Depending on  the source, Sofia has somewhere between 1200000 and 1500000 inhabitants. The official website of the city sticks to 1220000. This makes the capital of Bulgaria by far the largest city of the country. This may seem obvious, but when Sofia became the capital of Bulgaria in 1879 it was only the fifth city of the country. Sofia lies in the east of Bulgaria at the foot of Vitosha mountain.

Nowadays Sofia is a dynamic eastern european capital with unique surroundings: no less than five mountains surround the city and wherever you look, you will always find a mountain range in the background. The Simeonovo skilift is only twenty minutes away from the city center (on the picture Vitosha Boulevard and Vitosha mountain in the background).

The territory of Sofia is 1310 square kilometers and the city is situated at a heighth of 550 m.

The city of Sofia is one of the 28 bulgarian provinces (not to be confused with the Sofia district (oblast) which does not include the city), and is subdivided in 24 municipalities. Amongst the most well known are Vitosha,Geo Milev, Dianabbad, Boyana (with Boyana Church and the National History Museum), Studentski Grad (students city), Lozenets, Mladost (subdivided in Mladost 1,2,3 and 4), Lyulin (the most populated) and Pancharevo (close to a lake at the outskirts of the city).

The city is named after Saint Sophia church, a byzantine church from the sixth century. The second oldest capital of Europe harbours many well known monuments: Boyana Church (UNESCO world heritage), the Alexander Nevski cathedral (the largest cathedral on the Balkan peninsula) and Saint Sophia church.

But Sofia is also a city of contrasts: next to the monuments and some magnificent buildings from the turn of the twentiest century, under the communist regime the growing population of Sofia has predominantly been lodged in concrete panel buildings The post communist era, and even more the EU membership has given new impulses to the construction industry. Everywhere in Sofia new buildings rise, office buildings as well as apartments. The center of the city has luckily been saved from this building mania, but away from the city there is no hold to it. The ongoing expansion of Sofia Business Park is the perfect example (picture to the right).