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@zwgilaki

why scared?!?!?! It is safe. Beautiful town and good people.

@Anastasija_gust I have listened that there is a big criminality in Sliven.

More crime in big cities. Same like all Europe.

Many foreigners go to Sliven for jobs now. Factories owned by Greeks  etc

Good place to work and do business.

I think people here are in villages and dont understand Bulgaria too good.

@zwgilaki

I visited Sliven earlier this year. Personally, I love the Balkan Mountains, and I think it adds a lot to a town (such as Karlovo, Kazanlak, Sliven, Sveti Vlas) to have some scenery and nice walks nearby. Sliven has a big nature park area and a gondola lift (like Sopot at Karlovo), so there are plenty of biking/hiking/camping opportunities there. I'm not the only one who appreciates this, and it's getting harder and harder to find affordable properties along this mountain range.

I stayed near the gondola station, and I went for several walks there. There were certainly some locations (in the northern outskirts of Sliven) where I saw some very upscale houses, and some lovely views. The town centre seemed fine too, although I didn't spend much time there, and there was a town park too.

It seemed like a fairly industrial city, with a fair amount of traffic too, so probably a little more polluted than smaller towns. I think I passed by some "gypsy" housing, and perhaps there's a significant Romani population there. If so, that might contribute to a negative perception of the place... especially if you're near such zones.

My impression is that Bulgaria has not done a great job of integrating Romani population and settlements, but it's a difficult challenge and many countries have such "ghettos" and "favelas". Living in Plovdiv, I can safely say it's a wonderful city, and 99% of it is very civilized. But it does have a couple of large "gypsy ghettos", and they are VERY bad. They look terrible, and they feel very unsafe, and many folks won't go anywhere near them. I can't imagine that it's fun to live there either (although it's slowly improving). Most don't want to live in or near such zones. But I'd imagine that Sliven is similar to Plovdiv in that these zones are fairly well-defined, and constitute a fairly small part of the city.

I prefer Karlovo and Kazanlak, but it seemed fine to me. I'd guess it depends a lot where you live in Sliven, rather than it's all bad. If you can find a nice property in a nice part of the town, it might be a great place to live.

@zwgilaki

Perhaps you would be better to rent, rather than buy a property. If you don't like the area you're living in, you can move. That would also give you time to drive around, ask questions and find somewhere you'd be happy.

@gwynj

Yes. Sliven same as Burgas and all cities. There is gypsy part. But in Sliven the tourists see it on the road. In Burgas they hide the part. Sad for Sliven so many lies from the people who dont know.

Is your husband from Silven?. Will you live in the center or a neighborhood next to the center. I've been a couple of times and always found it to be as sleepy/idyllic as any other Bulgarian town of that size.

In terms of alternatives you could stay in Yambol and your husband could commute or in any villages around sliven etc.