Bulgaria

Bulgaria is located in Southeast Europe, in the northeast part of the Balkan Peninsula. Its territory is located between 44°13’ and 41°14’ north latitude, 22°22’ and 28°37’ east longitude. It is a European, Balkan, Black Sea and Danube country. This geographic location places it on the crossroad between Europe, Asia and Africa.

Bulgaria is situated closer to the Equator, than the pole. It falls within the southern part of the temperate climate zone with influence of the subtropic. Its location on the transition line between two climate zones influences the climate, soils, vegetation and animal species. All of them are characterized by great diversity. The astronomic geographic position also determines the relatively large angle of falling of the sun beams, which determines our country as a sunny one. The official time in Bulgaria is East European Time, which is two hours ahead of the Greenwich Time. The Black and the Aegean Sea influence the territory of the country. The influence of the Mediterranean is determining for the formation of climate in the southern parts of the country. The influence of the Black Sea is tangible in a stripe of about 40 km from the shore. This influence determines the specific Black Sea climate, the diverse flora and fauna. The Danube River is important for the country with the water resources and the various species diversity. The favorable natural geographic location of Bulgaria creates excellent preconditions for development of tourism.

Bulgaria is a kind of a transport crossroad and a transit territory between West Europe, the Near East and the Middle East and the Mediterranean. Series of major general European transport corridors pass through Bulgaria. These transport corridors are crossed by the international highways of Western and Central Europe (through Beograd – Sofia - Svilengrad) for the Near East and the Middle East (with a branch to Bagdad and Basra at the Persian Bay); from the Baltic Sea (through Moscow – Kiev – Bucharest – Ruse – Stara Zagora – Thessaloniki) for the Aegean Sea and the Adriatic Sea (Sofia – Skopje - Drach). Of important transport significance is the road Constanta – Varna – Burgas – Tsarevo – Malko Tarnovo - Istanbul. In the Trans-European Network Bulgaria is also connected through the sections Berlin – Prague – Budapest - Sofia – Thessaloniki and Istanbul and the section Durres – Tirana – Skopje – Sofia – Varna and Burgas. The basic transport directions, crossing the country, double with railway lines. Besides that, the wide outlet of Bulgaria to the Black Sea connects it with all Black Sea countries. It offers excellent opportunities for development of transport and loading and unloading activity through the large bays – Burgas and Varna. Through the Danube River the country connects with the transport corridor Rhein – Main – Danube and the internal network of water roads of Western Europe.

The total length of the Bulgarian borders is 2,245 km. 1,181 km of them are on land, 686 km on rivers and 378 km on sea. Bulgaria borders to the north with Romania, to the east with the Black Sea, to the south with Turkey and Greece, and to the west with Macedonia1 and Serbia. The distances between Sofia and the capitals of the neighboring Balkan states are: Skopje - 239 km, Beograd – 374 km, Bucharest – 395 km, Athens – 837 km, Ankara – 1,012 km. The following border control checkpoints (BCCP) operate on the borders – along the Bulgaria-Serbia border – BCCP Bregovo, BCCP Vrashka Chuka, BCCP Kalotina, BCCP Strezimirovtsi, BCCP Oltomantsi; along the Bulgaria-Macedonia border – BCCP Gyueshevo, BCCP Stanke Lisichkovo, BCCP Zlatarevo; along the Bulgaria-Turkey border – BCCP Malko Tarnovo, BCCP Lesovo, BCCP Kapitan Andreevo; along the Bulgaria-Greek border – BCCP Kulata, BCCP Ilinden, BCCP Kapitan Petko Voyvoda, BCCP Ivaylovgrad, BCCP Zlatograd; along the Bulgaria-Romania border – BCCP Vidin – ferryboat, BCCP Oryahovo – ferryboat, BCCP Ruse – Danube bridge, BCCP Silistra, BCCP Kardam, BCCP Durankulak; on the river ports – BCCP Vidin, BCCP Lom, BCCP Somovit - Nikopol, BCCP Svishtov, BCCP Ruse, BCCP Tutrakan, BCCP Silistra; on the sea ports – BCCP Balchik, BCCP Varna, BCCP Burgas, BCCP Tsarevo, and on the airports – BCCP Sofia Airport, BCCP Plovdiv Airport, BCCP Gorna Oryahovitsa Airport, BCCP Varna Airport, BCCP Burgas Airport.