, 100 James Baucher Boulevard. Tel. 969 2420 )
Located in a pavilion in the garden of the Kempinski Hotel, paper partitions, low tables and cushions, and nimble waitresses swishing around in kimonos help to set the mood. For a great evening out with a difference, it’s money well spent.

Apartament 52
( 52 Parchevich Ulitza. Tel. 0896 652 087 )
Sinking into this lounge bar is a pleasant way to end a hard day pacing the streets of Sofia. A good place to kick-start the evening.

8th Ball
( 27 Sv Sv Kiril i Metodiy. Tel. 0876 107 722 )
This underground basement cavern is the place for hardcore punks. Don’t mess with the bartenders, they are as local and as tough as you will never be.

Babbles
( 22 Ivan Shishman Ulitza. Tel. 980 6579 )
Ultra-fab designer bar that looks like a spaceship, a children’s cartoon or a kooky 1960s film set, depending on how many drinks you’ve had.

AVI Center sells high-quality gold, diamonds and platinum jewellery (18B Vitosha. Tel. 930 7070).

If you’re looking for something beyond burgers and fried food, there’s a small health food store on Tsar Ivan Shishman Street, near Gurko. The soya pâté, fresh juice, tofu and granola are a welcome relief.

Sofia Zoo, founded in May 1888, is Bulgaria's oldest and largest zoological garden. Although it has moved from its original location, today it houses 1,130 animals, representing 264 species. Plenty to see and do.

Start the new year with some highbrow culture performed by Bulgaria's cream of the crop in ballet and opera: The Nutcracker by Tchaikovsky (9, 10 & 11 January), La Bohème by Puccini (18 & 30) and Scheherazade by Rimsky-Korsakov (23, 24 & 25) (National Opera and Ballet, 30 Dondukov Boulevard).

Pancharevo Dam – About 15 kilometres west of Sofia, Pancharevo Dam is a village and a balneology resort. The beautiful nature, the dam and mineral water springs are the main reasons why the area has been populated since ancient times.

If you fancy yourself as an Indiana Jones (without the fighting and whip action), you'll be interested to know that Bulgaria is third in the world in terms of the number of its archaeological monuments, after Greece and Italy.

Compiled by JAD/ Sofia In Your Pocket