Food is pretty cheap, although meat can be expensive (beef, lamb etc). Tend to eat a lot of pork and chicken. Property to buy or rent is cheap. At http://www.therentalbug.com I offer large renovated unfurnished houses for 200E/mth plus bills.

Public transport such as trains and coaches are excellent and very cheap. But petrol and diesel can be expensive compared to other costs of living. Electric is not so cheap, water is.

For more information please visit http://www.thetravelbug.org

 

I am shortly relocating from the Izmir region of Turkey to Bulgaria due to the massive rise in the cost of living in the last three years and I am not alone. There is all this talk about Turkey allowing meat imports to try and easy the astronomical price but so far I am still having to pay 35 a kilo for stewing steak compared to 12 in Kaufland. I pay 600 lira rent here and will be paying 250 in Bulgaria so whilst one friends commented on the very cold winters another quiped 350 a month buys a lot of heating for the winter AND aircon for the summer. I have met people and have people who are coming to join me who are leaving their owned property empty and renting in Bulgaria as they are still better off than living in Turkey. 22 lev for 15 kilos of dog biscuits is a huge saving for me so I will be 90 lev a month better off to add to my 350 and the list goes on. Bulgaria currently offers maybe the best cost of living and a single person can easily rent and live on 400 sterling.

 

Interesting. Have heard of a few people moving from Turkey to Bulgaria due to cheaper costs. Do you intend to go for just the winter?

Looking at figures, will cost you around 100 levs a month in winter for heating and similar for AIRCON in summer as electric is expensive in Bulgaria, not sure of costs to compare to Turkey.

 

I think Bulgarian electric is really cheap compared to Turkey. I pay 50 a month to run a hot water heater, kettle,telly etc etc - aircon is prohibative. Petrol is over 4 lev a litre and a litre of Yeni Raki is 46 compared to 20. Two pizzas and bottle of plonk here costs 45 compared to 18 in Bulgaria plus the wine was better. I hour of language tuition 10 compared to 80 here
I have been over twice and met loads of people who have moved from Turkey and there is a lot more in the process of moving. Once the compulsory residency rule comes in and this adds 400 pounds a year to a persons budget then I am sure a few more will move. I am going for the forseeable future and lloking forward to a new phase of my life after 20 years in Turkey.

 

Well good luck!!!

 

Many Thanks