As you may have heard, 2025 concluded momentously in Bulgaria, with Sofia at the centre. An estimated 50,000 people poured into the capital to protest corruption, pushing the government to resign just weeks before the nation would join the euro. It marks a new chapter for Bulgaria and its consistently burgeoning capital city. In recent years, Sofia’s red-hot housing market has led Bulgaria’s residential boom. An inflow of qualified talent fans the embers, drawn by a menagerie of multi-nationals: Coca-Cola, Ubisoft, and Hewlett-Packard, to name just a few. Yet, many choose this 7,000-year-old hub to start something new, urged on by a pro-start-up city administration that keeps corporate tax low and opportunity high. Host to the Ottomans, Romans and (least inspiring, architecturally) the communists over its seven millennia, Sofia today is a treasured hometown. Her sights and landmarks (#44) span the epochs, from Roman baths to Orthodox churches to sobering communist time capsules like the Red Flat. Bounce back with an underlauded restaurant scene (#35) and world-class shopping (#27), from streetside handcrafts to destination malls. Museums are top of their class, ranked #31, bolstered by the new interactive museum of science and art, PHENOMENA. In a city like Sofia, it feels aptly named.