Travel Guide Blagoevgrad (Благоевград)

The city is located on the Strouma river plain, in a mountainous setting with the Rila mountain range to the east, the Vlahina to the west and the Pirin to the southeast. It is a small town on the road between Sofia (100 km north) and Greece, capital of Pirin Macedonia. Blagoevgrad, with about 80,000 inhabitants, is particularly pleasant to discover and to live in. The 20,000 students of the two universities, including the only American university in the Balkans, give the city a particular vitality and its cosmopolitan character with no less than fifty nationalities represented. Blagoevgrad, Blago to its friends, is a hilly and green city, airy and charming, with a nice city center and an interesting little district of the National Renaissance. There are many restaurants, cafes and stores in the city. Blagoevgrad is also known as the home of an important cigarette factory and a large studio of the Bulgarian national television. It is certainly the most attractive city in southwestern Bulgaria and its cultural dynamism also contributes to this attractiveness (programming in the opera, the theater and a famous folk dance group). You should also know that within the confederation of our Francofolies, the Francofolies of Bulgaria are held in Blagoevgrad, showcase of the French-speaking scene, with two editions in 1991 and 1992 and a return since 2015. In addition, the International Jazz Festival of Bansko Blagoevgrad which takes place every year in August has the advantage of being free.