Bulgaria, booked properly.
Which Rila Monastery run gets you there before the coaches. What the Seven Lakes cost once the chairlift shuts. Whether Bansko is worth the transfer. Every tour in Bulgaria, reviewed.
Bulgaria’s most popular tours.
Every review →The days more travellers take than anything else in the country, and what makes each one worth its slot.
1
Rila Monastery & Boyana Church Day Tour
Visit Boyana Church and Rila Monastery from Sofia in one day, with frescoes, mountain views, museums, local food, and comfortable transport.
From · $23
Read our review →
2
Must-See Rila Monastery & Boyana Church Day Tour
from $23
3
Guided Day Tour of Plovdiv’s Must-See Sights
from $23
4
7 Rila Lakes and Rila Monastery Extended Trip
from $64
5
Communist Walking Tour
from $21
6
From Bucharest: Full-Day Trip to Bulgaria
from $93
7
The Seven Rila Lakes Full-Day Hiking Tour
from $47
8
Rila Monastery and Boyana Church Full-Day Tour
from $24
The days a Bulgarian trip is built around.
A painted monastery in a fir gorge, seven glacial lakes on one ridge, sandstone towers on the Serbian border, cellars in the Thracian valley. The handful of days most itineraries are planned around, and the best way to book each.
Rila Monastery earns the two-hour drive.
Black-and-white striped arcades, a courtyard of painted hell scenes, and a bakery selling mekitsi at the gate. Pair it with Boyana Church on the way back and the day is done by dinner.
All 88 monastery days →
Sofia is the hinge every Bulgarian trip turns on.
Roman streets under the metro station, Nevsky’s gold domes, a mountain on the tram line and half the country inside a day’s drive. Most travellers sleep here and leave from here.
What a day out in Bulgaria actually costs.
Bulgaria is the cheapest country in the European Union to travel in, and the price of a day out shows it. Three brackets, and what each one buys.
Old-town walks, cave entries, city food crawls and half-day cellar visits — the everyday best of the country.
The standard day trip: Rila and Boyana in one sweep, Plovdiv from Sofia, the rock formations at Belogradchik.
Long-haul days to Buzludzha and the Rose Valley, private drivers, multi-day mountain traverses and ski packages.
Bansko or Borovets: pick the mountain first.
All ski trips →
Bansko has the vertical and the après; Borovets is closer to Sofia and gentler on beginners. Rentals, lessons and lift days book separately here, so the order matters.
- 1Ski and Snowboard equipment rental in Banskofrom $18
- 2Private Ski Lesson in Bulgariafrom $132
- 3Private Ski or Snowboard Tuitionfrom $90
A private lesson before the lift pass
Instructors meet at the gondola base, gear is fitted first, and the beginner drags sit away from the main run so the first hour is not spent dodging traffic.
Skis, boots and poles for the week
Shops fit boots the evening before so the first morning is not lost in a queue. Multi-day rates drop sharply after three days.
Snowmobiles and snowshoes above the treeline
When the visibility drops on the upper runs, the forest tracks above Borovets stay sheltered. Snowshoe routes leave from the same base.
Three things only Bulgaria can give you.
Monasteries and mountains exist across the Balkans. A concrete flying saucer on a ridge, a valley that supplies most of the world’s rose oil, and seven lakes stacked up one hillside belong to Bulgaria alone.
The Buzludzha Monument
The Bulgarian Communist Party built a concrete saucer on a 1,432-metre ridge in 1981, filled it with mosaics, and abandoned it eight years later. The interior is sealed and the mosaics are half-looted, but the shell still dominates the Balkan range and the drive up crosses Shipka Pass. Most trips pair it with the Museum of Socialist Art in Sofia.
- 1Communist Walking Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 1,106 reviews
- 2Communist Walking Tour of Sofia★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 690 reviews
- 3Museum of Socialist Art and Buzludzha Monument Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 86 reviews
The Rose Valley
The strip of land between the Balkan range and Sredna Gora grows the damask roses that supply most of the world’s rose oil. Picking runs from late May to mid-June and starts before sunrise, because the oil evaporates once the sun is on the petals. Outside those weeks the valley is distilleries, museums and empty fields.
- 1The Rose Valley & Buzludzha Monument Day Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 77 reviews
- 2The Rose Valley & Koprivshtitsa 12 hrs Day Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 39 reviews
- 3Valley of the Thracian Kings: Hidden Treasures★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 36 reviews
The Rila Lakes
Glacial lakes named for their shapes — the Tear, the Eye, the Kidney — sit in a stair of cirques above Sapareva Banya. A chairlift cuts the first 500 metres of climb, and above it a four-hour circuit takes in all seven. The lift runs a seasonal calendar; outside it the day becomes a serious alpine walk.
- 17 Rila Lakes and Rila Monastery Extended Trip★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 1,189 reviews
- 2The Seven Rila Lakes Full-Day Hiking Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 923 reviews
- 3The Seven Rila Lakes & Rila Monastery Day Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 699 reviews
The coast has more than Sunny Beach.
All coast trips →
4-hour Boat Trip with Fishing, Lunch and Unlimited Drinks in Nessebar
Read our review →
Plovdiv has been lived in longer than any city in Europe.
Seven hills, a Roman theatre that still sells tickets, revival merchants’ houses leaning over cobbles, and Kapana’s bars filling the lanes between. Two hours from Sofia, and worth staying the night.
- 1Private city walking tour of Plovdivfrom $184
- 2Bachkovo Monastery, Asen Fortress, & Bridges Tourfrom $131
- 3Guided Walking Tourfrom $14
Book these before you land in Bulgaria.
Most of Bulgaria can be arranged from your hotel the night before. These cannot — they run on harvest weeks, lift calendars and mountain weather that do not care when your flight gets in.
- 01The Rose Valley & Koprivshtitsa 12 hrs Day TourThe picking runs from late May to mid-June and starts before dawn. Outside those weeks the valley is museums and empty fields.
- 02The Seven Rila Lakes Full-Day Hiking TourThe chairlift that removes the first 500 metres of climb runs a seasonal timetable. Without it this is a long alpine day.
- 03Ski and Snowboard equipment rental in BanskoBoots are fitted the evening before a first ski morning, and peak-week slots in Bansko and Borovets go early.
- 04Museum of Socialist Art and Buzludzha Monument TourThe approach crosses Shipka Pass, which closes with the snow — winter departures run to a short, weather-dependent calendar.
Bad weather in Bulgaria sends you underground.
Sofia gets a wet spring and a hard winter, and the coast can lose a whole afternoon to a squall. The answers are indoors and underground: the lit halls of Saeva Dupka, the collapsed roof at Prohodna, a mineral bath at Sapareva Banya, a cellar in the Thracian valley.
By region — where you will be sleeping
Sofia324 tours
Plovdiv51 tours
Varna28 tours
Nessebar & the coast24 tours
Bansko27 tours
Borovets28 tours
Veliko Tarnovo13 tours- Every region →
By experience — what kind of day is it?
Sofia to the sea, reviewed stop by stop.
The newest Bulgaria tour reviews.
All recent →
Veliko Turnovo-Bulgarian old capital and Arbanasi
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Varna Echoes: Flavors, Footsteps, Tales & Wine tasting
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UNESCO Thracian Tomb of Kazanlak and Buzludzha monument
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Monasteries and Waterfalls Tour from Veliko Tarnovo
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Guide and Entrance for the Mini Bulgaria Park near Veliko Tarnovo
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UNESCO’s World heritage Old Nessebar – the town of 40 churches
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Full-Day Private Sightseeing Tour to the North of Varna
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