Sofia: Bright at night
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The typical night out in Sofia consists of three important steps: 1. Preparation (a couple of drinks while getting used to noisy places); 2. Dance the night away and 3. A recovery chat
Meeting friends will be normally around 10 p.m. At the first club we’ll stay till midnight and then after a couple of other places at 5 or 6 a.m. it is time to have your late dinner/early breakfast.
Studentski Grad or can you handle it?
To really enjoy the full program it usually starts with a drink or two in a bar. The places you can go to are mostly situated in two areas of the city: The Student campus (so called Studentski grad) and of course downtown Sofia. The little tip here: generally a night in Studentski grad can not be quiet or sophisticated as you will be surrounded by too many and too young people. However, going there can guarantee you coming back home after sunrise and a major hangover! Furthermore, if you are somehow decent-looking, you will inevitably receive some inviting attitude by the opposite sex and then the night is unpredictable. Personally I like ‘Bar at the End of the Universe’ (Studentski grad, bl 34B) as a good place to start the night. They can offer you a wide range of cocktails and a 10% discount with an ISIC card. If you go there before 10p.m. you can even enjoy a good dinner on a relatively low price (2.50 euro for spaghetti Bolognese). The colourful cocktails go even below 2euro. Dance club Plaza (1 Atanas Manchev Str) is good place to continue the night as it can offer you two separate rooms with different music: one of them is reserved for the so called ‘chalga’-a mixture between Balkan folklore and POP music. This can be quite an attraction and involves a lot of flying tissues and provocative dancers. The other room can surprise with Retro, Black or Karaoke parties. The entrance is usually free with rare exceptions. Here you can have a whisky or vodka for about 3 euro. Keep your eyes open for promotions as they can be as good as getting a bottle of vodka half the price.
Anyway, if you are more than 25 years old I would advise you to quickly grab a taxi and head for downtown Sofia. There is a bus service from Studentski grad to the centre of the city that works till midnight but you may also consider sharing a taxi as the fare is as low as 5 euro.
Downtown Sofia
You can enjoy your drink at the ‘Chill Out Café’ (5 Triadica Str.). You will be well-pleased by good house music and great variety of cocktail drinks. The prices here would be a bit higher but still you can have a drink for 3 or 4 euro. Usually we would stay there till 12 or 1 a.m. and then set off for a dance club. A good choice has always been ‘My Mohito’ (12 Ivan Vazov Str.) – a place where you can really put your dance skills into action under the sounds of a good mixture between Retro and House music. For those of us who have inexhaustible energy the party would continue in my personal favourite - club ‘Chervilo’ (9 Tsar Osvoboditel Blvd.) – a truly fancy house club hosting some of the best world DJs. Here the entrance can range from 5 to 20 euro but is always worth it. You can enjoy this place up to 6 or 7 a.m., sometimes even later. The usual end of the night would be a good chicken soup next door at ‘Pizza Victoria’ where we would try to summarize the night as there is always a lot to be discussed. The first buses at 6 a.m. are the sure indicator that you had a good night and now it is time to have a good rest at home.
An important promise that we always do at the end of the night would be: ‘I am never drinking again’ and we never fail to keep it… till next weekend!
Tsvetomira Vacheva