Rhodopes & Pirin ‹ › 1/6 Photo: Michal Valach , CC BY-SA 4.0
3 h 40 from SofiaWestern Rhodopes · Ковачевица
Grey stone houses with slate roofs stacked on a steep slope, almost unchanged since the 19th century. It is an architectural reserve and a favourite film set; only a few dozen people live here all year.
Tip Walk to the church at the top of the village for the view over the roofs to Pirin.
Time 2–3 h, or a night
Sleep Stone guesthouses
Near Leshten, Dolen
Architectural reserve Film set
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‹ › 1/6 Photo: Gitanes232 , CC BY-SA 4.0
3 h 30 from SofiaWestern Rhodopes · Лещен
A tiny village of restored stone houses that had almost emptied by the 1990s. Many houses are now guesthouses, and it looks straight across the valley to Pirin.
Tip Have dinner in a guesthouse and try patatnik, a Rhodope potato pie with sirene cheese.
Time 1–2 h, or a night
Sleep Guesthouses
Near Kovachevitsa, Ognyanovo hot springs
Guesthouses Pirin views
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‹ › 1/6 Photo: MrPanyGoff , CC BY-SA 3.0
3 h 55 from SofiaWestern Rhodopes · Долен
Whitewashed and stone houses with wooden balconies and cobbled lanes, in a green valley. Fewer visitors come here than to its neighbours, which is a reason to go.
Tip Look at the houses with a stone ground floor and wooden upper floor, built for the family and animals together.
Time 1–2 h
Sleep A few guesthouses
Near Kovachevitsa, Satovcha
Quiet Architectural reserve
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‹ › 1/6 Photo: Artkostov , CC BY-SA 4.0
3 h 50 from SofiaCentral Rhodopes · Широка лъка
White houses and stone-arched bridges over a mountain river, and the National School of Folk Arts, where teenagers learn the gaida (bagpipe) and traditional singing. Its Pesponedelnik carnival of masked dancers is held in early spring.
Tip Listen near the school in term time; you will hear students practising the deep Rhodope gaida.
Time 2 h
Sleep Guesthouses
Near Wonderful Bridges, Smolyan
Folk music Bridges
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‹ › 1/7 Photo: www.vacacionesbulgaria.com , CC BY-SA 4.0
2 h 50 from SofiaSouth-west, near Sandanski · Мелник
Bulgaria’s smallest town, with a few hundred people, set among towering sand pyramids. It has made wine for centuries; the 18th-century Kordopulov House has cellars dug deep into the rock.
Tip Walk the 7 km trail through the pyramids to Rozhen Monastery in the morning, then come back for a cellar tasting.
Time Half a day, or a night
Sleep Guesthouses
Taste Shiroka Melnishka red wine
Wine Sand pyramids
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Balkan range & the centre ‹ › 1/7 Photo: opoznai.bg
2 h from SofiaSredna Gora, 1 h 30 min from Sofia · Копривщица
A small town of painted merchants’ houses in blue, red and ochre, where the April Uprising of 1876 against Ottoman rule began. Six of the houses are museums, sold on one combined ticket.
Tip Every five years it hosts the great national folklore festival in the meadows above town; check the next date before you plan around it.
Time Half a day
Entry Combined museum ticket, about €5
Sleep Guesthouses and small hotels
Museum town National Revival
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‹ › 1/6 Photo: opoznai.bg
3 h 25 from SofiaNear Gabrovo · Боженци
A village of grey stone roofs and wooden houses on a green hillside in the Balkan range, built by 19th-century merchants. It is an architectural reserve with fewer than 50 residents.
Tip Combine it with the open-air museum at Etar and the town of Tryavna nearby.
Time 1–2 h
Sleep Guesthouses
Near Tryavna, Etar, Gabrovo
Architectural reserve Quiet
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‹ › 1/6 Photo: Adam Jones from Kelowna, BC, Canada , CC BY-SA 2.0
3 h 40 from SofiaNear Gabrovo · Трявна
A small town famous for its school of woodcarving and icon painting. The old square with its clock tower and the Daskalov House, with two carved wooden suns on its ceilings, are the highlights.
Tip The Daskalov House museum shows the carved ceilings that two masters made as a competition in 1808.
Time 2–3 h
Entry Museums about €3 each
Near Bozhentsi, Dryanovo
Woodcarving Old town
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‹ › 1/6 Photo: Pudelek (Marcin Szala) , CC BY-SA 3.0
3 h 30 from SofiaAbove Veliko Tarnovo · Арбанаси
A village of fortress-like stone houses on a plateau above Veliko Tarnovo. The Nativity Church looks plain outside but is covered inside with more than 3,000 painted figures.
Tip Visit the Nativity Church and the Konstantsaliev House, then watch the sunset over Tarnovo.
Time 2 h
Entry Church about €4
Near Veliko Tarnovo
Frescoes Stone houses
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‹ › 1/5 Photo: Vislupus , CC BY-SA 4.0
3 h from SofiaNorth-west, near the Serbian border · Чипровци
A village famous for its hand-woven wool carpets with bold geometric patterns, a craft on UNESCO’s list of intangible heritage. You can still watch weavers at work.
Tip The historical museum has a carpet workshop. The nearby Chiprovtsi waterfall is a short walk.
Time 2 h
Buy Hand-woven carpets
Near Belogradchik, Montana
Carpets UNESCO craft
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East & Strandzha ‹ › 1/7 Photo: opoznai.bg
4 h 15 from SofiaNear Kotel, eastern Balkan range · Жеравна
More than 200 wooden houses from the 18th and 19th centuries, with wide eaves and cobbled lanes. Each August the village holds a festival of national costume.
Tip Visit the house of the writer Yordan Yovkov and Rusi Chorbadzhi’s House, then eat in one of the old inns.
Time 2–3 h, or a night
Sleep Guesthouses
Near Kotel, Sliven
Wooden houses Festival
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‹ › 1/6 Photo: Ondřej Žváček , CC BY-SA 4.0
5 h 10 from SofiaStrandzha, near Malko Tarnovo · Бръшлян
A quiet Strandzha village of stone houses, with a 19th-century church half sunk into the ground and an old school. It sits in the oak forests near the Turkish border.
Tip The half-buried church was built low so it would not stand higher than the mosques, as Ottoman rules required.
Time 1–2 h
Sleep A few guesthouses
Near Malko Tarnovo, Bulgari
Strandzha Quiet
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Photo: Vassia Atanassova - Spiritia , CC BY-SA 3.0
5 h 35 from SofiaStrandzha · Българи
The home of the nestinari, fire dancers who dance barefoot on hot embers holding icons. The ritual, on UNESCO’s intangible heritage list, is still performed here on the feast of St Constantine and St Helena, 3 June.
Tip If you come in early June, book a room early. Otherwise, the village museum explains the tradition.
Time 1 h; the evening of 3 June
Sleep Guesthouses
Near Brashlyan, Sinemorets
Fire dancing UNESCO
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Nothing this close. Try a longer drive time or another city.