Where do expats in Sofia actually meet people? Just moved and know nobody

Sofia has one of the healthiest social scenes in the Balkans for newcomers - the machinery exists, you just have to plug in. Where people actually show up: InterNations Sofia runs monthly mixers that are the classic first stop - crowd skews professional and 25-45, exactly your demographic, and going alone is normal. Meetup.com is genuinely active in Sofia: language exchanges, board game nights, tech talks, photography walks. The language exchange evenings deserve special mention for your goal, because they are the rare format that is half Bulgarian by design - locals come to practice English and you leave with Bulgarian numbers in your phone. Facebook still matters here: the large foreigners-in-Sofia groups post weekly picnics, hikes and dinners, and the events are welcoming to first-timers. The outdoors is the secret social weapon of Sofia: Vitosha mountain sits at the end of the metro line, and the hiking groups that walk it every weekend are the easiest friendships in the city - hours of side-by-side conversation with a mixed Bulgarian and international crowd, zero small-talk pressure. Winter swaps hiking for the climbing gyms and ski meetups. Given you are in tech: the meetup and conference scene (various developer and startup events) doubles as a social circuit, and coworking spaces like betahaus run community events open to non-members - worth attending even though you have an office job. Honest advice from watching many arrivals: pick two recurring things - same hiking group, same weekly language exchange - rather than sampling everything once. Familiar faces on repeat is how acquaintances become friends, usually somewhere around week six. The three-week silence you just had is the low point; it gets better fast once you start showing up. More on the city in our guide at /guides/living-in-sofia-guide.