Sliven
In the east of the Balkan Mountains lies the town of Sliven, which was a center of rebels against the Ottomans — the local Hayduks who found refuge in the mountains and the blue rocks above it. Today, there is a long cable car that [...]
Stara Zagora
Stara Zagora is an ancient and large City in Bulgarian terms (140,000 people) located in the north-east of the Thracian plain. Neolithic villages were discovered near it, the most important of which is Karanovo. The fertile plain was the center of the agricultural revolution that [...]
Belintash
The center of the Rhodope Mountains is a beautiful and wooded area, high mountains cut by deep canyons, where the largest fir forests in the Balkans exist, hundreds of bears, and some of the most beautiful landscapes in Europe are found. In the northern part [...]
Ancient Plovdiv
Plovdiv is the second-largest city in Bulgaria, home to nearly half a million people. It is located in an excellent position in the heart of the fertile Thracian plain and serves as a center of industry, culture, and art. The city consists of seven hills [...]
Tsari Mali Grad
North of the Rila Mountains, not far from the Seven Lakes, is the Citadel Museum of Tsari Mali Grad. It is a large complex that has been adapted for tourism, including an ancient church, a rope park, museum rooms, and a reconstruction of the fortress [...]
Samokov
Twenty minutes’ drive from Tsari Mali Grad is the city of Samokov, which is the historical capital of the region north of the Rila Mountains. Samokov is not far from the Borovets ski resort, in the center of a fertile valley and at a crossroads. [...]
Raduil
The valley of Kostenets is located on the eastern side of the Rila Mountains, not far from the ski resort of Borovets. In contrast to the valley of Malovitsa on the western side of the resort, this valley is not frequently visited. The capital of [...]
Trajan Gates
In 986, one of the most influential battles in world history took place—the Battle of Trajan’s Gates—in a mountain pass 60 km from Sofia on the road to Plovdiv. The battle was between the forces of the Bulgarian Tsar Samuel and the forces of the [...]
Iskar Gorge
Iskar River is one of the longest rivers in Bulgaria. The river starts in the area of Musala Mountain in the Rila Mountains, and unlike most other rivers in Bulgaria, it flows north—there is no other river in the country that behaves so unusually. Along [...]
Troyan Monastery
It is the third most important and largest monastery in Bulgaria, and the spiritual center of the regions north of the Balkan Mountains. It replaced, to some extent, the religious centers of Arbanasi and Veliko Tarnovo—which are not far away—and rose in prominence after these [...]
