Weihnachtsmarkt Sofia 2017: A German Christmas Market in Sofia, Bulgaria
For the past week or so, I’ve had “I’m dreeeeaming of a whiiiite Christmas…” running through my head painfully constantly. But I’m from the San Francisco Bay Area, and Gustavo is from Brazil, so neither of us grew up with any childhood experiences of white Christmases (and neither of us can confidently remember if we’ve ever had one, even in adulthood).
That is, until now!
It’s still almost a month before Christmas, but the Weihnachtsmarkt Sofia has already been open for a couple weeks. A few days ago, it snowed enough that we had a real white Christmas experience there, complete with real icicles and hot chocolate.
This German-style Christmas fair features a couple dozen stalls selling crafts, souvenirs, jewelry, ornaments, and -- of course -- plenty of Glühwein and sausages. In fact, despite having spent about a year total in Germany, it was here in Sofia that I had my first glass of Glühwein.
Surprisingly, given the number of English-speaking tourists we encountered there, the internet has very little information on the fair in English. Here are the details, along with a few of our recommendations!
Weihnachtsmarkt Sofia 2017 (dates may vary in future years!)
November 18 through December 20
Open from 11 AM to 10 PM daily
Our Video:
Weihnachtsmarkt in Sofia, Bulgaria
Our Recommended Food and Drinks:
Note: most of the stalls are immediately recognizable because there’s only one that serves that particular kind of food. Where there are several options, such as for sausages and Glühwein, I’ll give directions to our favorite stalls.
Non-Vegan (Gustavo’s Picks):
There’s a stall that serves smoked salmon plates and sandwiches. You can actually watch the salmon getting smoked right in front of you over a wood fire. Order the plate instead of the sandwich, on which the bread overwhelms the salmon flavor.
Bockwurst! You can get this at several stalls, but to get to Gustavo’s favorite, turn right once you enter from the main entrance and walk straight; you’ll run right into his favorite stall at the end of the aisle.
Near the smoked salmon stall, you’ll find a stall serving raclette, a Swiss dish involving melting cheese and scraping it over other foods. Here, they scrape it onto toasted bread rolls.
Gustavo’s favorite drink here was a rich, creamy, not-too-sweet hot chocolate. Walk into the fair at the main entrance and turn right. The best hot chocolate is at the last stall on the left before the path turns left. (If you see the smoked salmon, you’ve gone too far.)
Vegan (Gretchen’s Picks):
One of the stalls here specializes in soups. They have three kinds every day, of which two have been vegan every time we’ve gone there. They’ve all been good, but my very favorite has been the lentil curry soup.
The kebab stall usually has vegetable kebabs. They tend to be a bit on the al dente side, which isn’t my preference (especially when you want something really hot and well-cooked on a snowy day!), but it’s great to have another option.
You can find typical red Glühwein at several of the stalls, and I haven’t noticed any particular difference between them -- they’re all good! My favorite, though, is the white Glühwein at the raclette stall.
If you’re in Sofia while the market is open, it’s absolutely worth a visit (or three). In fact, lately I’ve been dragging Gustavo there fairly regularly just to buy soup to bring home for dinner! If you’re not close enough to visit it for yourself, check out our video for a little bit of early holiday spirit.