Which accommodation in Bulgaria to choose for living with pets

Spending a holiday with your beloved four-legged friend is a real pleasure!

But can you take a cat or a dog with you on holiday to Bulgaria, and what kind of accommodation should you choose for a stay with a pet? We will try to answer these questions.

If you have ever had to leave your dog behind for a long time to travel to the seaside or head to the mountains, you have surely experienced an agonising feeling of guilt towards it.

The option of a pet hotel is always available. However, at such a hotel your dog will not be as if at a spa resort, where it eats healthy food, swims, runs and rests in a room with a beautiful view. A pet hotel is more like a place where they look after your pet while you are away.

And now the serious question! Will you dare to set off on a trip, holiday or journey with a dog or cat to Bulgaria? If yes, then, firstly, you are a wonderful owner, and secondly, we are sure that the small inconveniences of driving (some animals get travel sick and fur ends up everywhere), long walks and the essential care required during daily outings are nothing compared with the pleasure of spending a holiday with your best four-legged friend.

Where is it best to stay with a pet, and which complex or hotel should you choose?

There are more than 19,040 hotels along the Bulgarian Black Sea coast. About 8% of the hotels, holiday houses and campsites state in their advertising that they are suitable for guests staying with a dog or a cat. The rest either do not admit four-legged guests, or do so only by prior arrangement. The reason is that hoteliers are afraid that other guests will feel uncomfortable. 
Most of the large hotels refuse to accommodate guests with a pet in the complex. At the same time, accommodation with a dog at a hotel or complex, where it is allowed, requires that the pet's weight must not exceed 10 kg.

One of the Bulgarian resorts has an official policy of welcoming four-legged guests – Albena. At Sunny Beach, Golden Sands and other resorts there are hotels that are ready to accommodate you with your pet, but subject to a number of conditions. 

More open to receiving such guests are family hotels, guest houses and apart-complexes. At hotels that accept pets there is an additional charge, from 5 to 10 leva per day or for the entire stay. The rates are higher for large dogs – from 30 leva and they can reach up to 50% of the cost of an adult's overnight stay. 

There are hotels that may ask you for a deposit of 100 to 200 leva; it will be refunded to you at the end of your holiday. 

It is also important that a guest at a hotel with a four-legged companion thinks about those around them. If you are allowed into the restaurant with your dog, be sure to keep it close to you, so that the neighbouring table does not end up feeding your pet.

Can you take a dog to the beach in Bulgaria?

If you have decided to take your four-legged friend to the sea, choose a beach that is quieter and unguarded. On a secluded beach the dog will be able to run, frolic freely and swim as much as it likes. 

Tried-and-tested beaches where dogs are allowed: Kavarna, the beach between Kranevo and Albena, Balchik, Durankulak, the Baltata reserve, Tyulenovo, Shkorpilovtsi and Kamchia, Karadere near the town of Byala, Irakli excluding the private Vaya beach, the area between the two central beaches of Primorsko, and Sozopol – Perla.

Requirements for pets brought into Bulgaria

When moving and transporting pets, the owner or the animal's companion is obliged, on request, to provide details of the owner's name and address to the official veterinarian. Companion animals moving from the Republic of Bulgaria to Member States of the European Union must be accompanied by a passport issued by an official veterinarian, in which details of the vaccinations or revaccinations carried out are recorded.

When moving and transporting pets from third countries into the Republic of Bulgaria, the animal must have a passport and a veterinary certificate issued by an official veterinarian.

Bulgaria Avenue will be delighted to provide you with the best accommodation and to help you choose a property where you and your four-legged friend will feel cosy and comfortable. We are always happy to welcome you.