Bulgaria Ski discussion board

Hi Phil,

Never been to BG, going to Borovets Sunday....However:

I have been in this debate myself....I decided to change about half of what I thought I would need in the UK, so that for the first few nights etc I have some local currency to use until i get familiar with the place.

Then I can change my GBP to LEV as and when I need to once I have found the BANK! Iv been advised to give the booth things a wide berth when parting with money. So as long as you change in a bank...there should be no problem (thats the principle I am working on)

Hope this helps somewhat, hope you have a great trip!

Rob

I have been to Bulgaria before, and I've changed all my money this time into Lev... It is much better and much safer to do so... if you do need to change it over there do as Rob says go to the right place, banks are your best bet, but hotels may be okay. If you see an exchange rate anywhere else that looks to good to be true, that's cos it is, so don't even give them places a second thought, I saw it so many times when I was in a Bulgarian beach resort.

People would go to theese booths hand over their cash, the cashier would then count out the Lev, so all looks genuine, and then she would put the money under the counter 'to put it into an envelope' and whilst she was doing it swap it for pieces of blank paper, and then when the victims went back to complain they denied all knowledge of it... true story.

So safe bet is to take it all with ya from here, the exchange rate wont be too much different over there, and it's cheap in Bulgaria anyway ;-)

Im sorry to dismiss the advice given, we live here and i can assure all that the best and most economic way is to bring sterling, £20.00 notes, clean with no rips (but Alpha bank will accept any i must admit)...
Take your passport and exchange in a bank, Alpha again will give you the absolute best day rate, and likely you will get around 10% better exchange here than in the UK, quite a difference, especially on large parties... Alpha bank is secured by the EU monetary fund and is unlikely to fold, and it will check your issued currency for counterfeit notes...
The only consideration perhaps would be to have a little cash in leva from the UK for the traveling here, don't bother with Euro as they will not be accepted here, although if bringing Euro there should be a fixed exchange here at 1.995 Lv - Euro, but i have noticed that some banks are only offering 1.9, and charging a commission to exchange to Leva...
Bring sterling, definitely the best