If you are coming to Bansko for the first time, it is possible that you will feel as if you have been transported to some simpler times.
Storks nest on telephone poles, groups of veiled grandmothers gossip under apple trees on street corners, while Romani use whips to drive horses pulling open carts.
Above the red roofs, the marble mountain peaks of the Pirin Mountains in southwest Bulgaria seem to march down the pine-covered slopes, hovering over the town and ski resort like a stealthy dragon with outstretched wings.
But at the beginning of summer, on a warm day, more than 700 entrepreneurs and freelancers fill the coffee shops of this provincial town of ten thousand in southwestern Bulgaria, as various languages, from Hebrew to Japanese, begin to spread through the city.
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In the middle of a building on the central city square, a young German extols the benefits of a four-hour work week to a packed auditorium, while in a local park, hundreds of digital nomads listen to peers dealing with a wide variety of topics, from artificial intelligence to business strategies or health recommendations.
In the evening, the mass of festival-goers starts and indulges in a drunken night in the city's open bars.
The festival of nomads in Bansko was held for the fourth time this summer.
It has grown from a small gathering into the world's largest annual celebration of digital nomad life.
During this week-long party, dozens of live-streamed speeches can be heard, group dinners and activities such as campfire parties and rafting are organized.
All this is organized by a small group of volunteers.
The number of digital nomads in Bansko is most visible during the festival, but that is only part of this story.
According to online resource Nomad List, the city has seen "the most consistent growth in the world over the last five years as a remote work hub".
Since 2018, a growth of 231 percent has been recorded, more than Warsaw, Madrid and the nomads' favorite Tallinn in Estonia.
This sounds a bit like an anomaly: polls say that nomads generally favor coastal cities (Lisbon, Barcelona), islands or beach destinations (Madeira, Canary Islands, Bali).
So why are more and more people flocking to a small mountain resort in Bulgaria?
The story begins with Matthias Zeitler, a German entrepreneur who came to Bansko in 2016, while he was looking for a place where he could open a shared workspace.
He was attracted by the natural beauty of the entire area, but also by the practical benefits - fast wireless internet, acceptable living costs and low personal and corporate tax obligations, which are at the level of 10 percent and are among the lowest in Europe.
"We came here over the summer, rented a house and decided this might be a good place for our base," Zeitler said.
In 2016, he opened the first shared workspace in the city - Coworking Bansko - which has blossomed rapidly.
Four years later, he also promoted Bansko's nomadic festival, for which he sold all 729 available tickets this year.
Bansko is now home to more than 300 mobile nomads at any given time, while the population spikes during the ski season.
Although the morning on the snowy slopes and then going to work at lunch time certainly represent an attractive working day, Bansko holds up well in other categories as well.
When the snow melts, the forests, turquoise lakes and peaks jutting out from the nearby UNESCO-listed Pirin National Park also offer plenty of recreational opportunities, from hiking to bicycling and horseback riding.
"What really sets Bansko apart from other places is the relaxed, friendly community," says Camille Poiret, a French marketing manager who has been coming here with her partner since 2018.
"We remember that every time we return to the social life of Bansko after various trips".
The range of social events is bewildering, as salsa lessons, dinners, various games are played, there are trips to hot mineral springs, quizzes, evening barbecues.
These offers are open to everyone, not just digital nomads.
"When they first come, people usually say, 'It's so peaceful here.' I'm not sure there's stuff here for me,' says Becky Bottier, who manages the co-working space altspace.
"But already after two or three days, these same people can say: 'I can't go out anymore, I need a one-day break.'
"People love this international atmosphere in Bansko," says mayor Saša Vučkova, who explains how the growing number of foreign and mixed families, including Ukrainian refugees, creates a multicultural atmosphere in schools.
"We have a class with students from eight countries. They all speak Bulgarian, some not very well, but since they are children, they will learn quickly".
Some indigenous nomads create ties with the local community.
Among them is Dutch-Colombian entrepreneur Jose Fijalo, who runs BanskoLab, a cafe and cultural center where children can attend language courses and other educational workshops.
The community of foreigners in Bansko also includes "crypto brothers", life coaches and wellness gurus, because of which they often make fun of the digital nomad movement.
But there are also programmers, videographers, stand-up comedians, designers, English language teachers, artists, translators and even scientists - and they all represent dozens of different nations.
As the number of nomads grows, so does the ecosystem.
Now there are nine co-working spaces and they are run by four companies - there is certainly a vibrant, socially oriented one Coworking Bansko, but also the industrial premises it manages Nestwork, or spaces that cultivate an atmosphere like from the company's tourist camps Four Leaf CloverCoLive.
Nestwork has recently opened a second, more spacious office and is the newest workspace in Bansko.
Bulgarian IT experts Dimitar Durchov and Dimitar Vichev returned from abroad to start their business after seeing a great, corporate space here - "a welcoming place where you feel like you're at home, but not quite, just so you don't feel like you're at home." interfered with work," says Vičev.
The two explain that today Bansko attracts not only digital nomads from abroad, but also Bulgarians who use this place when they want to take a break from Sofia or even when they want to move here from abroad.
"I lived in London with my family from the age of 12 and I thought I would never live in Bulgaria again," says Bulgarian-born Vladimir Dimitrov.
He moved to Bansko five years ago when he realized that he could combine an online business with snowboarding and mountain biking.
"On top of that, the cost of living is much lower, so I didn't think twice."
His case is typical of this increasingly current trend: some nomads enjoy the relaxed lifestyle offered by Bansko so much that they started to put down roots here.
Properties are cheap by Western standards and although prices are rising, they are still acceptable - a one-bedroom apartment costs between 40 and 70 thousand euros.
In Bulgaria, anyone can buy an apartment, but only those who have citizenship can also buy land.
The monthly rent is also relatively cheap - one-bedroom apartments cost between 300 and 500 euros.
Eli Coneva, who deals with real estate at the agency Plus Properti, says that nomads in the sale of real estate in Bansko participate in about five percent of transactions, while other foreign investors dominate the market.
"Thirty percent of customers in our agency are Bulgarians," she says.
As for Zeitler, he is driven by his own dream: transforming a huge, abandoned, communist-era hotel in a nearby forest into the ultimate communal residential space for digital nomads.
It will have about 200 separate units, the lobby will span no more than one level, it will have a swimming pool and a congress hall, and it will offer a panoramic view of the surroundings - Coliving Semkovo will be "community for community".
Coliving Semkovo will be a space for adults only, but Botjer is already noticing the trend of "digital nomad families" moving to Bansko.
"I think this is the next big thing, especially at a time when the cost of living is going up in the UK and the US," she says.
He adds that there is also a trend of returning people who once experienced life in Bansko.
"There's some magic here," she says.
"I don't know exactly what kind, but people keep coming back here."
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