Every year, thousands of students arrive in Pleven to study medicine — from India, Pakistan, Italy, Greece, the UK, Germany and dozens of other countries. Many have never been to Bulgaria, don't read Cyrillic, and know nobody in the city.
The information they need exists, but it's scattered: some on Facebook groups, some in Bulgarian on municipal websites, most of it in the heads of students who arrived a year earlier. Pleven Guide puts it in one place, in English.
Our mission
To make arriving in Pleven simple — so that a student's first weeks are spent studying and making friends, not working out where to buy a duvet, which pharmacy is open at 22:30, or whether an apartment contract is a scam.
Three principles guide everything here:
- Honest before flattering. If a place has mixed reviews, we say so. If we haven't verified something, we mark it clearly. We'd rather admit "we're not sure" than mislead someone who is far from home.
- Local first. Where a Pleven business does the job as well as an international chain, we list the local one first. This city's shops, cafés and services deserve the students' custom.
- Free, always. The guide costs students nothing and never will.
How we choose and rank places
Ratings and review counts come from Google Maps and are refreshed regularly, so you're seeing what the city actually thinks — not our opinion dressed up as data. Listings are ordered by a weighted score: a place with 4.5 stars from 900 reviews ranks above one with 5.0 stars from three.
Occasionally we adjust an order slightly for something the ratings can't capture — a place students love that tourists never review, or a well-rated business where nobody speaks English. When we do, it's because someone checked in person.
If a business ever pays for placement, it appears in a clearly marked Featured slot above the list. The ranked list below it is never for sale. Distances are straight-line, measured from the Medical University — or from your own location if you allow it.
Who makes it
Pleven Guide is independent — not run by the university, the municipality or any business. It's built and maintained locally in Pleven by Webaholic Studio, with information verified on the ground and corrections from students themselves.
Help us keep it accurate
Cities change: places close, prices rise, opening hours shift. If you spot something wrong or know somewhere good that's missing, tell us — it takes a minute and it helps the next student.