Shopping Malls in Sofia: The 6 I'd Actually Use

Sofia is better known for its markets and one long high street, but the city has more than a dozen shopping malls, and on a wet afternoon I'm glad of every one. These are the six I'd send you to, from TZUM in the old centre to Paradise Center at the end of the metro, with the stop, the hours, the supermarket and the cinema for each, and which one fits your trip.

Sofia's malls compared

Three of the six have a metro station on the doorstep, and Serdika Center sits on two tram lines.

The best shopping malls in Sofia

Paradise Center

Paradise Center is the mall I use most, and the metro is why. It sits beside Vitosha station at the southern end of line M2, so from Serdika II it's one train with no change, and Vitosha mountain fills the sky behind the building.

The Billa supermarket opens two hours before the shops, at 8am, which makes this my stop for a proper food shop. Cinema City screens films by programme, so I check the times on the Paradise Center site before I set off. There's also an Orange Fitness gym, and Funtopia, an indoor climbing and trampoline centre on level +3. Funtopia is my answer for anyone visiting Sofia with kids when it rains: bring trampoline socks, because they're required.

Mall of Sofia

Mall of Sofia, at Aleksandar Stamboliyski Boulevard 101-103, is the big mall nearest the old centre. Opalchenska metro station is one stop west of Serdika, and trams 3, 8 and 10, trolleybuses 1, 3, 5 and 7 and bus 74 all stop close by. If your hotel is on the west side of the centre, this is the easy one.

Shops open from 10am to 9pm every day, the supermarket from 8am to 10pm and IKEA from 10am to 8pm. Vazrazhdane Park sits behind the mall, my patch of green between shops on a dry day.

The car park opens from 8.30am to 11.30pm, handy if you've hired a car for a day trip.

Serdika Center

Serdika Center is on Sitnyakovo Boulevard, east of the centre, and at 52,000 square metres it has the biggest floor area of any Sofia mall I can put a number on. Trams 20 and 22 stop on Sitnyakovo, and buses 9, 72, 120, 305 and 413 serve it too. It opens every day from 10am to 10pm.

Its Billa keeps shorter hours: 9.30am to 9pm. The car park opens from 7am to 11pm. I come here when I'm staying east of the centre, or when I want the big-mall chains without riding the metro to the end of a line.

TZUM

TZUM, at Maria Luiza Boulevard 2, is the mall you'll walk past anyway. It stands right at Serdika metro station, where lines M1, M2 and M4 meet, next to the Council of Ministers and across the Largo from the Presidency. Signs and locals call it ЦУМ, said "tsoom".

It keeps the shortest hours of the six: 10am to 8pm from Monday to Saturday, and 11am to 7pm on Sunday. I use it as a dry place to browse for half an hour between sights. The open-air Roman streets of ancient Serdica, free to walk through, lie right outside on the Largo. Central Market Hall is further up the same boulevard, at number 25, if you'd rather finish with food shopping.

The Mall

The Mall is at Tsarigradsko Shose 115z, out in the east of the city, and it opens every day from 10am to 10pm, with its own Cinema Arena. By public transport, the bus stops to look for are Hermes Park and UMBAL Sveta Anna, the hospital stop.

I'd only send a weekend visitor here if they're staying out east already. From the old centre, a taxi in Sofia is the simplest way out, and I'd rather spend that time on a mall with a metro station.

Bulgaria Mall

Bulgaria Mall is on Bulgaria Boulevard in the south-west, and most of its shops open from 10am to 9pm. Billa is down on level -2, open 9am to 9pm. The Cineland cinema on level 3 runs from 10am to 11.15pm.

Technopolis, the electronics chain, has a shop here, so this is where I'd replace a lost phone charger or a broken adapter. Starbucks opens at 7.30am, and the gym on level -2 runs from 6.30am to 11pm. I get here by taxi.

Sofia's other malls

Park Center covers 22,000 square metres, and its Cine Grand cinema is one of the screens for the Kinomania film festival, from 12 to 29 November 2026, alongside Hall 1 of the National Palace of Culture. Sky City covers 27,000 square metres.

Sofia Ring Mall and the Sofia Outlet Centre are the other names you'll see, but for a weekend I'd stick to Paradise and Mall of Sofia, which sit on the metro.

Which Sofia mall to pick

If you're still picking a base, the areas to stay in Sofia around Serdika put TZUM, Central Market Hall and three metro lines on your doorstep.

Paradise Center and the bus up Vitosha

My favourite trick with Paradise Center is pairing it with the mountain. Bus 66 calls at Vitosha metro station, right by the mall, and climbs to the Aleko hut at 1,810 metres on Vitosha mountain for the same €0.80 as the metro.

I go up in the morning and come down for a late lunch and a supermarket shop at the mall, with the cinema as the plan B if the cloud comes in.

Supermarkets and hypermarkets in Sofia

Kaufland, Billa, Lidl and Fantastico are the big supermarket chains you'll see around Sofia, and Metro runs cash-and-carry warehouses. Billa is the chain you'll meet in the malls: Paradise Center, Serdika Center and Bulgaria Mall all have a branch. Kaufland runs the supermarket inside Central Market Hall in the old centre.

For a visitor, a supermarket is the cheapest place to buy rakia, wine and jars of lyutenitsa to take home. I buy my bottles in Billa or Fantastico, then go to a specialist wine shop only for small-estate wines.

When I'd skip the malls

The malls carry the chains you know from home. For anything Bulgarian, I stay in the centre and walk.

Vitosha Boulevard for brands in the open air

Vitosha Boulevard is Sofia's high street, 2.7 km from St Nedelya Square to South Park. The stretch between Alabin Street and Patriarh Evtimiy Boulevard is car-free, with shops and cafe terraces down both sides.

On a dry day I'd take this over any mall, with the mountain at the far end. Serdika metro is at the top and NDK at the bottom. A coffee costs €2 to €3.

Central Market Hall for food

Central Market Hall, Halite to locals, is at Maria Luiza Boulevard 25, in a 1911 building that reopened on 23 May 2024 after a renovation. It's a few minutes' walk up the boulevard from TZUM, with a Kaufland supermarket inside.

This is where I'd buy food presents in the old centre. For rose oil, Troyan pottery, icons and lace, the Bulgarian souvenirs I'd pack, I go to the stalls by Alexander Nevsky Cathedral and the Ethnographic Museum shop. My shopping in Sofia day runs through the market, the antiques stalls and Vitoshka, and ends at a mall only if it rains.

Getting to Sofia's malls and paying

Vitosha station serves Paradise Center, Opalchenska serves Mall of Sofia and Serdika serves TZUM. Every ride on the Sofia metro costs €0.80. Trams 20 and 22 cover Serdika Center, and The Mall and Bulgaria Mall are easiest by taxi.

Bulgaria has used the euro since 1 January 2026, so every price tag in the malls is in euros. Contactless cards work at the tills, and if a card machine offers to charge you in pounds, pick euros. Before the switch, the money in Bulgaria was the lev, so divide any old price in leva by 1.95583.