Bulgaria
This well-done museum in Srebârna village presents a good overview in English of birdlife and other fauna around Lake Srebârna and should be a first port…
Must-see attractions in Bulgaria
Bansko
This richly painted 18th-century mansion stands out among Bulgaria's countless heritage properties. Admire elaborate frescoes within the house-museum and…
Sofia
Built in the 4th century AD, this tiny red-brick church is Sofia's oldest preserved building. The murals inside were painted between the 10th and 14th…
Cathedral of the Assumption of the Virgin
Varna
Varna's cathedral (1886) is topped with golden onion domes. Note the murals (painted in 1950) and colourful stained-glass windows, though you'll have to…
Bulgaria
Despite its enigmatic name, there's little more than a bluish haze hanging over this rubbly nature park. But these hills have revolutionary history:…
Sofia
If you wondered where all those unwanted statues of Lenin ended up, you'll find some here, along with the red star from atop Sofia's Party House. There's…
Bulgaria
Bulgaria's third-largest monastery showcases vivid, apocalyptic murals within its serene walls. Beaten in size only by Rila and Bachkovo, this monastery,…
Sofia
The history of Sofia is presented on two floors of the magnificent former Turkish Mineral Baths, just behind the mosque. Exhibitions are divided…
Sofia
This remarkable, partly covered excavation site, situated just above the Serdika metro station, displays the remains of the Roman city, Serdica, that once…
Sofia
This beautiful church with glittering mosaic exterior and golden domes was completed in 1914 for Sofia’s Russian community, and named in honour of St…
Sveta Petka Samardzhiiska Church
Sofia
This tiny church, located in the centre of the Serdika metro complex, was built during the early years of Ottoman rule (late 14th century), which explains…
National Museum of Natural History
Sofia
You can almost sense the ghosts of generations of school parties dutifully trooping through the musty halls of Bulgaria's oldest museum, founded in 1889…
Pirin Mountains
Standing serenely in the hills 7km north of Melnik, this working monastery has admirable 16th-century frescoes and a holy icon of the Virgin Mary. Its…
Bulgaria
The broken remains of a Roman 'victory city', built in AD 110, cover this isolated site, 20km north of Veliko Târnovo. Nikopolis-ad-Istrum's foundations…
Bulgaria
The carved figure of a horseback warrior, spearing a lion while his dog trots behind, is this archaeological reserve's highlight. The Madara Horseman …
Black Sea Coast
This 687-hectare reserve covers nearly the whole of Kaliakra Cape, a 2km-long headland that juts into the Black Sea 13km southeast of Kavarna. Visitors…
Black Sea Coast
This nature reserve is located 10km south of Sozopol, along the main road to Primorsko. Visitors can hike or picnic, but most come for a 30- to 40-minute…
Bulgaria
In hilly Tyulbe Park, a 15-minute walk northeast of Kazanlâk's centre, stands one of the archaeological finds of the 20th century: a brilliantly frescoed,…
Bulgaria
Outstanding clifftop views compete with murals by renowned painter Zahari Zograf at this serene monastery, 7km north of Veliko Târnovo. It was officially…
St Luke’s Hermitage & St Ivan’s Cave
Plovdiv & Southern Mountains
About 3.7km northeast of Rila Monastery, on the road to Kiril Meadow, a trail leads to St Luke’s Hermitage. Built in 1798, the hermitage features a…
Sveti Sofronii Vrachanski Ethnographical & Revival Complex
Bulgaria
This interesting museum complex consists of four National Revival–era buildings displaying traditional costumes, instruments, toys, domestic interiors and…
Pirin Mountains
Bulgaria's largest Revival-era building, this whitewashed and wooden mansion beams down from a cliff face at the eastern end of Melnik's main road. Dating…
Black Sea Coast
Little is known about this bizarre rock monastery; the caves were first inhabited by 11th-century hermits, but what remains today was created during the…
Plovdiv & Southern Mountains
The panoramic views from Asen's Fortress, which squats precariously on the edge of a cliff 19km southeast of Plovdiv, will make your stomach flutter…
Ecclesiastical & Historical Museum
Plovdiv & Southern Mountains
Rila Monastery's museum has a diverting collection of items and documents from across the centuries, including 14th-century wood carvings, Revival-era…
Bulgaria
Discovered in 1993, the sarcophagus within this whopping Thracian burial mound was carved from a single 60-tonne stone during the 4th century BC. The site…
Sozopol
The largest Bulgarian island in the Black Sea (0.7 sq km), Sveti Ivan lies 3km north of Sozopol's old town. The island's history stretches back to…
Black Sea Coast
Located about 2km south of Sveti Konstantin, along the main road to Varna, the 90-hectare Euxinograde complex boasts a 19th-century palace featuring…
Bulgaria
This nonworking monastery, a Unesco World Heritage site, is situated in a cave about 40m above ground at an isolated spot 4km from the village of Ivanovo…
Bulgaria
About 13km along a winding road north of Shipka village is the Shipka Pass. Almost 1000 steps lead to the top of Mt Stoletov (1326m), dominated by the…
Museum of Folk Craft & Applied Arts
Bulgaria
One of Bulgaria's most engaging folk-art attractions, this museum displays a colourful range of traditional pottery, along with kukeri costumes, woolly…
Plovdiv & Southern Mountains
Yagodina is the Rodopi Mountains' longest cave at 8.5km, and its many abysses and labyrinthine tunnels also make it one of Bulgaria’s deepest grottoes…
Bulgaria
Why do cats in Gabrovo have no tails? For the rather peculiar answer, you'll have to visit the House of Humour and Satire, a temple to the region's…
Bulgaria
Learn the history of Bulgaria's rose-oil trade (and inhale its soothing fragrance) at this 1909-founded distillery, 27km west of Kazanlâk in Tarnichene…
Veliko Târnovo
Built for a wealthy banker in 1861, this National Revival–style house-museum spans five storeys. Within, 19th-century earrings, bracelets and other…
Bulgaria
Just down from Tyulbe Park and the Thracian tomb, you’ll find the appealing Kulata (Tower) district, site of the Kulata Ethnological Complex. A replica of…
Bulgaria
Carved by an ancient underground river, 1200m-long Bacho Kiro Cave was inhabited way back in the Palaeolithic era. In 1937 it became Bulgaria's first…
Plovdiv
Even if you don't have time to step inside, it would be criminal to leave Plovdiv's old town without glancing into the courtyard of this stunning National…
Sofia
Housed in the former communist presidential palace, this museum occupies a stunning, if inconvenient, setting; unless a coach party turns up, you may have…
Bulgaria
This brick museum on the main road exhibits Thracian and Roman artefacts from Madara, Veliki Preslav and Pliska, along with ancient clay-pot burials and a…
