Kukeri Festival Bulgaria 2027: Surva in Pernik Guide

All prices are in euro: Bulgaria adopted the euro on 1 January 2026. Our transfer prices were read from our booking system on 4 November 2026 and they change, so the price shown when you book is the one that counts. Festival details were checked the same day on the official Surva website and Pernik Municipality's site.

What are kukeri? Masks, bells and meaning

Bulgaria's masked rituals belong to the winter and early spring festivals between Christmas and Easter. In western Bulgaria, and above all around Pernik, the masked groups come out around the New Year and are called survakari. Elsewhere in the country the masquerades take place before spring, just ahead of Orthodox Lent, and the dancers are known as kukeri. Abroad, "kukeri" has become the word for all of them.

The costume is the point. Masks are built from wood, fur, feathers, horns and mirrors. Bells hang from the waist, and a group of dozens moving in step makes a sound you feel in your chest. In folk belief the masks protect against "unclean forces", and the bells strengthen that protection, bringing health, a good harvest and fertility to people and livestock. Each group has its cast of characters: a bride and groom, a priest, a bear that "mauls" the crowd for good luck, and often satirical figures mocking politicians and officials. If a masked monster lunges at you, smile: you are being blessed.

Surva festival Pernik 2027: what we know about the dates

Surva has been staged in Pernik since 1966 and has been international since 1985. According to the festival's own website, since 2008 it has been held every year on the last Saturday and Sunday of January. In practice the dates move a little, as the last two editions show:

Last year the municipality announced the dates on 6 November, about ten weeks ahead, so the 2027 announcement could come any day. Note that in 2026 the parades finished a week before the end of the month, so do not book non-refundable flights on the estimate alone. If you are booking now, choose flexible fares and check the official festival website before you lock in your dates.

How the festival days run: opening, parades and prizes

The format has been steady in recent years, and this is what to expect in 2027:

• Friday evening, the opening: a light, music and dance show on Krakra Pernishki Square, the main square. In 2026 more than 250 performers took part, and the Surva fire is lit to burn for the whole festival.
• Saturday and Sunday, the parades: the heart of Surva. Groups parade in competition to a timetable split into hourly slots, roughly from 10:00 to 17:00. On the first Saturday in 2026 the foreign groups, from Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, the United States and across the Balkans, paraded between 11:00 and 13:00.
• The children's parade: on the first festival day, pupils from Pernik's schools march in masks and furs. About 1,100 children took part in 2024.
• Last day, the finale: the jury hands out the prizes, and in 2026 for the first time there were three grand prizes, gold, silver and bronze masks. There is also an audience award decided by public vote.

Around the parades there are exhibitions and a festive market with stalls and souvenirs, and in past editions the municipality opened the Mining Directorate building, the Underground Mining Museum and Pernik Fortress to visitors. The detailed timetable, listing every group by hour, appears on the festival website about a week before.

Where to stand and how to get a good view

Watching the parades from the street is free. The route runs through the town centre and finishes on Krakra Pernishki Square, where grandstands go up. The official guests' stand is by invitation only, and we found no public ticket sales for the stands, so plan to watch from the pavement.

• Arrive early: with more than 13,000 participants and thousands of spectators, front row spots along the route go in the morning. Get there before 10:00 and you will see the first groups without elbows in your ribs.
• Pick your hour: the timetable shows when the foreign groups parade and when the village groups from the Pernik region, the heart of the tradition, take their turn.
• With small children: the bells are very loud and the masks genuinely scary. Stand a little back from the front so you can step out of the crowd easily.

Getting from Sofia to Pernik

Pernik lies west of Sofia, and there are three good ways to get there:

• Private transfer: 38 minutes and 38 km by our routing, from €41 per car each way. If you land on festival day, book a Sofia Airport to Pernik transfer, from €47 per car. The big win is the trip back: after a day standing in the cold, your driver is waiting and there is no taxi queue to join.
• Train: trains leave Sofia Central Station for Pernik roughly every hour and take between 45 and about 70 minutes. On the November 2026 Saturday timetable there are departures at 06:07, 07:30, 08:15, 09:10 and 10:20, and trains back from Pernik at 16:16, 17:06, 17:49, 19:03, 20:22 and 21:18. The January timetable may change, so check it on the Bulgarian State Railways (BDZ) website a few days before. For getting to the station and around the city, see our Sofia metro and buses guide.
• Driving: if you come by car hire, expect central streets to be closed on parade days. In 2026 the municipality opened temporary car parks in two school yards and in the right hand lanes of Yuri Gagarin Boulevard, and taxis waited on Minyor Street by the Struma hotel. Set off early, because traffic into town builds up on parade mornings.

Buses also run between Sofia and Pernik, but we could not verify their timetable, so check it on the day. As for where to stay: most visitors sleep in Sofia hotels and go to Pernik for the day. Pernik itself has few hotels and they fill quickly on festival weekend.

What to wear and bring

January is Bulgaria's coldest month, and at Surva you stand outside for hours. Come prepared:

• Layers: a warm coat, hat, gloves and scarf. Better to take a layer off than to freeze.
• Footwear: closed, waterproof shoes or boots, as there can be snow or slush and you will be on your feet all day.
• Small change: for the market stalls, hot drinks and souvenirs. Cash is simply easier at small stalls.
• A charged phone: batteries drain fast in the cold, and a power bank helps you find your driver at the end of the day.

Kukeri in Bulgaria from January to March: other events

Surva is the biggest, but not the only one. These are the events we checked, with their status as of 4 November 2026:

In Bansko, right next to Razlog, there is a kukeri parade on the central square on the morning of 1 January; you will find it, along with the New Year's Eve plans, in our New Year's Eve in Sofia and Bansko guide.

Surva and UNESCO: what was actually listed

In 2015 UNESCO added the Surova folk feast in the Pernik region to its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. That listing is for the village custom, not the town festival: on 13 and 14 January survakari groups dress up, gather around fires in the village centre, then visit houses the next morning, ritually "marry" young couples and let the bear "maul" people for good health. Families spend the whole year making the masks, and the money collected from the houses often goes to orphans and families in need. In 2026 UNESCO also placed the Pernik festival itself under its patronage for the 60th anniversary.

If you are in Bulgaria in mid January rather than at the end of the month, that is the time to look for Surova in a village. According to the festival website, almost every village in the Pernik region has its own group.

Fitting Surva into a winter trip

A day in Pernik pairs well with a few days in Sofia. On another day, visit Boyana Church at the foot of Vitosha, and if you are building a whole winter week with snow, spas and old towns, our guide to Bulgaria in winter has every option. We will update this guide as soon as Pernik publishes the 2027 dates. Meanwhile, browse all our transfers in Bulgaria and plan the day ahead.