Why We Chose Burgas, Bulgaria – Our Life After Selling Everything

Six years ago, we sold everything and moved to Burgas, Bulgaria — a seaside city on the Black Sea coast that most people overlook. In this video, we give you an honest, unfiltered look at our daily expat life.

We’ll show you what it’s really like to live here:
Slow mornings on the café-lined walking streets
Bike rides along the coast from Burgas to Sarafovo
Sunset dinners, homemade sourdough, and beachside life
Local mud spas and salt flats — free therapy, Burgas style
Affordable repairs and $1 eyeglass fixes
Full car detailing for under $30
Traditional food, family vibes, and that no-rush attitude

Whether you’re curious about expat life in Bulgaria, planning a move, or just want to know if Burgas is more than a tourist beach town — this video’s for you.

Stick around until the end to see how our car looks after the detail and to catch a sneak peek of our next adventure: an epic 3-week African safari.

#Burgas #BulgariaExpatLife #LifeInBulgaria #ExpatsInEurope #LivingInBurgas #BeachLifeBulgaria #BZTravel #MoveToBulgaria #DigitalNomadEurope #ExpatRetirement

Six years ago, we sold everything and we moved to Bulgaria. In this video, we’re going to show you our daily expat life. It’s been two years since we last filmed Burgas in the summer. And wow, it’s like a different town. It’s winter here, it’s totally quiet. You don’t have all these beach front restaurants and of course chairs and stuff. Summer brings this place to life. People come from all over and the beaches fill up, the streets get louder, the cafes spill onto the sidewalks. Last year we missed it because we were floating somewhere right now between Fiji and Iceland on the Ultimate World Cruise. But this year we’re back and Burgas has really changed. It’s growing, there’s new places, totally fresh energy. But that same familiar summer is Seoul. We’ve traveled the world and lost count of how many places we’ve seen. But for us, this is the best place on Earth. Bulgaria wasn’t love at first sight. It’s rough around the edges with this ex-socialist grit and flashes of modern style. It grows on you slowly and deeply and now it’s our home. And honestly, we wouldn’t trade it for anywhere else on the planet. Here in Burgas, this guy right here, he has his own business and he bakes sourdough bread every single day. And you can come here and get fresh loaves. Yeah, all of a sudden, whole grain. It’s really nice. All homemade. But we get different ones each time, but as you know, sourdough bread is a lot healthier than regular bread. Burgas is like many European cities. It’s walkable, laid back, and centered around pedestrian-only streets. There’s no cars, no hurry. Just cafes, shops, and life at a slower pace. People will sit for hours with one coffee, chatting, chain-smoking, the smoking we still haven’t embraced. Afternoons are quiet, but by early evening, the streets are fuzzy. You’ll need a reservation. Restaurants here, they don’t flip the tables. Dinner is the whole night. You start with a salad and a shot of rickia, then slowly move to appetizers. Meze, of course. Only after more drinks and conversation does your main course arrive. And dinner is done? People will just sit, sipping nearly empty glasses, talking for another hour. No one rushes you. Even the waiter takes their time with the bill. That’s Burgas. The resorts? Well, that’s a whole different game. Fast, pushy, all about extracting cash from the tourists. But here in town, it’s still real. Slow, social, and unapologetically Balkin. I don’t know another city where the entire waterfront is one big, beautiful park. It’s lush, clean, and open. No gated homes. No fancy hotels, blocking the view. Just space for everyone. Ordinary people can walk, sit, swim, and enjoy the sea. It’s all public. No exclusivity. There’s no fences. That’s really rare these days. But here in Burgas, the beach belongs to everyone. And that’s how it should be. We don’t really go to the beach. We live right across from it. But you won’t catch us roasting in the sun for hours. Maybe when friends visit, sure, we come down and spend a few hours with them. But even then, when you’d like to find the shade, you know, and what we do love though is hopping on the bikes, cruising along the coastline, and then stopping here and there for a cold drink, a coffee, and enjoy the sea view. That’s what we feel is the good life. What’s really different and unique than what I was experienced in the States was, like in Europe, and it’s really nice here too in Burgas, but in Europe in general, they rent out the public beach to private vendors, private restaurants, whatever. And then people come from the interior. We have direct flights from all over Europe. Charter flights. People come here and they can rent the chairs. And what’s really nice is the restaurants, they have waitresses, waiters that will go all the way out onto the beach to your chair. And you can order your meals, drinks, and be served right on the beach, right at your chair. Swim, relax, enjoy the beach. And it’s really pleasant. So much better than what I experienced. Well, when we traveled around the world, a lot of countries don’t allow this. They don’t allow it in Australia for many reasons, but in America, there’s quite a few places we have not seen this, but all over Europe, it’s this everyday summer vibe here. What’s really nice about coming to this, we like this restaurant, but most of them have like a daily soup. And our favorite is chicken soup. And they always, it’s all homemade. They make it, each restaurant has their own recipe. And they always give you a lemon. That always kind of gives it a nice flavor. And then they have bread that they put, it’s called polinka. And each restaurant has a different kind of bread, but we like this one. It’s like a fecosha sort of thing, or even like a pizza dough. It’s really nice. It goes great with soup. Look at all the good stuff in there. That’s homemade. Riding along the waterfront from Burgas to Sarafovo, it’s just beautiful. It’s quiet and peaceful. And not that many people know about it, actually. If they do know about it, they’re not willing to walk it because it can get hot. It’s a good way to take the bike. This is the small harbor in Sarafovo, our first stop on our bike ride north. Sometimes we catch fishermen hauling in fresh catch. We always circle the boats. Zarko, he used to own one in Hawaii. Now he’s just hunting for a friend with one. You’re going to find these churches in different places all over Bulgaria. They’re called paraklis, and they’re kind of neat. This is a really pretty one. They’re miniature churches. Yes, a lot of times you can go in and actually pray. This one is open. See, you can even go in and pray if you want to. Miniature churches. Just outside of Burgas, Sarafovo, it moves even slower. In winter, it’s practically silent. With loads of vacation rentals, it feels more like a holiday spot than the actual city. The rhythm of summer in Burgas, follow the sun. The mornings are perfect. Right now it’s 9.30 and we’ve already been out an hour riding our bikes. You have calm seas in the morning, and the light is a lot softer. Families are starting to come in and setting up their umbrellas. But by noon, the heat kicks in. So that’s our cue to head home. We’ll close up the curtains and Zarko will take a nap like a true local. I’ll probably read a book. Then in the evening, you get that cool breeze and the golden element. And then everyone comes back out again. And the sea, well, it’s like a bathtub. Check it out. It’s warm and gentle, and it’s always inviting. This is Sarafovo. Sarafovo used to be a quiet little fishing village. And now it’s actually part of Burgas. It’s a relaxed seaside suburb with its own pace. It’s where the airport is. So for a lot of visitors, it’s the first slice of Bulgaria that they see. This is where you actually come in when you’re flying. But it’s just, it’s definitely more than just a landing strip. There’s clean streets, as you can see, calm beaches. There’s a lot of friendly cafes here too. And it’s kind of a place you grow up to like more every time you visit. Just north of the beach, Burgas gets a little wild. Welcome to the salt flats, nature’s own spa. There’s no white robes and no soft music. Just people dipping into shallow pools of mineral rich black mud. And they’re covering themselves from head to toe, baking in the sun like happy lizards. It looks bizarre until you try it. The mud is said to help you with joint pain, skin problems, and maybe even hangovers. Then, like some ancient ritual, they walk straight into the sea and wash it all away. Free therapy, Burgas style. Right across from the salt flats too are restaurants where you can come over here and have a drink or eat and have lunch. And relax after you get it all washed away. And right across here is where they can go into the sea and wash it off. There’s no showers. It’s all salt water. All natural. With bike paths running along the coast and through the massive park, we ride our bikes everywhere. Most days, it’s actually faster than driving and no parking stress. Burgas isn’t spread out like a typical US city. It’s compact, easy to get around. We only use the car for groceries or when we’re leaving town. Daily life here feels like a permanent vacation. No rush, no chaos, just fresh air, sea views, and a laid back rhythm. We’ve been here six years now. And honestly, we love it more with each passing year. It just fits us. This place has become our home. This is a linden tree and you can see the flowers on it. It smells like honeysuckle. It makes the whole town smell like perfume. But they make tea out of this. It makes the whole town smell really nice. So I just bought these flowers from this woman here and she grows them in her yard. But it’s nice to support the locals and they’re really pretty. I can’t say Zarko doesn’t buy me flowers. Thank you, Zarko. Brightens up the house. Well, as we’re out doing our errands today, we’re on the walking street right now. And we’re heading to a guy that we found that repairs glasses. So Zarko has this very expensive pair of titanium frames with very high end custom made lenses. And he was cleaning them yesterday and they fell apart. And we tried to put them together but it didn’t work out too well. Well, yeah, it would cost $1,500 to replace these glasses. And they probably would repair them if you were in the States but they’ll send them off somewhere. You have to wait a few weeks and I don’t know what you’ll pay, probably a lot. Yeah, you would not believe where this guy works. I’m sure he gets all his work through the optical shops because where it’s located, I don’t think too many people actually know about it. Five minutes, we dropped our glasses off and he fixed mine. The handle came off. And then he also fixed Zarko’s and tightened them up, like five minutes. And he charged about a dollar a piece, US dollar as a piece to repair them. How can you beat that? We’re on our way home and right here is where we live. So a block from where we live is our local produce place. Whoa, look at these tomatoes, they’re huge. Another thing that we do here in Burgas, which I found extremely unique and really cool compared to what you can’t get or what it costs in the States, is a full detail of your car. And if they do it in the States, I think I saw one place in Seattle that did it, but they charged almost $200 to do a full detail inside and out of your car. Here they’ll vacuum, clean, wash the entire inside and the outside. Everything will be polished and it looks like brand new. And they take like, we have an hour and a half to kill because we’re in line, but we like to come here, I don’t know, every single lot often, get our car completely detailed. When the car is finished, we’ll show you that here’s our car right now. You can see what it looks like. It’s pretty dirty. And when we get finished, we’ll show you the finished detail. Right now, Burgas is going through a complete development. I mean, all over the city, there’s new construction going on. Burgas is the perfect size, small enough to feel cozy, big enough to have it all. We don’t miss a thing. There’s malls, department stores, and even Amazon delivers right to our door. The full detail that we’re seeing, having our car done right here, is, was $26. You actually have a completely clean inside and out. It takes about an hour. And while it’s being done, you can shop at the shopping mall right now. The comparable service in the States is between $200 to $300 for the same kind of service. And actually, you would never do it. You would just have your car detailed like this if you’re going to trade it in or sell it. So we have it done maybe once a month, or if we’re in a rainstorm or something and it gets all dirty, then we’ll bring it in. But it’s clearly affordable. It’s polished inside and out. They also put Armor All on the tires. I mean, it is beautiful. It looks like a new car. A lot of times after it, you don’t even recognize your car. It’s like, is that our car? You’re used to it dirty. Yeah, we got in the car and it’s all been detailed out inside. I mean, it looks brand new in the inside. Like sparkling new. There’s not a spot anywhere. And the windows are like, like so clear. You can’t even tell there’s a window. So it’s like a brand new car, actually. It’s shocking. So definitely worth it. We always tip our guy. But yeah, this is another part of living in Burgos. So what do you think of our home base here in Burgas? We’d love to hear your thoughts. Drop us a comment below and stay tuned. Our next adventure is just around the corner. We’re heading off on a three week ultimate African safari. It’s going to be wild, literally. We will see you there.