Bulgaria by campervan: food and supermarkets

Where to buy food in Bulgaria, which supermarkets to use, opening hours and practical tips for eating on the road. What to know before you go.

Published 18 September 2026Last checked 19 September 2026

Currency
Euro
EUR. Adopted 1 January 2026 at the fixed rate of 1.95583 leva
Language
Bulgarian
Written in Cyrillic, which Bulgaria invented
Driving
Right
Motorway 140 km/h, 100 km/h from 3.5 to 7.5 tonnes
Power
230V, type F
The round two-pin Schuko socket
Road toll
E-vignette
€64.50 a year, €10 a week, prices from 1 August 2026
Emergency
112
Mountain rescue through 112. The old 1470 line closed in August 2026

Food and shops

Stocking a van in Bulgaria is easy in a town and a pleasure in a village. The discounters and hypermarkets are the same chains as the rest of central Europe, on the edge of every town of any size, with car parks a van fits into. The village alternative is the small магазин that sells a bit of everything, and the пазар, the open market where the vegetables, cheese, honey and nuts are, sold by the people who grew them.

A market stall piled with tomatoes, green chillies and cucumbers under handwritten price signs — The <em>пазар</em>. Vegetables by the crate in September, and cash only

Where to shop

Best value: Lidl.
Full range: Kaufland for a large full-range shop.
Camper access: Kaufland branches on ring roads usually have the best van access.

What eating out costs, reported

Cheap restaurant meal: €10.23
Draught beer, 0.5 l: €2.05

Stocking the campervan

Supermarkets sit on the edge of town with proper car parks. The village магазин does not, so park on the road and walk in.
The пазар is where the produce is, and September is the month for it. Peppers, tomatoes, walnuts, honey and white cheese.

Eating out

A механа is the traditional tavern and a скара is a grill house. Both do the same grilled meat, and the grill house does it faster.
Salad comes first and is ordered as a course, not as a side. A shopska salad and a rakia is how a Bulgarian meal opens.

What is on a Bulgarian menu

Dish	What it is	Worth knowing
Шопска салата	Tomato, cucumber, pepper and onion under grated white cheese	The national salad, and it opens the meal
Баница	Layered filo pastry with white cheese and egg	Breakfast food, sold at every bakery before nine
Таратор	Cold yoghurt, cucumber, garlic and walnut soup	Served chilled and the right thing in August
Кебапче and кюфте	Grilled minced meat, a roll and a patty	The default order at any скара
Сирене and кашкавал	White brined cheese and yellow cheese	Bought at the market by weight, not prepacked

A slice of spinach filled pastry beside a leaf and tomato salad on a café table, with a glass of beetroot juice — Баница. Flaky, cheap, and the standard breakfast

The two prices in this panel are reported ones. Bulgaria's statistics office publishes consumer price data, but nothing reachable when the page was written on 19 September 2026 gave a dated national figure for a basket of food, a restaurant meal or a campsite night, so the meal and the beer come from what Numbeo's contributors said they paid that month. The prices with a named publisher and a date behind them are in the money and driving panels. There is still no figure here for a campsite night.