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Prague is the classic, but it's crowded and has banned organised pub crawls between 22:00 and 06:00. Krakow is great value with a big stag scene, though it's busy and shops stop selling alcohol at midnight. Sofia is the less obvious pick: similar prices, far fewer stag groups, and real adrenaline (rifles, ATVs, karting, rafting) all within an hour of the centre, with a party bus to finish the night.
Still deciding between cities? Tell us your dates and group size. We'll send an honest plan and price for Sofia, and tell you straight if another city suits you better.
💬 Get a Sofia plan on WhatsAppMost stag trips are planned by one person, the best man, in a WhatsApp group of 10 guys who all have opinions and none who want to do the admin. The city usually gets picked because someone's mate went there. That's how you end up in the same bar as six other stag groups in matching t-shirts.
I run an activity and concierge company in Sofia and organise stag and bachelor weekends every month, for British, Irish, German, Scandinavian, Israeli and American groups. So yes, I'm biased towards Sofia. But I'll give you the honest version, including when Prague or Krakow is the better call.
Prague is beautiful, easy to reach and has decades of stag experience. The beer is excellent. The problem is that everyone knows this. Old Town is packed, and a half-litre in the tourist centre now costs around 70 to 90 CZK, roughly €3 to €3.50, before you've found a quiet table.
The city has also made it clear it wants fewer party tourists. Since November 2024, organised pub crawls are banned between 22:00 and 06:00. You can still go bar to bar on your own, but the guided, all-in-one night that many stag packages were built around is gone.
Krakow is probably the best-value classic. Polish beer is cheap in local bars, the Old Town is compact, and there's a whole industry built around stag groups, including shooting ranges and paintball.
The flip side is the same as Prague: on a Friday night you won't be the only stag in the square. Krakow also stops alcohol sales in shops between midnight and 5:30, so the late-night top-up run is off. Bars and clubs still serve.
Sofia isn't the €1 beer city anymore, and I won't pretend otherwise. A beer in a central bar costs about the same as in Krakow or outside Prague's tourist zone. Where Sofia wins is everything around the drinking.
First, you're not one of twenty stag groups. The nightlife is big, local and young, and bars treat a group of ten as customers, not as a problem. Second, the activities are serious and close: an outdoor range with AK-47s and sniper rifles, a 960 m karting track, Can-Am ATVs in the hills, white-water rafting on the Struma. Most are 30 to 60 minutes from the centre. Third, one local team books it all, including transfers between activities, so the best man doesn't spend the weekend on the phone.
Want the full list with rafting and the Al Capone mafia escape room? It's all in our stag do activities guide for Sofia, including a sample 3-day plan.
If half the group has never been abroad together and wants the famous postcard city, Prague is fine. If your budget is extremely tight and the plan is just bars, Krakow is hard to beat. And if you're flying from a small UK airport with only one direct route, the flight decides for you.
Sofia makes sense when the group wants to do things, not just drink in a different postcode. Flights from London are about three hours with the usual low-cost airlines, slightly longer than Prague or Krakow, and the city is compact once you land.
Yes, especially for groups who want activities as well as nightlife. Outdoor shooting, ATVs, karting and rafting are all within about an hour, and the city has far fewer stag groups than Prague or Krakow.
For drinks, prices are now similar across all three. Sofia tends to be better value on activities, transfers and group bookings.
Organised, guided pub crawls are banned between 22:00 and 06:00 since November 2024. Going bar to bar on your own is still allowed.
Yes. Use licensed taxis or a pre-booked transfer and avoid people handing out club flyers on the street. We cover the rest in our guide Is Sofia safe?
Yes. Airport transfers, activities, transport between them, restaurants and the party bus, all booked through one WhatsApp chat with a local person.
Group size, dates and what the groom would hate most. You get a plan with real prices, usually the same day.
💬 Plan our stag in SofiaI've been organising stag weekends, activities and transfers in Sofia since 2018. The Sofia parts of this guide come from running these weekends myself; the Prague and Krakow rules are from official announcements.
