For €35 a night you would be hard put to beat this hotel.

The room and décor are a bit “tired” but you get a comfy bed, acceptable bathroom with hot water, TV with wide range of channels and a mini-bar with reasonable prices.

Breakfast was included and was OK – coffee, juice, reasonable selection of cold meats, cheeses, etc and a little egg and sausage.

It is bang in the middle of the city and within easy walk of all the museums, opera, concert halls, etc.

On the subject of museums avoid the Ethnography Museum – it is now only 3 rooms. Also avoid the Sofia City Art Gallery – actually, you will almost certainly not get in as they close it as it suits them.

The National (Bulgarian) Art Gallery is first class and I enjoyed the Natural History Museum – I like traditional museums with things in cases.

The Foreign Art Gallery is worth a visit for the Rodin sculptures alone and, to be honest, that is really all there is worth seeing – still, it is cheap enough and the building (ex Government Printing Office is interesting. There was a very good temporary exhibition when I went, though.

The Crypt of the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral is probably only worth a visit if you like icons as there is not much else down there.

I couldn't find a place by myself for only one night so The National Opera and Ballet found this hotel for me. It seems they have some kind of a convention and send here the singers to sleep. Apparently the place was awful so I wanted to get out and look for another hotel, but the receptionist has told me that the 4th floor was reconstructed and new. In a fact the room was not bad, it was simple and clean, the bathroom completely renewed. There were also a television and a mini bar. The hall was terrible, old, and full of the old things accumulated in the corners. The position of this hotel is good, it's in the center, near Rakovski street and Ivan Vazov theater. To get to the opera you have to walk for ten minutes. It's also very cheap, but I will never come back again. Sofia has many better hotels and this one is better to be avoided.

We stayed there just for a night because we had clients from Denmark and we needed to sleep with them in the same hotel. The hotel itself was really old with some old ladies on the reception desk who didn't know what they are really doing! The location was good - near everything important in Sofia downtown. The breakfast was ok and with a large variety of meat and cheese!