Current Time in Sofia

💡 How Bulgaria changes its clocks: As an EU member, Bulgaria follows the EU DST directive. Clocks spring forward on the last Sunday in March at 03:00 EET (becoming 04:00 EEST). Clocks fall back on the last Sunday in October at 04:00 EEST (becoming 03:00 EET). Sofia is always 2 hours ahead of London and always 1 hour ahead of Rome, Berlin, Vienna, Paris, Warsaw and Belgrade year-round. For most of the year Sofia is … ahead of New York, with brief windows during the US–Europe spring and autumn transitions. The EU Parliament voted in 2019 to abolish seasonal clock changes; as of 2026, Bulgaria and all EU states continue to observe DST.

• 5000–500 BC The Sofia Basin has been continuously inhabited for at least 7,000 years. Neolithic settlements (c. 5000 BC) existed in the area around present-day Sofia, and Bronze Age Thracian tribes inhabited the region from around 2000 BC. The ancient settlement was founded by the Serdi, a Thracian tribe, whose name the city would bear for over a thousand years: the Roman name Serdica (and later Ulpia Serdica) derives directly from this tribe. The Serdi controlled a strategically vital crossroads where the major road from the Adriatic coast to the Black Sea met the route from the Danube to the Aegean — a position that would determine Sofia’s importance through every subsequent era of its history.
• 29 BC – 447 AD The Romans conquered the region in 29 BC, transforming the Thracian settlement into the thriving Roman city of Ulpia Serdica. Under Emperor Trajan (early 2nd century AD) the city received urban status, impressive public buildings, baths, forums and its distinctive grid street plan — fragments of which survive today. The Rotunda of St George, Sofia’s oldest surviving building (4th century AD), was constructed as a Roman rotunda-bath complex during this period. Serdica reached its greatest importance under Emperor Constantine the Great (306–337 AD), who reportedly said “Serdica is my Rome” — he held the Council of Serdica here in 343–344 AD, one of the most important early Christian councils. Constantine seriously considered making Serdica the capital of the Roman Empire before ultimately choosing Constantinople. The Edict of Serdica (311 AD) by Emperor Galerius, issued here, was the first imperial edict of tolerance toward Christians. The Huns under Attila devastated the city in 447 AD.
• 447–1018 After Attila’s destruction, Serdica was rebuilt by the Byzantine Empire and renamed Triaditsa (or Sredets by Bulgarians). Bulgaria’s first great medieval empire was founded in 681 AD, and Sofia was captured by the First Bulgarian Empire several times, passing repeatedly between Bulgarian and Byzantine control. The city played a major role in the bloody Bulgarian-Byzantine wars of the 9th–10th centuries: Khan Krum (803–814) and later Tsar Simeon I the Great (893–927 AD), under whom the First Bulgarian Empire reached its greatest territorial and cultural extent — briefly the most powerful state in Europe — fought for control of Sredets. The Boyar Rebellion of 969 and the campaigns of Basil II “Bulgar-Slayer” ended Bulgarian independence in 1018, reincorporating the region into Byzantium.
• 1018–1393 The Second Bulgarian Empire (1185–1396), re-established after the Asen Rebellion against Byzantine rule, incorporated Sofia (by then regularly called Sredets) within its territory. The city became an important episcopal seat and craft centre. The name Sofia appears for the first time in a document from 1376, derived from the Cathedral of Saint Sophia (Holy Wisdom), a 6th-century Byzantine church built over the Roman rotunda, which gave the city its enduring name. The Second Bulgarian Empire experienced a golden age under Tsar Ivan Asen II (1218–1241), whose realm stretched from the Adriatic to the Black Sea, but subsequently fragmented under dynastic struggles and Mongol pressure. By the late 14th century Bulgaria faced a new and ultimately more devastating threat from the south-east.
• 1382–1878 The Ottoman conquest of Sofia in 1382 inaugurated nearly five centuries of Ottoman rule — among the longest of any European capital. Under the Ottomans, Sofia became an important administrative centre for the Rumelia Eyalet (the European provinces). The city was transformed: mosques (several of which survive today, including the Banya Bashi Mosque, 1576), hans (caravanserais), covered bazaars and public baths replaced or were built alongside older structures. The Rotunda of St George was converted to a mosque. Despite periodic oppression, a Bulgarian merchant class persisted, and Bulgarian culture survived in rural monasteries, most famously Rila Monastery (72 km south of Sofia), founded in the 10th century and rebuilt magnificently in the 18th–19th centuries, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the spiritual heart of Bulgaria. The Bulgarian National Revival (18th–19th centuries) brought a cultural flowering: new schools, churches in a distinctive Bulgarian style, and growing national consciousness. The April Uprising of 1876 — brutally suppressed by Ottoman irregular forces (the “Bulgarian Horrors”) with approximately 15,000–30,000 dead — provoked international outrage and led directly to the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78.
• 1878–1944 The Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78 liberated Bulgaria from Ottoman rule. Russian troops entered Sofia on 4 January 1878, a date celebrated as Sofia City Day. The Treaty of San Stefano (March 1878) created a large Bulgarian state; the subsequent Treaty of Berlin (July 1878) reduced it dramatically, dividing the Bulgarian lands — a source of national grievance that would dominate Bulgarian foreign policy for generations. Sofia was chosen as the capital of the newly established Principality of Bulgaria in April 1879 (upgraded to Kingdom of Bulgaria in 1908). The choice of Sofia over Tarnovo (the medieval capital) reflected its central position. Within decades the city was transformed from a small Ottoman town (~11,000 people in 1878) into a modern European capital with boulevards, palaces, government buildings and a cathedral. The magnificent Alexander Nevsky Cathedral (begun 1882, consecrated 1912) — a gift from the Russian people to the Bulgarian people in gratitude for liberation — became the defining symbol of modern Bulgaria. Bulgaria was involved in the Balkan Wars (1912–13) and both World Wars; World War II saw Sofia bombed by Allied air forces in 1943–44 before Soviet forces entered on 9 September 1944.
• 1944–Today The communist takeover in September 1944 established the People’s Republic of Bulgaria, one of the Soviet Union’s most loyal satellites. Under Todor Zhivkov (1954–1989), the longest-serving leader in the Eastern Bloc, Sofia was extensively rebuilt: the historic centre was partially demolished and replaced with monumental Stalinist and later Modernist structures, including the enormous National Palace of Culture (NDK, 1981) and wide socialist boulevards. The forcible assimilation campaign against Bulgaria’s Turkish minority in the 1980s (“Revival Process”) caused an exodus of 300,000 ethnic Turks. Communism collapsed peacefully in November 1989: Zhivkov resigned on 10 November 1989, the day after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Bulgaria transitioned to democracy and a market economy through the 1990s, a turbulent period marked by hyperinflation (1997) and economic crisis. The currency was stabilised by a currency board pegging the lev to the Deutsche Mark (and later the Euro). Bulgaria joined NATO in 2004 and the European Union on 1 January 2007. The city has undergone substantial transformation since EU accession: infrastructure investment, urban renovation, a growing IT sector and increasing tourism have given Sofia a new energy. The opening of the Sofia Metro (first line 1998, now 3 lines) transformed urban mobility; the ongoing renovation of Sofia’s historic centre (Largo, Vitosha Boulevard — the city’s main pedestrian street) and the popularity of Vitosha Nature Park for weekend hiking make Sofia a distinctive destination that rewards the visitor willing to look beyond its post-communist surface.

✈️ Sofia Airport