New Year's Eve in Sofia and Bansko 2026: Where to Celebrate

New Year's Eve 2026 falls on a Thursday and New Year's Day 2027 on a Friday, which makes it a long weekend. All prices are in euro, the currency Bulgaria adopted on 1 January 2026. Our transfer and experience prices were read from our booking system on 18 October 2026 and can change; the price shown when you book is the one that counts.

Sofia or Bansko: where to spend New Year's Eve in Bulgaria

Choose Sofia for a city night: a big concert on the square, a dinner show or a club after midnight, and a hotel you can walk back to. Choose Bansko for a mountain celebration: a long dinner at a hotel or a mehana, fireworks over the square, and kukeri or skiing the morning after. This is how the two compared last year:

Sofia New Year's Eve concert on Battenberg Square

Sofia's main celebration is the concert the municipality organises on Knyaz Alexander I Square, in front of the National Art Gallery in the heart of the city. Last year the square opened to the public at 20:30, the concert began at 21:30, and the line up included some of Bulgaria's best known pop and rock acts, among them Signal and Mary Boys Band. The municipality invites residents and visitors alike to see the new year in outdoors, and it is the easiest way to feel the city on this night.

Before you go, based on last year's arrangements:

• Entry is through six police checkpoints. Weapons, sharp objects, bottles, fireworks and other pyrotechnics are not allowed, and neither are large backpacks.
• Tsar Osvoboditel Boulevard closes to traffic from 19:00 between Independence Square and Rakovski Street, so a taxi cannot drop you at the square.
• Police watch the crowd for pickpockets, but keep your phone and wallet in an inside pocket anyway.

Are there fireworks in Sofia on New Year's Eve?

Not on the square. For the last two New Year's Eves the municipality replaced the fireworks with a light show, to spare children, pets and people with illnesses the loud explosions. Last year, on the night Bulgaria switched to the euro, the Ministry of Finance also staged a drone show over the square, a one time event for the changeover. The deputy mayor also asked residents not to set off fireworks they had bought.

What about the 2026 programme? Last year the municipality announced the concert and its line up on 4 December, so expect this year's in early December. Until then, plan around the pattern of recent years.

Where to stay in Sofia for New Year's Eve

If the square is the plan, stay within walking distance. After midnight everyone leaves at once, and walking is the simplest way home. Sense Hotel, a design hotel on Tsar Osvoboditel Boulevard by the Parliament, with a rooftop bar and an indoor pool, is about 500 metres from the square as the crow flies. Three more of our Sofia hotels are within about 800 metres, and two others sit at the top of Vitosha Boulevard, by the National Palace of Culture and its metro station, about 1.5 to 2 kilometres away.

Room rates change by date, so we do not quote them here. When we checked on 18 October we had not yet found a published New Year's Eve dinner at any of our Sofia hotels; we will add them once they appear.

New Year's Eve dinner and parties in Sofia

If you would rather celebrate indoors, choose between a dinner show that starts early in the evening and a club that opens close to midnight. We list both, and each includes a ride from your hotel:

• Djanam Sky: a restaurant with singers, dancers and city views. According to the listing it opens at 20:30, entry is for over 18s, and 10 euro per person covers a one way ride from your hotel and a reserved table.
• C'est La Vie: a show restaurant with guest singers and professional dancers. It opens at 20:30, over 18s only, and 15 euro per person covers a one way ride and a reserved table.
• The Rococo Bar: a lavish bar inspired by the Rococo era, with DJs and dance shows. It opens at 23:30, over 18s only, and 15 euro per person covers the ride, fast track entry and a reserved table.
• CLWD: a club in the centre with a powerful sound system and an industrial look. It opens at 23:30, over 18s only, and 30 euro per person covers the ride, fast track entry and a reserved table.

Food and drinks are not on the list of what is included in any of these listings. More importantly, none of them says yet what happens on the night of 31 December, and the prices shown are for a regular night. You pay a 20% deposit online and the rest to the host at the end of the service. Every booking goes to the host for approval, so if the venue is closed or full that night, the request is declined and your deposit is refunded.

One more thing to plan: on a regular night these restaurants open at 20:30 and the clubs at 23:30, so at midnight you will be in one of three places: on the square, at dinner or in a club. Decide in advance. For more clubs and the city's nightlife districts, see our Sofia nightlife guide.

Bansko New Year's Eve: the square, fireworks and kukeri

In Bansko the public celebration is on Nikola Vaptsarov Square, the town's central square. Last year Bansko Municipality scheduled a festive concert and fireworks there from 23:30, and singer Dimana Boyanova kept the crowd going until midnight. The next morning, 1 January at 11:00, the traditional kukeri parade took over the same square: hundreds of costumed kukeri with heavy bells and dances that, in Bansko's old tradition, drive away evil and wish health and plenty for the new year. It is worth getting up for.

The municipality published last year's programme on 3 December, so this year's times should be known in early December. What we did not find is an official New Year's Eve event at the gondola. Several of our Bansko hotels are near the gondola station at the edge of town, and from there you walk to the square: from Kempinski Hotel Grand Arena, opposite the gondola, the old town is about 15 minutes on foot.

Will there be skiing? Last season the Bansko ski area opened on 13 December, and the opening date for 2026/27 has not been announced yet. Check the lift opening time for the morning of 1 January with the ski area before you go. Everything about the skiing itself is in our Bansko ski guide for winter 2026/27.

New Year's Eve dinner in Bansko: hotel or mehana

The square programme in Bansko only starts at 23:30, so you can sit down to a long dinner and head to the square for the countdown. Some hotels have already published their 2026 New Year's Eve dinners:

• At the Kempinski, New Year's Eve dinner is a festive buffet at The Gallery restaurant on 31 December 2026 from 19:00, with live music and a raffle. According to the hotel's website it costs 210 euro per adult for food only, half price for children aged 6 to 12, and nothing for children under 6. The hotel also sells separate New Year packages; check with the hotel what each one includes.
• At Spa Resort St. Ivan Rilski, the 31 December gala dinner, with live acts, a DJ party and fireworks, is included in the hotel's New Year package of three nights from 30 December. According to the hotel, a three night minimum stay applies all winter from 24 December, and on the New Year offer free cancellation ends 28 days before arrival.
• In Bansko's mehanas, the traditional taverns, last year's New Year's Eve set menus cost 150 to 200 leva per person, about 77 to 102 euro, with drinks and a folk show included, according to Bulgarian National Television. This year's prices, now in euro, have not been published yet.

Christmas to New Year in Bulgaria: what to book and when

Late December is Bulgaria's own holiday season. 24, 25 and 26 December are public holidays, and because 26 December 2026 falls on a Saturday, the Labour Code makes Monday 28 December a day off as well. School Christmas holidays run from 24 December 2026 to 3 January 2027, and 1 January is another public holiday. In practice, the whole week between Christmas and New Year is peak season, especially in the ski resorts.

Bansko feels it early. According to Bulgarian National Television, by the middle of October last year most hotels there were around half booked for New Year, hoteliers offered early booking discounts of up to 30%, and a three day all inclusive package for two cost over 2,800 leva, about 1,430 euro. On the night itself, Bulgarian National Radio reported fully booked hotels in Bansko.

What to book, in order:

1. Your hotel: check the minimum stay and the free cancellation deadline. If you are celebrating in Bansko, arrive at least a day early so you do not spend the evening on the road.
2. Your New Year's Eve dinner: check whether it is included in your hotel package or sold separately, and reserve a place.
3. Your airport transfers, which you can book now; prices are below.

Getting around on New Year's Eve: night metro, taxis and transfers

Sofia's public transport runs all night. Last New Year's Eve the metro and several main lines switched to a night timetable from 23:30 to 04:30: metro lines 1, 2 and 4 ran every 17 to 34 minutes and line 3 every 20 minutes, alongside a few tram, trolleybus and bus lines. The nearest metro station to the square is Serdika, served by lines 1, 2 and 4. The city publishes this year's timetable in the last days of December.

Taxis cannot reach the square while the boulevard is closed. Sofia's maximum night fare this year is 1.52 euro per kilometre, and when the concert ends the whole crowd leaves at once, so plan to walk or take the metro back. Bansko is small, and everything is within walking distance.

From the airport: a private transfer from Sofia Airport to the city centre costs from 30 euro per car for up to 4 passengers, about 25 minutes. A private transfer from Sofia Airport to Bansko costs from 124 euro per car, about two hours. Transfer prices change; the price shown when you book is the one that counts.

Late December weather and New Year's Day

It is cold in both places. In December Sofia averages about 5°C by day and minus 2°C at night, and Bansko about 5°C by day and minus 4°C at night, so expect to be below freezing on the square at midnight. Dress in layers, with a hat, gloves and shoes with a good grip. Snow in town is possible but not promised; the full table is in our guide to Sofia weather by month.

New Year's Day is a public holiday: government offices and banks are closed, and some shops and restaurants close or keep shorter hours, so plan the morning in advance. Sofia's Christmas markets are over by then too: last season the Christmas festival by the National Palace of Culture closed on 28 December, and the details are in our Sofia Christmas markets guide. Bansko has the morning planned for you: last year the kukeri parade on the square started at 11:00, followed by skiing for anyone with energy left. And if you stay in Sofia and want to see snow in the days after, we cover the options in our snow day from Sofia guide.