Gadling

If you want to know the best places to have fun in a foreign country, go where the students go. In the case of Sofia, Bulgaria, this would be Student Town.

The communists like to centralize things when they were in command and often created enormous complexes that housed monopoly industries for the entire nation. This was often the case with universities as well. Student Towns usually consisted of a half dozen high-rise dormitories where students from various universities lived. Like the rest of communist housing, they tend to be cheaply made, prefabricated dumps.

New York Times journalist Robert Reid recently made the journey to the outskirts of Sofia to check out what has become the most popular Student Town in perhaps all of Central Europe. Studentski Grad (literally, Student Town), has transformed itself into a haven of fun. Instead of just housing the students, dozens of discos and bars have popped up within the massive complex to entertain them as well. The communists would be proud; the capitalists have managed to centralize partying.

So if you happen to find yourself in Sofia with nothing to do, make your way out to the bleak cityscape of Studentski Grad where strobe lights and pumping music will surely entertain you until the wee hours of the morning. And the best thing is that unlike everyone else you will be drinking with, you won't have an exam the next morning.

Filed under: Bulgaria