What is the capital of Bulgaria?

Sofia lies in the Sofia Valley in western Bulgaria, at the foot of the Vitosha mountain and west of the Iskar river, ringed by Lyulin to the west and the Balkan Mountains to the north.

Sofia is the capital and seat of government of Bulgaria, a role it has held since 1879. Bulgaria itself has an estimated population of 6,433,302 (2025).

Sofia is also the largest city in Bulgaria, which is the usual arrangement, though it is far from universal: see the countries where capital and largest city differ.

Sofia has been the capital of Bulgaria since 1879, the year after Bulgarian rule was restored in 1878, when Sofia was selected as the capital of the newly re-established Bulgarian state.

The area has been inhabited since at least 7000 BC. In antiquity the city was called Serdica, a name first recorded when the Roman Republic took it from the Celtic Serdi tribe in 29 BC, and it was later known as Sredets under Bulgarian rule.

Sofia is the 14th-largest city in the European Union.

The city sits on a bed of mineral springs, several of which still feed public fountains and the Sofia Central Mineral Baths.

From 1530 to 1836 Sofia was the regional capital of Rumelia Eyalet, the largest province of the Ottoman Empire.

City facts sourced from Wikipedia: Sofia.

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