Bulgaria
The history museum, housed in a National Revival era building from 1810, displays folk costumes, jewellery and traditional local crafts such as…
Must-see attractions in Bulgaria
Sofia
This rather old-fashioned museum is dedicated to geology, with two floors of minerals, crystals, ores and the like. There are some big and impressive…
Black Sea Coast
This most atmospheric of the town's churches is located in the oldest part of the settlement, on the far eastern end of the outcropping. The church dates…
Plovdiv
This branch of the City Gallery of Fine Arts holds small, temporary exhibitions of abstract art, housed within one of Plovdiv's first Bulgarian…
Bulgaria
Powder-blue Sveta Bogoroditsa Church features magnificent exterior frescoes of Vasil Levski surrounded by holy company, and intricate wooden iconostases…
Ruse
This grand sculpture stands in the middle of pl Svoboda (Freedom Square) and is a popular meeting point. The woman depicted is said to represent free…
Tryavna Museum School of Painting
Bulgaria
Housed in the restored Staroto Shkolo (the town’s old school, built in 1836), the Tryavna Museum School of Painting has exemplary works by local artists.
Historical & Ethnographical Museum
Bansko
This museum in a 19th-century mansion contains finds dating back to 6000 BC, plus antique, medieval and 19th-century National Revival–period items.
Plovdiv & Southern Mountains
This single-room gallery features burnished 18th- and 19th-century icons of saints, with portraits of black-clad monks glowering above them.
Bansko Permanent Icon Exhibition
Bansko
Housed within a former nunnery dating to 1749, this small museum exhibits 18th- and 19th-century icons painted by the Bansko School of art.
Plovdiv
This small museum beside the Church of Sveti Konstantin & Elena has a sublime display of icons from the 15th century onwards.
Plovdiv
A stocky 16th-century Turkish bathhouse now features irregular, rotating displays of contemporary art. Free entry on Thursdays.
Bulgaria
The Slaveikov House-Museum is dedicated to Petko Slaveikov and his son Pencho, renowned poets who lived here for many years.
Mausoleum of Prince Alexander I Battenberg
Sofia
This unusual building with its lone copper dome is the final resting place of modern Bulgaria's first head of state.
Varna
This contemporary art gallery displays rotating exhibitions of mainly visual arts, usually of high quality.
Sofia
Lying southeast of the city centre, Sofia’s most attractive park is filled with countless statues and flowerbeds and is a relaxing place for a stroll. It…
Sofia
Originally built as the headquarters of the Ottoman police force, this is where Bulgaria’s national hero Vasil Levski was tried and tortured before his…
Sofia
The Bulgarian president’s office isn't open to the public, but the changing of the guard ceremony (on the hour) is a spectacle not to be missed; for the…
Sofia
South of the city centre, Yuzhen Park is a vast, wild green sprawl, filled with trees and shady pathways. A sparkling stream bubbles through it, and there…
Sofia
This neat, secluded park features a big, pyramidal monument dedicated to the medics who died in the Russo-Turkish War (1877–78). Also here is an outdoor…
Sofia
Sofia's vast concert hall dates from 1981 and houses countless chambers, as well as music clubs and cafes. It watches over an elongated park known as pl…
Black Sea Coast
This small museum doesn't always hold to the posted hours, but if you catch it open you'll find artefacts going back to the town's Thracian, Greek and…
Plovdiv
This beige mansion built in 1830 has a special place in Plovdiv hearts as the location where French poet Alphonse de Lamartine stayed in 1833, along the…
Black Sea Coast
Below ground level just behind the Sveti Spas Church are the partly excavated remains of a 6th-century Byzantine baths complex. Though not much to look at…
Plovdiv & Southern Mountains
There is little English-language signage at this regional museum, but helpful staff can help explain the displays of ancient history and artefacts…
Black Sea Coast
This relatively plain 19th-century church is the only functioning one in town and modestly dressed visitors are welcome. (Shawls are provided at the…
Plovdiv & Southern Mountains
Minerals, bottled bats, and the remains of ancient cave-dwelling animals such as lions and bears are exhibited in this small museum, along with displays…
Sofia
Bulgaria’s best-loved author, Ivan Vazov (1850–1921) lived at this house from 1895 until his death. Vazov wrote Under the Yoke, a classic of Bulgarian…
Sveti Sveti Petâr & Pavel Church
Bulgaria
This pretty pink church was built in the 1860s and is adorned with bright modern murals. It houses relics of a 4th-century local saint, Dasius, which were…
Sofia
Watched over by the polygonal concrete bulk of the National Palace of Culture, this elongated park, with a fountain, ice-cream kiosks and bars, is popular…
Sofia
Erected in 2001 on the site where a gigantic statue of Lenin once stood, this 24m-high monument was created as a new civic symbol for the city. The bronze…
Sofia
This domineering Stalinist monolith, built in 1953, was once the headquarters of the Bulgarian Communist Party. It is now used as government offices and…
Basilica of the Holy Mother Eleusa
Black Sea Coast
Overlooking the sea, the Basilica of the Holy Mother Eleusa dates from the 6th century, and later became a monastery. The fortified tower alongside it was…
Bulgaria
Inside a lemon-yellow mansion, which resembles a beautifully iced cake, Galeriya Dimitâr Dobrovich exhibits 20th-century and graphic art across two floors…
Bulgaria
A two-room monastic museum displaying spiritual and historical artefacts from the 19th and 20th centuries, along with a room where Bulgarian revolutionary…
Sofia
This monument is located on the southern side of Sveta Sofia Church, facing the Aleksander Nevski Church. It's marked by an eternal flame meant to…
Black Sea Coast
This small exhibition on marine life, as well as some ancient coins, is situated in a restored Turkish bathhouse (hamam) going back to the 16th century…
Plovdiv
Dedicated to renowned writer and publisher Hristo Danov and several other Bulgarian authors, Danov House contains a re-creation of a bookshop and a…
Sofia
This attractive park, with its fountains, lovely rose beds, cafes and popcorn vendors, is especially popular with young families, and there are some…
Pirin Mountains
This 19th-century church, signposted from Melnik's main road, is dedicated to the patron saint of the sick. In the unenlightened past, the mentally ill…
