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Photo by Pudelek (Marcin Szala), CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Sofia in January
avoid · not the best time to go · the coolest month of the year
The year in Sofia
Tap a month for its page
- JanJSofia in January: avoid
- FebFSofia in February: ok
- MarMSofia in March: good
- AprASofia in April: good
- MayMSofia in May: good
- JunJSofia in June: sweet spot
- JulJSofia in July: sweet spot, busy
- AugASofia in August: good, busy
- SepSSofia in September: good, busy
- OctOSofia in October: good
- NovNSofia in November: ok
- DecDSofia in December: ok
- Sweet spot
- Good
- OK
- Avoid
- Busy
Plan this trip
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Flights from
Flights
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Where to stay
Book direct
Luxury
Things to do
Car hire
Rent direct
Travel insurance
Check whether your bank card or home insurance already covers this trip.
If the trip needs a visa, the travel agent or visa centre usually sells the cover it asks for.
Mobile data (eSIM)
Your own plan's EU roaming may already cover this.
Renting a pocket Wi-Fi is the other common way to stay connected.
These are sites people in book with. Each opens in a new tab, on the site's own pages.
The numbers
| Daily high | 5°C |
|---|---|
| Nightly low | -3°C |
| Feels like, afternoon | 1°C |
| Rainy days, 1 mm or more | 7 · 59 mm |
| Humidity | 75% |
| Sunshine | 6.3 h/day |
| Daylight | 9.5 h/day |
| Hiking | 5 of 31 days dry and 10–27 °C |
| Crowds | 80 / 100, higher is quieter |
Ten-year averages for this calendar month. A rainy day is one with at least 1 mm of rain, as a weather station counts it. The model these figures come from drizzles more than a rain gauge, the more so the warmer the month, so its days count from 2 mm, rising to 5 mm in the hottest.
Weather read at the centre, 8 km from the airport (SOF): ten years of ERA5 and ERA5-Land reanalysis, through Open-Meteo's open data.
How busy it gets
Public holidays in January
Holidays crowd a place out and push fares up around them; they count toward the crowd score above.
Sofia in pictures
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Plamen Agov (Пламен Агов), CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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MrPanyGoff, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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Plamen Agov (Пламен Агов), CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
What to pack
- A proper coat, hat and gloves: nights average -3°C.
- A packable rain jacket for the 7 or so rainy days.
Each line is a threshold over the ten-year figures above, not advice from anywhere else.
Before you go
| Cost of living | very cheap — prices run about 23% of the United States' (World Bank, 2025) |
|---|---|
| Currency | Euro |
| Languages | Bulgarian |
| Plugs | Type C and F, 230 V |
| Driving | On the right |
| Calling code | +359 |
| Travel advice | No advice against travel — UK Foreign Office, updated 2026-08-11 Exercise normal security precautions — Global Affairs Canada, updated 2026-09-24 Level 1: Exercise Normal Precautions — US State Department, updated 2025-10-09 |
| Health | UK Foreign Office health advice |
Facts from Wikidata (CC0), the UK Foreign Office (Open Government Licence) and the World Bank, refreshed 2026-10-08. The advisory is written for British travellers; entry rules depend on your passport.Travel advice for American readers is the US State Department's (public domain), and for Canadian readers Global Affairs Canada's (Open Government Licence - Canada), each in its own words and written for its own citizens; entry rules depend on your passport.
On arrival in Sofia: the apps, paying, getting around, tipping and the emergency numbers.
January elsewhere
In January from
The other months at Sofia
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