Eurovision 2027 Burgas: A Local’s Guide to Dates, Tickets and Where to Stay

Well, this came as a bit of a bombshell, didn’t it? First Bulgaria wins Eurovision 2026 for the first time ever—DARA, in Vienna, with “Bangaranga”—and then the host city announcement lands: Eurovision 2027 Burgas. Nobody expected it and even we didn’t see it coming. It was a nice thing to be amused about back then, imagining we might get it, but that’s where it stopped. Everyone assumed Sofia would take it, the way capitals usually do. And then, boom.

So I’m guessing a lot of you are currently googling where the heck Burgas is and what kind of city it actually is. Let me tell you about the place you’re about to arrive in. We grew up there, our family is still there, and we’re back several times a year.

Burgas is the fourth largest city in Bulgaria and the second largest on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast, after Varna. It sits directly on the coast, has its own big city beach, and is around 380 km from Sofia—connected by uninterrupted motorway the whole way, so about four hours with a coffee stop. It’s a tourist hub in summer and has its own international airport that gets seriously busy in season. Around 190,000 people live here, and the city is compact and walkable, built around a great seafront park called the Sea Garden.

Here’s everything that’s confirmed so far, what still isn’t, and what Burgas is actually like in May—we’ll keep updating this page as the news comes in.

Eurovision 2027 Burgas: Dates, Venue and Tickets

Here’s everything we know so far — and we’ll keep this page updated as each new detail is confirmed.

Dates and venue

Eurovision 2027 Burgas runs from 11–15 May 2027. The two semi-finals are on Tuesday 11 May and Thursday 13 May, with the Grand Final on Saturday 15 May.

All three shows start at 9pm CEST — but that’s 10 pm local time in Bulgaria, as we’re an hour ahead of Central European Time. Worth building into your evening plans: the Grand Final won’t finish much before 1:30 in the morning.

There are also six preview shows between Monday 10 and Saturday 15 May, which sell tickets separately and are usually a lot easier to get hold of than the live shows.

The contest will be held at Arena Burgas, a purpose-built arena that opened in 2023, with capacity for up to 15,000 people. It’s the 71st edition of the contest, the first time Bulgaria has hosted and Canada will make its debut, the first new country to join after an exception was made in 2015 to allow Australia to join.

Tickets

No sale date has been announced yet, but the last two contests followed the same pattern: a pre-registration window in late November or December, then the actual sale in January. Recent editions have sold out within minutes, so the useful thing is to be registered and ready rather than watching for news.

What you can do now: sign up to Eurofan, the official free fanclub. It’s the route into the ticket sale, and you can flag your interest in Burgas 2027 tickets under “Tickets & Events” once you have an account.

On price, nothing is confirmed for Burgas, but recent years give a fair guide. In 2026 tickets ran from €10 to €363, and in 2025 from €11 to €372. Worth knowing what sits at each end: the cheapest tickets are for the rehearsal shows, not the live ones, and the top end is a good seat at the Grand Final.

We’ll update this section as soon as the sale date and prices are confirmed — worth bookmarking if you’re planning to go, since these sell out in minutes and a few days’ notice makes the difference.

Getting to Burgas for Eurovision 2027

Flying direct to Burgas

Burgas has its own international airport with regular services to major European cities including London, Berlin and Vienna. On top of that, because Burgas is a summer beach destination, there are charter flights from practically every corner of Europe — the Netherlands, the Nordics, the Baltics, the UK.

Here’s the catch, and it’s the thing most Eurovision guides won’t tell you: in mid-May, a lot of those seasonal routes either haven’t started yet or are only just beginning. The schedule in Eurovision week is nothing like it is in July. To give you a sense of the scale of it, the big capacity boost from Germany next year — nearly 100,000 seats between two carriers — only starts on 15 May, the day of the Grand Final.

Some of this is already shifting. The Vienna–Burgas route with Austrian Airlines will start earlier than usual, on 8 May, which opens up connections from all over Europe via Vienna. Jet2 is adding flights from Birmingham, Glasgow, Manchester and East Midlands, tickets are already on sale; though still no more than three a week, and so far nothing extra during Eurovision week itself. Burgas Airport is in talks with other airlines, so expect more announcements — we’ll update this section as they come.

If you do fly in, there’s a regular bus service between the airport and the city, and car hire on site. A dedicated Eurovision shuttle hasn’t been confirmed yet, but it would be surprising if there wasn’t one.

Via Sofia

Flying into Sofia and continuing on is likely to be the most flexible option for a lot of people, and Bulgaria Air has already confirmed extra domestic flights for exactly this — including timings built around international arrivals and the journey home after the final. They’re already on sale.

If you’d rather stay on the ground, there are several trains and buses a day and tickets run around €20. The bus takes about five hours and is generally fine. The train takes about six and a half. Bulgarian rail infrastructure leaves a lot to be desired, but the Sofia–Burgas service is usually reliable, and travelling by train is an experience in itself. Spend the few extra euros on a first-class ticket. You’ll thank us later.

Both stations sit next to each other, and you can get there from Sofia airport on the metro with one change.

Or hire a car, which is what we’d do given the choice. It’s 380 km of uninterrupted motorway, so around four hours with a coffee stop.

via Varna

Varna is the next biggest airport, similarly well connected and with its own summer charter routes. From there it’s about a two-hour drive to Burgas. You can hire a car or take one of the minibuses that run between the two cities several times a day. If you’d rather not drive or hunt for the right bus at the station, a private transfer is worth considering.

Where to stay during Eurovision 2027 Burgas

There’s one decision to make before you book anything: do you want to walk to the arena, or are you happy taking the bus and staying somewhere more central?

Near Arena Burgas

Arena Burgas sits in Izgrev, one of the outer neighbourhoods — still very much in the city, but around 5 km from the centre. There are some good hotels within walking distance of it, and those will be the first to go.

Staying central

Staying central is the easier option than it sounds, though. There is a bus connection from the city out to Izgrev in about 12 minutes, and the arena is a short walk from the stop. A taxi from the same area takes around 10 minutes and won’t cost much. There’ll almost certainly be a dedicated Eurovision shuttle too, though nothing’s been confirmed yet.

One thing we don’t know yet is where the Eurovision Village will be. If being near that matters more to you than being near the arena, hold off — we’ll update this section as soon as it’s announced.

Burgas in May: What to expect

May is right at the start of the summer season in Burgas — or just before it, depending on the year. But because Burgas is a working city rather than a resort, virtually every café and restaurant is open regardless. The only real difference is down at the beach, and even there you’ll find the kapani, the small beach alley places, most of which stay open year round. A lot of the Sea Garden cafés will already be up and running, too.

Expect warm days: at least 20°C (68°F), and often higher when the sun’s out.

You might catch a day or two of rain, but continuous grey skies are rare here at this time of year.

The sea is still cold, around 16–17°C (61–63°F), so probably not one for swimming — though that depends entirely on where you’re coming from. I’ve watched Danes wade into the Baltic at 15°C (59°F) air temperature in a strong wind, so make of that what you will.

What to do when not at the Arena?

Eurovision week gives you a lot of daylight to fill, and Burgas is easy to fill it with. Walk down Bogoridi to the pier and out along the Sea Garden, with the Bridge landmark — it runs for kilometres above the beach and it’s where the whole city goes in the evening.

The other thing we’d make time for is St. Anastasia Island, a small volcanic island out in the bay with a former monastery and prison on it, reached by boat from the port; the round trip takes around three hours, and it’s the single most distinctive thing Burgas has.

If you’ve got a spare day, Nessebar and Sozopol are both short trips down the coast and both worth it — we’ve written about them properly in our guide to Burgas in summer, along with how to get to each.

FAQ Eurovision 2027 Burgas