The village is located 25 km north-northwest of the provincial centre Vidin and 12 km east of the Serbian border at the Timok River mouth, with Mehedinți County of Romania directly across the Danube to the north.

After the Crimean War a local government was set up and a knez (mayor) and councillors were elected.

Following the Liberation of Bulgaria in 1878 Novo Selo became part of Vidin District, and has since 1 January 1979 been the seat of a municipality also including the villages of Florentin, Negovanovtsi, Vinarovo and Yasen.

The construction of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church of St Nicholas in the village, a cultural monument, began in 1825, during the Ottoman era.

The Zemedelets chitalishte (community centre) was built in 1930; it is also a memorial to all locals who perished in the wars.