Bulgaria June 10-16, '25

Endless curiosity over here. :)

Did you stay near Rila for the monastery and National Park area? Or day trip from Sofia?

Definitely interested in the story that caused you to rent a car. Lol. And I assume you did a one way rental. The driving was ok after that? It looks like you mostly did city to city - any stops along the way?

Also, there aren’t a lot of trip reports on several of these coungries. You’ve appropriately put all in the Trip Reports section - but it’s not the most functional….. Would you consider making a country specific post that just has a link to your report?

Ruse

Only 1 night here but an enjoyable chill place after departing busy Bucharest. A few hours of sightseeing found some highlights - a below-ground orthodox church, an amusing fountain with women at corners reacting to water sprayed on backs, and strolling the path along the Danube. Our efficient small apartment for the night was one of the best managed and about 5 minutes to the main square. It appeared several worthwhile day trips existed in the area, but we were not there long enough to check them out. Kudos to the man who rode the bus with us and helped on arrival in Bulgaria/Ruse - needed an ATM for local currency, he told me Taxis were honest, etc. Also met a dad with kids along the Danube that used to work in the UK but moved wife and family back to Ruse to raise their kids. Overall a nice initiation to Bulgaria.

Veliko Tarnovo

Departed Ruse on another decent mini-bus. Arrived in the city and it was HOT. Wanted to do a walking tour so opted for a 5 pm start time hoping for some respite from the heat. No chance - and with an inexperienced long-winded tour guide and a “too helpful” tour member from a neighboring country, it was a brutal experience. The tour/town was interesting nonetheless. The next morning we walked to the sword statue, then tried to find a taxi to get back to our apartment without luck (too hot to walk back). We ended up walking towards the train station hoping for a taxi - but it seemed almost abandoned between trains. We finally had to contact our apartment owner via WhatsApp and asked him to call a taxi for us as we had to catch our bus to Plovdiv.

Plovdiv

Today’s rickety minibus with marginal A/C broke us. Roads were rough, the driver was aggressive, the trip was long, the bus was old and rattling, and heat was intense. After what seemed an eternity we arrived in Plovdiv. I’m not sure what transportation options existed for the rest of our trip, but we decided a rental car was needed from here on out. No way could I endure another ride like that one. Anyway…

We loved Plovdiv for its history and charm. Another walking tour and strolling around day and night filled the time. Thanks to a prior year RS trip report we stayed at the Villa Flavia Heritage Boutique hotel, a splurge compared to most of our lodging choices, which has roman bath ruins in the basement and an excellent breakfast. We returned to a wine bar we passed on the walking tour and was served by someone who had only started a few days prior, but he had worked as a bartender on cruise ships for 20 years. We were the only guests and had waaay too much wine…and fun.

Rila Monastery

After our rental car was delivered to the hotel we made the drive to a small town near the Rila 7 Lakes. On the way we stopped at a Shell gas station that had the cleanest restrooms I think I’ve ever seen anywhere (not too important…but had to mention). We checked in to our pension, then drove to Rila Monastery for an end-of-day visit. We were short on time getting there that late, but we did have it almost to ourselves for plenty of photos.

Rila 7 lakes

A fellow traveler earlier in the trip recommended this hike which I had been considering.It was definitely worth doing - perfect weather, stunning scenery, and not too intense since a chairlift gets you to the start. The loop trail took I think 2 hours and we skipped a side trail to 2 lakes which I think would add 30 minutes. Some reviews state long queues happen for the chairlift, and weekdays are best (but no line for us on a saturday in June).

After the hike we drove to Sofia for a 1-night stay.

Sofia

We had planned to see some of the city after the Rila Lakes hike but were too tired to venture out. As such, we only had a few hours in the morning to see the city before catching a flight. We did manage to hit the highlights (churches, etc.), and from what we saw it seems worthy of at least a couple days.

Next report, Slovakia…

PS: PM me if you would like my Instagram username to see pics.

Thanks so much for writing these reports! I would also like more info on what TTM asked. How did you feel about the length of time you were there? Too much? Too little? Just right?

And would love more info on the rental car as well. I'm planning a trip there in mid-September of 2025.

Also, how far ahead did you book hotels/apartments?

Edit: You mentioned the hell ride on the minibus—was that the trip from Bucharest to Ruse? And if so, what was so hellacious about it? I will be doing that in reverse (going from Bulgaria to Bucharest) and still not sure how I want to travel. I've driven through most of Europe but have a fear of heights so do not want to be driving over and through high mountain ranges.

Thanks for the extra reporting!

I think my follow-on posts mostly covered the questions (had some issues posting which caused a delay for the whole report), but if not...let me know. Here are some additional details;

Re: time there - I think it was about right with a few exceptions. Sofia we literally had 3 hours which was insufficient. Ruse, although not on most tourists to-do list, had some interesting side trips from the literature in our apartment (but honestly can't recall what they were). I could envision a day and a half there IF those side trips are of interest. There are a few destinations we missed - including the sea - which may make more time in Bulgaria worthwhile. Looking at my Tripit account I see we stayed only one night in Veliko Tarnovo. That seems short, but it worked for us (very hot at the time).

Re: Booking lodging - we started our trip in France then Romania mostly booking places a few days in advance. I think we followed suit in Bulgaria but can't say with certainty. I assumed traveling in June would not be difficult finding rooms...and it wasn't.

Re: Hell ride - that was from Veliko Tarnovo to Plovdiv. The main problem was it was HOT outside (mid 90's) and the mini-bus A/C was lame. The ride was bumpy/twisty, the bus dated and not the most comfortable, and it was a long 3 hour ride (fortunately we did stop for a rest break half way). The company I think is Pegasus which seems to run lots of small and large buses from their website. I was skeptical we would be on a large bus - and we weren't.

Rental car in Plovdiv was "Top Rent A Car" which seems well regarded in Bulgaria. Car was good, we paid extra to have it dropped off at our Plovdiv hotel but in hindsight we probably could have easily walked to their downtown office for as much as it took doing the contract. And yes...paid the 1-way rental fee which was a bit painful.

Besides not wanting another bumpy minibus ride, the reason we got the car is we added the Rila 7 lakes hike to our itinerary. It seemed difficult to get to via public transportation (but likely doable as a day trip from Sofia).

Our pension near Rila 7 lakes was in the sleepy town of Sapareva Banya 30 minutes from the hike start, and 1h15m to Rila Monastery.

Sorry about the bumpy rides, but interesting to know. An "almost to yourselves" end-of-day visit to Rila Monastery sounds dreamy!

Thanks for a little trip through my memories of Bulgaria!