Bulgaria: Sofia, Rila, Plovdiv and Veliko Tarnovo

1. Day 1: Arrive in Sofia

   Sofia Airport to your hotel in central Sofia

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Welcome dinner
   • Stay in Sofia
   Day 1 details

   Fly into Sofia Airport (SOF), about 10 km east of the centre. A driver meets you in the arrivals hall whatever your flight time and takes you to our central hotel, 20 to 40 minutes depending on traffic. If you land early, walk to the gold domes of the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, completed in 1912, or fill a bottle at the free mineral-water taps beside the old Central Mineral Baths, where locals queue with plastic jugs. In the evening your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a short briefing on the days ahead: how long each drive is, what to wear in monasteries, and when the rose harvest falls if you travel in late May or early June. Then we walk to a welcome dinner of Bulgarian food: shopska salad under grated sirene cheese, banitsa pastry, grilled kebapche and a glass of local wine. Plan to land by about 5 pm for the briefing; later arrivals are still met and join us at dinner or at breakfast.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Sofia Airport (SOF)
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • Welcome dinner

   Free time: Free until the evening briefing

   Activity: Plan to land by about 5 pm for the briefing.

2. Day 2: Sofia on foot and Boyana Church

   Central Sofia on foot, then Boyana at the foot of Vitosha

   • Drive about 45 min
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Sofia
   Day 2 details

   A licensed local guide walks us through two thousand years of Sofia in one morning, about three hours on foot. We start at the Largo, where the excavated streets of Roman Serdica lie open beside the metro, then step into the 4th-century Rotunda of St George, tucked into a courtyard behind the presidency. From there it is a short walk past the Banya Bashi Mosque, built in 1566, and the Central Mineral Baths to the brick Church of St Sofia, which gave the city its name, and the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral. Lunch is a sit-down meal in the centre. In the afternoon we drive about 30 minutes to the foot of Vitosha for Boyana Church, listed by UNESCO for frescoes painted in 1259 that show faces with a realism rare for their time. To protect the paint, no more than nine people go in at a time, for about ten minutes, so on our booked group slot we enter in two turns while the other half waits in the garden. A few minutes away, the National Historical Museum holds Thracian gold and the story of the Bulgarian state. The evening is free.

   Included

   • Sofia walk with a licensed local guide: Serdica, the Rotunda of St George, the Banya Bashi Mosque, the Church of St Sofia and the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral
   • Sit-down lunch in central Sofia
   • Boyana Church (entry included)
   • National Historical Museum (entry included)

   Optional experiences

   • Museum of Socialist Art

   Easier option: Skip the National Historical Museum; our driver takes you back to the hotel after Boyana for a rest before the free evening.

   More active option: Ride the gondola or walk the forest paths of Vitosha above Boyana in the late afternoon instead of the museum, with our driver.

   Free time: Evening free

   Activity: About 3 hours on foot in the morning, on pavements and a few steps. Boyana admits at most nine people at a time for about ten minutes; no photos inside.

   

3. Day 3: Rila Monastery and on to Bansko

   Sofia to Rila Monastery, then over to Bansko below the Pirin mountains

   • Drive about 4 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Bansko
   Day 3 details

   We leave Sofia at 8 am and drive about two hours south, then up the Rilska valley, to Rila Monastery, at about 1,150 m among forested peaks. It was founded in the 10th century by the hermit John of Rila, whose relics are kept here, and it kept Bulgarian learning alive under Ottoman rule. A fire in 1833 destroyed most of it; what you see is the 19th-century rebuilding, striped arcades on four floors around a great courtyard, with one survivor from the 14th century, Hrelyo's Tower. Your guide shows you the painted porch of the Church of the Nativity, where Zahari Zograf was among the painters of the scenes of heaven and hell, and the monastery museum. Lunch is a sit-down meal near the monastery. Then we cross into the Struma valley and climb to Bansko, under the Pirin mountains, about 1 hour 45 minutes away, arriving by mid-afternoon. Your guide walks you through the old quarter, where stone houses hide behind high walls, to the Holy Trinity Church, built in 1835. After that the late afternoon and evening are yours: an hour on the main square, then a mehana, a tavern in an old stone house.

   Included

   • Rila Monastery with your guide: the courtyard, the Church of the Nativity, Hrelyo's Tower and the monastery museum (entry included)
   • Sit-down lunch near the monastery
   • Bansko old quarter and the Holy Trinity Church with your guide

   Easier option: Skip the Bansko walk and rest at the hotel; the old quarter is close by if you want to see it later on your own.

   More active option: Walk up the forest path to the cave of St John of Rila, about 40 minutes each way from the road, while the others stay at the monastery.

   Free time: Late afternoon and evening free in Bansko

   Activity: Bring a scarf or shawl; covering shoulders and knees is required in the church.

   

4. Day 4: The narrow-gauge railway to Plovdiv

   Bansko by narrow-gauge train to Avramovo, then Velingrad and Plovdiv

   • Drive about 2 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Plovdiv
   Day 4 details

   The Rhodope railway runs only a few trains a day, so this morning is shaped around its timetable, which we confirm when we book your departure: we take the morning train that fits, and if it leaves late enough, the first hour in Bansko is free. The line is Bulgaria's last narrow-gauge passenger railway, running between Septemvri and Dobrinishte on track only 760 mm wide. We ride its most scenic stretch, about an hour and a quarter on recent timetables, climbing through pine forest past Yakoruda to Avramovo, at 1,267 m the highest railway station in the Balkans, while our driver takes the luggage by road and meets us on the platform. From Avramovo it is a short drive down to Velingrad, a spa town, for a sit-down lunch, then about an hour and a half through the Chepinska gorge and across the Thracian plain to Plovdiv, arriving in the afternoon. In the early evening your guide takes you into Kapana, the old craftsmen's quarter whose name means 'the trap', now a grid of small bars, cafes and studios. Dinner tonight is your choice.

   Included

   • Rhodope narrow-gauge railway from Bansko to Avramovo (tickets included)
   • Sit-down lunch in Velingrad
   • Evening walk into Plovdiv's Kapana quarter with your guide

   Easier option: Stay with the vehicle instead of the train and meet the group at Avramovo.

   Free time: Evening free in Plovdiv

   Activity: If the season's timetable has no morning train that fits, we drive the same valley and stop at Avramovo station instead.

   

5. Day 5: Plovdiv's old town and Bachkovo Monastery

   Plovdiv old town on foot, then Bachkovo and back

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Plovdiv
   Day 5 details

   Plovdiv is best walked before the heat, so at 9 am a licensed local guide takes us into the old town. We start at the curved end of the Roman stadium below the main street and the Dzhumaya Mosque, then climb the steep cobbles to the painted 19th-century merchants' houses and the Regional Ethnographic Museum in the Kuyumdzhiev House. The Roman theatre, still used for summer concerts, looks out over the rooftops towards the Rhodopes, and the walk ends on Nebet Tepe, the hill where the city began. After a sit-down lunch in town we drive about 40 minutes south to Bachkovo Monastery, where the Rhodopes begin. Founded in 1083 by Gregory Pakourianos, a Byzantine commander of Georgian origin, it is the second largest monastery in Bulgaria, and its courtyard church holds an icon of the Virgin that pilgrims queue to touch. Weekday afternoons are quieter than weekends, when families come with candles. We are back in Plovdiv by about 5 pm, and the evening is free: Nebet Tepe is worth a second visit at sunset, and Kapana fills up after dark.

   Included

   • Plovdiv old town walk with a licensed local guide: the Roman stadium, the Dzhumaya Mosque, the Roman theatre and Nebet Tepe
   • Regional Ethnographic Museum (entry included)
   • Sit-down lunch in Plovdiv
   • Bachkovo Monastery with your guide

   Easier option: Skip the climb to Nebet Tepe and wait at a cafe on the main street; the walk ends a few minutes away.

   More active option: In the free evening, walk up Sahat Tepe to the old clock tower for a second view across the city.

   Free time: Evening free in Plovdiv

   Activity: The old town is steep and cobbled, with big uneven stones; wear shoes with grip. The Ethnographic Museum closes on Mondays, so we set departure dates so that day 5 does not fall on one.

   

6. Day 6: The Valley of the Roses, Kazanlak and the Shipka Pass

   Plovdiv through the Valley of the Roses to Kazanlak, then over the Shipka Pass to Veliko Tarnovo

   • Drive about 3.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Veliko Tarnovo
   Day 6 details

   From late May to early June the Damascena roses of the Valley of the Roses are picked by hand in the early morning, before the sun burns off the oil, so on those departures we leave Plovdiv at 7 am, the one early start, and drive about 1 hour 45 minutes north through Karlovo to join a picking morning at a rose farm and watch the petals go into the copper stills. Outside the season we leave at 8:30 am and go straight to Kazanlak. There we visit the Rose Museum and the Thracian Tomb of Kazanlak, a 4th-century BC burial chamber listed by UNESCO in 1979; the original is closed to protect its paintings of a funeral feast and a chariot race, so we see the full-size copy beside it. Lunch is in Kazanlak. In the afternoon we stop at the gold onion domes of the Shipka Memorial Church, then climb to the top of the Shipka Pass, where Russian troops and Bulgarian volunteers held the line in 1877, and stop below the Shipka Monument. We drop through Gabrovo to Veliko Tarnovo, arriving by about 5:30 pm on rose departures and about 4:30 pm on other dates.

   Included

   • Rose picking and a distillery visit at a rose farm, late May to early June
   • Rose Museum in Kazanlak
   • The Thracian Tomb of Kazanlak (the full-size copy)
   • Sit-down lunch in Kazanlak
   • Shipka Memorial Church and a stop at the top of the Shipka Pass

   Easier option: On rose departures, watch the stills at the farm instead of picking in the rows; at the pass, stay by the vehicle while others climb the stair.

   More active option: Climb the long stair from the top of the pass to the Shipka Monument for the view along the Balkan range.

   Free time: Evening free in Veliko Tarnovo

   Activity: In rose season we leave Plovdiv at 7 am; the picking is over by mid-morning.

   

7. Day 7: Tsarevets fortress and Arbanasi

   Veliko Tarnovo on foot, then Arbanasi and back

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Veliko Tarnovo
   Day 7 details

   Veliko Tarnovo was the capital of the Second Bulgarian Empire from 1185 until the Ottoman conquest in 1393, and its houses are stacked up the cliffs above loops of the Yantra River. We are at Tsarevets, the hill fortress of the tsars, when it opens, with a licensed local guide: through the gates and along the walls to the foundations of the royal palace, Baldwin's Tower, named for the Latin emperor of Constantinople who died a prisoner here after 1205, and the Patriarchal Church at the summit, painted inside in the 1980s with stark modern murals. Late morning is for Samovodska Charshiya, a lane of craft workshops where you can watch potters and coppersmiths at work. After a sit-down lunch in town we drive ten minutes up to Arbanasi, a village of fortified merchants' houses, for the Church of the Nativity, whose low rooms are covered with 17th-century frescoes. The late afternoon and evening are free. On the evenings it runs, the Sound and Light show plays over Tsarevets after dark.

   Included

   • Tsarevets fortress at opening with a licensed local guide (entry included)
   • Samovodska Charshiya craft street
   • Sit-down lunch in Veliko Tarnovo
   • Arbanasi: the Church of the Nativity (entry included)

   Optional experiences

   • Sound and Light show over Tsarevets, on the evenings it runs

   Easier option: Stay in the lower courtyard at Tsarevets and skip the climb to the Patriarchal Church.

   More active option: In the free afternoon, cross the Yantra to Trapezitsa, the second fortified hill of the medieval capital, with directions from your guide (entry extra).

   Free time: Late afternoon and evening free

   Activity: Tsarevets means about 2 hours on uneven paths and a steady climb to the summit church.

   

8. Day 8: Etar, Lovech and back to Sofia

   Veliko Tarnovo to Etar, then Lovech and the Hemus motorway to Sofia

   • Drive about 4.5 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Sofia
   Day 8 details

   We leave Veliko Tarnovo at 8:30 am and drive about an hour south through Gabrovo to Etar, an open-air museum of a Balkan craft town of the 18th and 19th centuries, where the stream still drives wooden mill wheels, fulling hammers and lathes, and potters, weavers and coppersmiths work in the shops along the lane. Then we turn west along the foot of the Balkan range, through Sevlievo to Lovech, about an hour and a quarter, for a sit-down lunch near the covered bridge over the Osam River. The last leg is about two hours on the Hemus motorway, with a short leg-stretch on the way, and brings us into Sofia by about 4:30 pm. In all that is about 275 km and 4 hours 15 minutes of driving, the longest day of the trip. We accept it because the trip ends in Sofia, where your flight home leaves, and we split it into three legs of two hours or less, with Etar and lunch between them. In the evening we meet for a farewell dinner together.

   Included

   • Etar Architectural-Ethnographic Complex (entry included)
   • Sit-down lunch in Lovech by the covered bridge
   • Farewell dinner in Sofia

   Easier option: At Etar, see the lower lane and its water-powered workshops, then wait in the shade by the entrance instead of walking the full length.

   More active option: Before lunch, walk across Lovech's covered bridge and up the cobbled lanes of the Varosha quarter towards the Hisarya fortress on the hill above the town.

   Free time: Late afternoon free in Sofia

   Activity: The longest drive of the trip, about 4 hours 15 minutes in three legs of two hours or less.

   

9. Day 9: Sofia and home

   Central Sofia to Sofia Airport

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Breakfast
   Day 9 details

   The last morning is free. Walk Vitosha Boulevard with the mountain at its end, browse the fruit, cheese and spice stalls of the Women's Market, Sofia's oldest open-air market, or see the socialist-era statues moved into the garden of the Museum of Socialist Art. If you missed them on day 2, the icons in the crypt of the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral are a quiet hour. Your guide is at breakfast to help with plans and to check your flight times. A driver takes you from the hotel to Sofia Airport (SOF), 20 to 40 minutes away, at a time that suits your flight; leave the hotel about three hours before departure. If you are going on to our Romania trip, your guide helps arrange the road transfer to Bucharest, about 5 to 6 hours by way of the Danube bridge at Ruse, or a flight. To stay longer in Sofia, ask us to book extra nights at the same hotel before or after the trip.

   Included

   • Drop-off at Sofia Airport (SOF), timed to your flight

   Optional experiences

   • Museum of Socialist Art
   • Crypt of the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral (icon collection)

   Free time: Morning free

   Activity: Flights at any time of day work; leave the hotel about three hours before departure.

Wildlife and weather: May, June and September are mild and green. The Damascena roses are picked from late May to early June, depending on the spring, and Kazanlak's rose festival falls in early June. July and August are hot on the Thracian plain around Plovdiv, often above 30 C, so we walk in the morning and late afternoon. Rila and Bansko are cooler at altitude, and October brings autumn colour in the mountains.

• Sofia2 nights
• Bansko1 night
• Plovdiv2 nights
• Veliko Tarnovo2 nights
• Sofia1 night