Veliko Tarnovo Properties for sale

This northerly seaside village is about 40km north of Varna, and has become a highly favoured destination for property-hunters. By reputation it is a location beloved by artists and, as one of the breeziest parts of the Black Sea, is a favoured haunt of sailors. The new harbour development is now under way, with moorings and seafront apartments.

The dramatic cliffs of Cape Kaliakra provide one of the Black Sea's prettiest and most remote beach resorts. This region is less developed than Sunny Beach and Golden Sands to the south, but it attracts nature-lovers to the Kaliakra National Park, the only coastal national park in Bulgaria.

Bulgaria does not have such a strong regional tradition as England or Ireland. The Ottoman Empire divided the country into areas (vilyets) based around regional governors, and to some extent these remain the regional divisions today. The official regions are geographical and administrative rather than culturally different.

If you just stick to one area you may miss out on something which you would! have preferred if you had taken the time to visit it sooner. There are Brits who live in remote regions in Bulgaria who wonder why they did not buy a similar property just a few kilometres away in a less isolated location.

Prices vary widely across Bulgaria, and in the current market they are subjec to great change: quarterly increases were between 9 and 16 per cent for the first quarter of 2007.

Bulgaria is in some ways unique in this series. It has been written by two British people who have lived and worked in Bulgaria for the past nine years. Both have been closely involved with the property business, as buyers, sellers and developers, as well as setting up the first British estate agency.