Thracian & Roman ‹ › 1/6 Photo: JERRYE AND ROY KLOTZ MD , CC BY-SA 3.0
3 h 15 from SofiaKazanlak, Valley of the Roses · Казанлъшка гробница
A Thracian tomb of the 4th century BC with some of the best-preserved Hellenistic paintings anywhere: a funeral feast and chariot races in a beehive dome. It is a UNESCO site. Visitors see an exact copy next door; the original opens only rarely.
Tip In the same valley, the Valley of the Thracian Kings has more tombs you can enter, such as Shushmanets and Ostrusha.
Time 1 h
Entry About €3 (copy)
Open Daily
UNESCO Thracian
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‹ › 1/5 Photo: Unknown , CC BY 2.5
6 h 30 from SofiaSveshtari, near Isperih · Свещарска гробница
A 3rd-century BC royal tomb with ten carved stone women, half human, half plant, holding up the roof of the burial chamber. It is a UNESCO site in the quiet north-east.
Tip The tour is short and groups are small. Call ahead outside the summer.
Time 1 h
Entry About €3
Open Closed Mondays; shorter hours in winter
UNESCO Thracian
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‹ › 1/7 Photo: Kritzolina , CC BY-SA 4.0
3 h 40 from SofiaNear Kardzhali, Eastern Rhodopes · Перперикон
A sacred city carved into a rocky hill, with traces of worship from about 5000 BC. Thracians, Romans and medieval Bulgarians built steps, halls and a palace into the rock. Some archaeologists think it was the oracle of Dionysus.
Tip Go early. There is little shade, and the climb from the car park takes about 20 minutes.
Time 2 h
Entry About €5
Open Daily
Thracian Rock city
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‹ › 1/5 Photo: Diego Delso , CC BY-SA 4.0
5 h 40 from SofiaMadara, near Shumen · Мадарски конник
A horseman spearing a lion, carved 23 m up a sheer cliff around 710 AD, with inscriptions about the early Bulgarian khans. It is the only rock relief of its kind in Europe and a UNESCO site.
Tip Climb the 373 steps beside the cliff to the top of the plateau for a wide view.
Time 1–2 h
Entry About €3
Open Daily
UNESCO Early Bulgaria
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‹ › 1/4 Photo: opoznai.bg
2 h 25 from SofiaHisarya, north of Plovdiv · Хисаря
A spa town still inside the walls of the Roman city of Diocletianopolis, which stand up to 11 m high. The south gate, called Kamilite (the Camels), is the most striking. Mineral water flows from public taps all over town.
Tip Bring a bottle and taste the different springs; each has its own name and use.
Time 2 h
Entry Walls free; museum about €2
Open Always open
Roman Spa town
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‹ › 1/5 Photo: opoznai.bg
2 h 35 from SofiaStarosel, Sredna Gora · Тракийски храм Старосел
The largest Thracian royal temple found so far, from the 5th century BC, under a mound in the hills 40 km from Plovdiv. A ceremonial stairway leads to a stone façade with ‘wolf-teeth’ ornament and a long corridor into the round hall. It may be the tomb of King Sitalkes.
Tip Starosel is also a wine village; the local winery has tastings and mineral pools.
Time 1–2 h
Entry About €4
Open Daily
Thracian Wine village
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‹ › 1/6 Photo: opoznai.bg
3 h 15 from SofiaShipka, Valley of the Thracian Kings · Голямата Косматка
The tomb of the Thracian king Seuthes III, found in 2004 inside the Golyama Kosmatka mound. A marble double door carved with Dionysus leads to a domed hall and a chamber cut from a single 60-tonne block. His gold wreath and bronze head are in the Kazanlak museum.
Tip Combine it with Shipka Monument and the Russian church in Shipka village, 1 km away.
Time 1 h
Entry About €3
Open Daily
Thracian Gold
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‹ › 1/6 Photo: opoznai.bg
5 h 25 from SofiaNorth of Primorsko · Беглик Таш
A Thracian rock sanctuary on a forested cape above the sea, unknown to science until 2003 because it lay inside a hunting reserve of the communist leader Todor Zhivkov. Huge boulders form a ‘marriage bed’, a throne, altars with carved channels and a sundial.
Tip Go in the morning, then swim at Perla beach below.
Time 1 h
Entry About €3
Open May–October, daily
Thracian By the sea
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Medieval capitals & churches Photo: www.bdmundo.com , CC BY-SA 2.0
5 h 50 from SofiaNear Shumen · Плиска
The first capital of the Bulgarian state, from 681 AD: the foundations of a stone palace, fortress walls and the Great Basilica, one of the largest churches in medieval Europe, on an open plain.
Tip See Pliska, the Madara Rider and Shumen’s 1300 Years monument in one day.
Time 1–2 h
Entry About €3
Open Daily
First capital Ruins
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‹ › 1/7 Photo: MrPanyGoff , CC BY-SA 3.0
3 h 25 from SofiaVeliko Tarnovo · Царевец
The hill fortress of the Second Bulgarian Empire (1185–1393), with walls along the cliffs above the Yantra river and the Patriarchal Church at the top. On some evenings a sound-and-light show plays over it.
Tip Buy tickets online at tickets.museumvt.com. The sound-and-light show runs on set evenings; check the dates.
Time 2 h
Entry About €6
Open Daily
Fortress Online tickets
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‹ › 1/6 Photo: Yanko Malinov , CC BY-SA 4.0
3 h 40 from SofiaBelogradchik · Белоградчишка крепост
A fortress built by the Romans and extended by medieval Bulgarians and Ottomans, with walls that join the giant red rocks. From its top courtyard you look out over the Belogradchik Rocks.
Tip Climb up in the last hour before closing, when the rocks glow red.
Time 1 h
Entry About €4
Open Daily
Fortress Views
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‹ › 1/7 Photo: opoznai.bg
4 h 40 from SofiaNorth of Burgas · Старият Несебър
A peninsula town with 3,000 years of history and the ruins of more than a dozen medieval churches, decorated with bands of brick and green glazed tiles. It is a UNESCO site.
Tip Come early or in the evening; in summer the day crowds from the resorts fill the lanes.
Time Half a day
Entry Town free; churches about €3 each
Open Always open
UNESCO Churches
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‹ › 1/6 Photo: XeresNelro , CC BY-SA 4.0
5 h from SofiaNear Ruse · Ивановски скални църкви
Churches and cells carved by monks into the cliffs above the Rusenski Lom river from the 13th century, with 14th-century frescoes. It is a UNESCO site, reached by steps up the rock.
Tip The Rusenski Lom nature park around it has walking trails and the Orlova Chuka cave.
Time 1 h
Entry About €3
Open Closed Mondays in winter
UNESCO Frescoes
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‹ › 1/7 Photo: Pudelek (Marcin Szala) , CC BY-SA 3.0
2 h 05 from SofiaRila, 2 h from Sofia · Рилски манастир
Bulgaria’s spiritual heart, founded in the 10th century by the hermit St Ivan of Rila. Its striped arcades were rebuilt after a fire in 1833; only Hrelyo’s Tower of 1335 is older. It is a UNESCO site.
Tip Stay the night in the monastery guest rooms; the courtyard is silent after the day visitors leave.
Time 2 h
Entry Free; museum about €5
Open Daily
UNESCO Monastery
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‹ › 1/6 Photo: opoznai.bg
2 h 20 from SofiaSouth of Plovdiv · Бачковски манастир
Bulgaria’s second-largest monastery, founded in 1083 by two Georgian brothers. The old refectory is covered with some of the finest frescoes in the country, and stalls outside sell honey and jam.
Tip Stop at Asen’s Fortress on the cliff on the way back to Plovdiv.
Time 1 h
Entry Free; refectory about €3
Open Daily
Monastery Frescoes
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‹ › 1/5 Photo: Utilizator:Țetcu Mircea Rareș at ro.wikipedia , CC BY-SA 2.5
6 h 40 from SofiaAbove Golden Sands, Varna · Аладжа манастир
A medieval monastery of cells, a chapel and a church carved into a 40 m limestone cliff in the forest, with traces of frescoes. It is one of the easiest rock monasteries to visit.
Tip A short forest path leads on to the Catacombs, more rooms carved into the rock.
Time 1 h
Entry About €4
Open Daily; shorter hours in winter
Rock monastery Forest
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‹ › 1/6 Photo: opoznai.bg
2 h 10 from SofiaAbove Asenovgrad · Асенова крепост
A medieval fortress on a cliff above the Asenitsa gorge, with the 12th–13th-century Church of the Holy Mother of God still standing whole on the edge. The view down the valley towards Plovdiv is one of the best in the Rhodopes.
Tip It is 10 minutes from Bachkovo Monastery; see both in a morning.
Time 1 h
Entry About €3
Open Daily
Fortress Views
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‹ › 1/5 Photo: opoznai.bg
1 h 25 from SofiaBelchin, near Samokov · Цари Мали град
A late Roman and medieval hill fortress, partly rebuilt, above the village of Belchin, with a museum and the painted church of St Petka at its foot. From the walls you look out over Rila, Vitosha and the Iskar reservoir.
Tip It is under an hour from Sofia, a good half-day on the way to Borovets.
Time 1–2 h
Entry About €3
Open Closed Mondays
Fortress Near Sofia
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Modern monuments ‹ › 1/6 Photo: opoznai.bg
3 h 40 from SofiaShipka Pass, Balkan range · Паметник на свободата, Шипка
A stone tower on Shipka peak, where Russian soldiers and Bulgarian volunteers held the pass against the Ottoman army in 1877. Inside, a museum climbs to a viewing platform over the Valley of the Roses.
Tip Below in Shipka village, the gold domes of the Russian Memorial Church are worth a stop.
Time 1 h
Entry About €2
Open Daily
1877–78 war Views
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‹ › 1/6 Photo: Slashtom , CC BY-SA 4.0
3 h 50 from SofiaAbove Shipka Pass · Бузлуджа
A flying-saucer-shaped hall built by the Communist Party on a peak of the Balkan range in 1981. It is closed inside while it is conserved, but you can walk round it and see the shell and its red star from outside.
Tip The road can be in cloud. Check the weather; on a clear day the view is enormous.
Time 1 h
Entry Free outside
Open Outside always; inside closed
Communist era Closed inside
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‹ › 1/6 Photo: opoznai.bg
5 h 35 from SofiaShumen · Създатели на българската държава
A huge concrete monument on the plateau above Shumen, built in 1981 for 1,300 years of Bulgaria. Giant figures of the early khans and tsars, and mosaics of its history, stand on a hilltop you can see for miles.
Tip Drive up, or climb the long stairway through the park from the town centre.
Time 1 h
Entry About €3
Open Daily
Communist era Views
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‹ › 1/7 Photo: Dan Kollmann , CC BY-SA 4.0
7 h from SofiaBalchik, north coast · Двореца, Балчик
The summer palace of Queen Marie of Romania, built in the 1920s and 1930s on terraces above the sea, with a minaret, a chapel and one of the largest botanical gardens in the Balkans, known for its cacti.
Tip Walk down to the seafront path and back up through the garden terraces.
Time 2 h
Entry About €7
Open Daily
Palace Gardens
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Nothing this close. Try a longer drive time or another city.