Location: Situated in southeastern Europe, at 22o - 28o eastern longitude, 41o - 44o northern latitude, Bulgaria occupies the central part of the Balkan Peninsula.
Territory: 110 993,6 km2. Bordering countries: To the North, via the Danube River, it borders on Romania, to the West - on Serbia and Montenegro and on the Former Yugoslav Republic of  Macedonia. To the South its neighbours are Greece and Turkey. To the East Bulgaria touches the Black Sea. The coastline is 354 km long.

  
Capital: Sofia / population: 1 350 000 /
Population: 7,54 mln. / 2003 /
Population density: 71 km2

Major cities: Sofia / population: 1 350 000 /, Plovdiv / population: 339 000 /, Varna / population: 325 000 /, Burgas / population: 210 000 /, Ruse / population: 162 000 /
Religion: Orthodox / 88% /, Muslim / 10% /
Official language: Bulgarian
Political system: Parliamentary Republic
National currency: Lev
Time zone: GMT +2
 
Relief - Bulgaria possesses a variety of natural forms, located in the range of altitude from 0 to 2925 m. / plains, lowlands, mountains, massifs /. 1/3 part of the territory is mountain ranges. The best known mountain ranges are Rila / with the highest point in the whole Balkan peninsula Mussala peak 2925 m/, Pirin /Vihren 2914 m/, Stara Planina or the Balkan range /Botev 2376 m/, the Rhodopes massif, the largest one in whole Southeast Europe /Golyam Perelik- 2191 m/, Sredna gora /1604 m/, as well as Vitosha Mountain south of Sofia /Cherni Vrah 2291 m/.

Climate - The predominant climate in Bulgaria is moderate and transitional continental. The duration of sunlight in the southern parts is just like in Greece - about 2500 hours per year. Four seasons. Average temperature (April - September): + 23 °C. In winter there is snow about 150 days, from December to May and mountain resorts offer great conditions for winter sports and recreation.
Rivers - Bulgaria has 526 rivers longer than 2.3 km. The only navigable river is the Danube, which lies along the North Bulgarian border. The longest river on the territory of Bulgaria is Iskar /368 km/, followed by Maritsa /322 km/.

Bulgaria has about 600 deposits of mineral waters with over 1600 water sources, some of them comparable with these of the most popular world balneological resorts.
The Black Sea - The Black Sea is semi-closed sea with low salt content. The average temperature in winter is 23 oC. More than 50% of the coastline is beaches-wide and long, covered with fine sands.
Major Black Sea resorts: Albena, Golden Sands, St. Constantine and Elena, Sunny Beach, Nessebar, Sozopol.
Major mountain resorts: Bansko, Pamporovo, Borovets.
Spa resorts of national significance: Sandanski, Velingrad, Hissarya, Devin.