Quick Facts about the Municipality of Ruse,

Location – Northern Bulgaria, on the southern bank of the Danube

Surrounding Villages – Marten, Nikolovo, Sandrovo, Basarbovo, Tetovo, Chervena Voda, Semerdzhievo, Prosena, Hotantsa, Dolno Ablanovo, Yastrebovo,

Nearest cities – Svishtov – 30 minutes, Byala – 30 minutes, Silistra – 50 minutes, Veliko Tarnovo – 1 hour, Bucharest – 1 hour

The north border of the municipality coincides with the state border and it goes along the Danube River. Its geographical situation characterizes it as an important European and republican transport crossroad. Here is the only bridge over Danube River on the territory of Bulgaria.

On the region territory, two of the European transport corridors (?7 and ?9) are crossed and they ensure the connection between the Baltic and the North Sea regions on one hand and the Mediterranean and the Black sea on the other. The first railway line in Bulgaria connects the city of Ruse with the Black Sea port of Varna. Here is also the final point of the Ro-Ro line between Ruse and Ukrainian city Reni.

Since the year 2000, the region is administrative centre of The North Central Planning Region , including the regions of Ruse, Pleven, Veliko Tarnovo, Gabrovo and Lovech. In the city of Ruse it is concentrated a greater part of the administrative capacity of the region.

The population of Ruse is 162,131 (according to the last census from 2001) which makes the city the fifth largest in Bulgaria.

Ruse - Climate

The climate in the region is moderate continental characterized with very cold winter (the absolute min temperature -27 C) and very hot dry summer (absolute max temperature +44 C). Autumn and spring are short. In spite of the cold winter spring come relatively early because of the low altitude of the relief. However, spring season is cooler than autumn. Typical for the region are the thick fogs.

Ruse – Tourism

The potential for the establishment of a specialized tourist product, which will offer alternative forms of tourism like cultural (exploration/knowledge), rural and ecological tourism, is determined by the very good geographical and transport location, the rich culture-historical heritage and the beautiful natural resources, concentrated on a comparative small territory.

The three municipalities in the District - Ruse, Ivanovo and Dve Mogili have the best potential to offer tourist services. The most interesting objects are: The Archeological reserve “Ivanovo rock churches”, the Archeological reserve “Cherven”, the Basarbovo rock monastery, the Nature park “Rusenski Lom”, the countryside along the river Rusenski Lom, the Wooden park “Lipnik”, the Park zone around the hut “Prista”, the island “Lyulyak”, the Cave “Orlova chuka”, etc. A special tourist resource is the architecture of the old town of Ruse from the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. Also well developed is the museum net in the district (region) – there are 19 museum objects.

The hospitality industry in the city of Ruse is very well developed. There are a few nice hotels in the town: “Danube Plaza”, “Riga”, “Splendid”, “Bistra & Galina”, “Kristal”, Anna Palace, and also a number of restaurants, cafes and clubs, satisfying the excellent taste of the visitors.

A Regional plan for regional development is worked out at the Ruse Regional administration. According to this in the part “Tourism” various projects for the development of tourism are foreseen, one of them is the Project as per the PHARE Program for “Development of the Bulgarian cultural tourism”, with the aim for restoration, reconstruction, modernization and development of the tourist potential of the culture-historical heritage (objects) and the surrounding tourist and transportation infrastructure in the town of Ruse and its neighborhood; and also the Project for the “Danube cultural tourism” as per the PHARE Program for the elaboration of culture-tourism routes in the whole Danube area, for the restoration of cultural heritage and the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the Central Riverside of Ruse.

Ruse – Local History / Heritage
The development of the cultural, cruise, festival and conference tourism within the region is based on some major factors, such as the rich historical-cultural heritage of the town, the variety of pleasant hotels, restaurants, cafes and clubs, the Danube River and the restoration of the passenger river navigation (which was intensively practiced during the 80-ties) but also the rich cultural program including various events such as the March Music Days International Festival for symphonic and cantata-oratorio music, the Golden Rebeck Falk Festival, The Jazz Fest — Ruse, The Feast Theatre Days — Theatre Harbour on the Big River, etc., included here is also the project for renovation and reformation of the Family House of Elias Canetti into an International tourist, cultural, information, scientific, conference and festival centre of the Danube countries. Ruse is and will be the “Bulgarian pearl on the Danube”.

Apart from the rich cultural-historical heritage of the town of Ruse, its environs have two cultural-historical sites — the Rock Churches of Ivanovo Architectural Reserve (which is included in UNESCO's list of world cultural heritage ) and The Medieval Castle of Cherven (national monument). Close to them is the Rock Monastery of Bassarbovo which is related in subject to the Ivanovo complex. The exceptional qualities of the murals give reason to historians and art experts to believe that this was one of the largest centres of culture and spirit of the Second Bulgarian Kingdom. The Medieval Castle of Cherven lies about 14 km from the Rock Churches of Ivanovo and is the biggest and authentically preserved stronghold from the time of the Second Bulgarian Kingdom. It was the administrative centre of the local boyar and the seat of the Metropolitan of Dorostol and Cherven. There is undoubted proof that the Rock cloister of Ivanovo and the Metropolitan's Cherven were connected, and they were in close relations with the court in the capital of Veliko Turnovo. The reserves are situated in the valley of the Rusenski Lom river famous for its rich flora and fauna. They offer excellent possibilities for ecological and ornithological tourism. In the environs of Ruse there are many other beautiful parks offering the best means for sport practicing and leisure time activities .

Ruse – Amenities

Banks
As being one of the largest urban areas in Bulgaria all major Bulgarian banks have opened branches in the city of Ruse – Bulbank AD, Commercial Bank Biochim Plc, Euro Bank, First Investment Bank, ING, SG Expressbank, Union Bank, United Bulgarian Bank, Bulgarian Post Bank, Central and Cooperative Bank, Commercial Bank Bulgaria-Invest Ltd, Corporate Commercial Bank, DSK Bank, HEBROSBANK, Raiffeisenbank (Bulgaria) A.D , Tokuda Credit Express Bank.

Hotels
Ruse is attracting more and more visitors every year. The hotel industry is booming. At present the city well satisfies the needs of its visitors and guests by providing enough hotel rooms and good standards of service. Some of the hotels represented in Ruse are: Anna Palace Hotel, Best Western Bistra and Galina Hotel Complex, Danube Plaza Hotel, Riga Hotel, Splendid Hotel, Hotel Avko, Hotel Crystal, Charlino Hotel, Hotel Nacional, etc.

Restaurants & Bars
People in Ruse tend to say that there is no visitor or a guest of the city that has been left hungry or thirsty throughout their stay in the Bulgarian Danube Pearl. One could find tremendous amount of restaurants, bars, clubs and other places for entertainment. Some of the best places to eat are: Danube Plaza (Garden, Lake), Regal, Restaurant – Panorama “Riga”, Splendid, Crystal, Paris, Cosmos, Budapest, Imperial, Coliseum, Happy Bar & Grill, Fregata, Potsdam, Anna Palace, Restaurant on-board-ship “Balkan Princess”, Club-Restaurant “Sound Garden”, Club-Restaurant “Olympiets”, Irish Pub “Terrace”, Irish Pub “Dublin”. Some of you may wish to combine dining with unforgettable experience of traditional Bulgarian dancing and singing. We would recommend the following taverns: Danube Plaza, Karatsite, Riga, Strandzhata, Chiflika, Kladenetsa, Vinarna, Ruse.

Fast Food Establishments
There are also many places for a quick bite. We would recommend: Big Bob, Chinese Takeaway “Pauchi”, Italian Restaurants (Roma, Gerber, San Benedeto, Modena), Yam Yam Vkusno, etc.

Night Clubs
Ruse's night life is pretty diverse. There are places for every taste. Some of the most visited night clubs are: Moulen Rouge, Odyssey, Danube Plaza, Riga, Club “Music Box”, Viva, Complex “North”.

Other amenities
Ruse has plenty of medical centres, a few hospitals, emergency room, loads of General Practitioners, pharmacies , dentists, retail stores (some of the biggest in the country supermarket chains are also present in Ruse – Metro, CBA, Kaufland, many more to come soon). Ruse's transport system is extremely well developed. Hundreds of buses and trolley buses are at your convenience every day. Ruse is famous for having some of the best taxi services in Bulgaria. The best taxi companies are Express, Milanov, Perfekta. They also provide an exceptional service by giving you the chance to give the company a miscall from your mobile phone and they will ring you back. Car will arrive at your doorstep no later than 2 min from your phone call.

There are regular bus services several times a day to all villages in the District. Ruse's railway station is one of the biggest in the country and by all means the most spectacular architecture. There are direct trains to many destinations such as: Varna, Burgas, Plovdiv, Sofia, Veliko Tarnovo, Thessalonica and Athens in Greece, Istanbul in Turkey, Bucharest in Romania, Budapest in Hungary, Bratislava in Slovakia, Warsaw in Poland, Kiev in Ukraine, Moscow in Russia and many others.

Ruse – Industry

The regional economy starts a period of growth. The signals for that come from the data for GP, GDP per capita of the population and the investments. In the last few years the region economy starts intensely to catch up with the national one in most indexes, which are calculated on the base – per capita of the population.

Main growth force outlines the industrial sector . The enhanced sector dynamics is due to the reorientation of the markets from internal to external. The main power of the growing volume produced gross product is the increasing export.

As a result there is an increased and speeding up increase rate of the investments. Half of them are concentrated in manufacture industry. Relative part of Ruse region in the total sum of the investments in Bulgaria is 2.2% for 2003

The simultaneous membership of Bulgaria and Romania in the European Union in 2007 leads to a strong impact on the regional economy. Too many companies likely will choose Ruse as a right place for “attack” of Bucharest market. The increased amount of investments and building of the market strategies including Romania gives good advantages to Ruse.