Before you land
- Money: Bulgaria uses the euro (€) — if you’re coming from the eurozone, no exchange needed at all.
- Documents: passport, university admission letter, and several passport photos (you’ll need them for more forms than you expect).
- Download offline: Google Maps offline map of Pleven, Google Translate with Bulgarian offline pack. Cyrillic street signs are much less scary with the camera-translate button.
- Applied for a university dorm? If not, ask the International Students Center about free rooms as soon as you arrive — the 2026/2027 deadline has passed, but rooms free up. How dorms work →
Day 1–2: SIM card
A Bulgarian number makes everything easier — deliveries, bank, university admin.
- The three operators are A1, Yettel and Vivacom. All have shops in the city centre and the malls, and all work fine in Pleven.
- Prepaid starter packs cost roughly €4–8 and include several GB of data and national minutes; monthly top-ups are in the same range.
- Bring your passport — registration is required by law, and the shop cannot sell you a SIM without it.
Student tip: ask for a predplatena karta (prepaid). Don’t sign a contract plan in week one — you can switch later once you have a residence address and know how much data you use.
Day 1–2: Cash & cards
- Cards are accepted almost everywhere in Pleven; Apple Pay / Google Pay work with most cards.
- Get some cash anyway (€20–50) — small shops and markets prefer it, and taxis in Pleven are cash-only (no card terminals).
- Use bank ATMs (attached to a bank branch), and if an ATM offers to charge you in your home currency, always choose EUR — the “home currency” conversion rate is a rip-off.
- Opening a Bulgarian bank account can wait until your residence paperwork starts.
Day 2–3: Supermarkets & essentials
- Supermarkets in Pleven: Life (local chain — support the locals!), plus Kaufland, Lidl, Billa — all good for cheap weekly shopping.
- Pharmacies are everywhere (green cross signs). None is 24/7 in Pleven — Phoenix Pharmacy (bul. “Danail Popov” 16) is open daily 08:00–23:00 and SOpharmacy next to it until 24:00.
- Plug adapter — day one, before anything else. Bulgaria uses European type C/F plugs, 230 V. If you arrive from the UK, India, Pakistan or Ireland, your charger will not fit the wall. Try Elimex first — it’s a five-minute walk from the university. If they can’t help, the bigger stores are Mr. Bricolage, Praktiker and Technopolis. Buy two or three; they cost a few euros each.
- For plates, hangers, bedding, light bulbs and everything else a bare flat needs, we wrote a full guide: Setting up your student room →
Food delivery
Glovo and Wolt both work in Pleven — download either and you can get food, and often groceries, delivered to your door. Useful in week one when you don’t yet know the city, and in week twenty when it’s raining.
Getting around
- The city centre is compact — most things are walkable.
- Taxis are cheap by Western standards, but cash-only. There’s no taxi app in Pleven — you call: Orion 064 825 454 or Svetlina 064 828 989. Ask the price roughly in advance or make sure the meter runs.
- Trolleybuses and buses have a conductor on board — you buy your ticket from them, cash or card, and the receipt is your ticket. €0.80 a ride. If you’ll travel often, the student card is €7 a month (120 journeys) from the Ticket Centre on ul. “Doyran” 43. Full details →
- See the Transport guide for the Sofia routes and the airport.
Paperwork — start early
- Non-EU students: your residence permit process must start soon after arrival — the International Students Center (Room 138) will guide you. Go there in your first week and ask for the current checklist.
- EU students: you’ll register your stay too, but the process is lighter.
- Full details in our Visas & Paperwork guide — and always confirm deadlines with the migration office; rules change.
Save these
- Emergency page — 112, hospitals, late pharmacies. Add pleven.guide to your home screen: open the site in your browser → menu → Add to Home Screen.
- International Students Center — Room 138, 064 884 153, iscinfo@mu-pleven.bg. Your first stop for any official question — details here.
The one cultural thing to learn on day one: in Bulgaria, a head shake means YES and a nod means NO — the opposite of most of the world. It causes real confusion in shops. More in Bulgarian Basics.