Sofia Airport → Blagoevgrad

Home to the American University in Bulgaria and the South-West University, Blagoevgrad has one of the youngest average populations of any Bulgarian city, and it shows in a café culture and evening buzz that feels disproportionate to the city's modest size. The pretty riverside Varosha district, with its cobbled lanes and 19th-century houses along the Bistritsa River, offers a quieter contrast to the student energy of the newer centre.

Sitting almost exactly on the road between Sofia and both Bansko and the Greek border, Blagoevgrad works well as a lunch or overnight stop on a longer journey rather than a destination in its own right, and its restaurant scene — shaped by a large international student population — is more varied than you'd expect for a city its size.