Bulgaria Ten Days in June 2026 Trip Report (Part 1)

BULGARIA TRIP REPORT (Part 2):

MON 6/22: Light, sweet breakfast at Coffee Syndicate (only serves eclairs). Walked to Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, where they were setting up a stage for open air opera performances in front of the Cathedral. Popped into the St Cyril and Methodius Natl Library (only one room open to visitors but there were card catalogs to open and close!)

Went to The Red Flat. Highly recommend this tour of a typical Bulgarian apartment of 1980s communist era. We did not have reservations, but got tickets with a short wait. People after us had to wait an hour. You can open and touch everything, including a 1980s stamp collection and a Cyrillic typewriter. Excellent audioguide. Nicest gift shop I found in Bulgaria.

Wandered outdoor parts of Serdika ruins complex and popped into Central Market to buy snacks and see ruins in the basement. While spouse napped, I visited small churches (had to leave one b/c I was in shorts). After nap, we took vintage tram line 10 for a scenic ride through a park and back – it was a nice sit down break.

Good dinner of traditional Bulgarian food at Bistro Lyubimoto.

TUES 6/22: Heavy museum day. Went to National Museum of History in Boyana district. Bit of a haul to get there: two metros and then caught the 63 bus (I think). It’s a tiny electric bus, fun for nerdy transit people b/c it’s a great option for small demand routes. It left us a bit uphill from the museum and we followed google maps along a big wall with “do not enter” signs but eventually saw a parking lot and there it was!

A STUNNING museum. Absolutely trek out there. In a former People’s Hall, the building is incredible brutalist/Communist architecture that transforms surprisingly well into a museum. The main display floor covers pre-history through 1800s. Lots of English. It was possibly the first time I had seen ancient Greek pottery with exquisite gilded details. Also actual bronze statue pieces, not merely marble copies of original bronze, of a Roman Emperor. Second floor, covering 1800s to some vague post-WWII time and ethnographic clothing, was less well-signed and was, to me, mostly notable for missing any displays from the era of the late 1930s – 1944. This noticeable gap appears in many Bulgarian museums.

Had coffee and cold drinks at the café in the back garden. Nothing in the area, so recommend a break here. Returned via 304 bus from a stop below the museum parking lot to a metro station near the main stadium.

Back in downtown, late lunch at Raffy on Vitosha Blvd (gelato and drinks are good but food was mediocre). Spouse napped while I went to National Archaeology Museum next door to hotel and then sketched at the museum’s outdoor café with a Hugo spritz. Very different from displays at the museum in Boyana – don’t miss upstairs treasure room, and the building is a former mosque with creaky wood floors and old school iron grills to lock away the treasures at night. Don’t think too much about the Louvre smash and grab when you visit this. My general take is the astounding wealth of antiquities in Bulgaria must be experienced to be believed.

Spouse woke up in time for last half hour of Serdika indoor museum complex (he thought he was too late, and I said “it is literally across the street, you can SEE it, we have time). We had the massive complex with portions of six Roman roads completely to ourselves.

Skipped dinner b/c lunch had been too big, just had very good gelato at Lemonista. Walked around the complex at National Palace of Culture (Communist architecture and people-watching). Bulgarians like summer evening strolls in their parks, and Sofia has many parks.

To Be Continued

BULGARIA TRIP REPORT (Part 3)

WED 6/23: Left Sofia for Veliko Tarnovo. Train back to airport, Avis rental car. We both had the (mandatory) AAA international driving permit and a statement from our credit card about insurance coverage for rentals. Hybrid Suzuki Swace was very nice for three people and luggage and we only spent about $100 on gas for the rest of the trip. Do not recommend full electric, there are not that many charging stations yet.

We drove express highway to Kazanlak to see the Thracian King Tomb. In general google maps worked fine, and drive times were accurate. We use Android phones which did not want to connect to car nav system, so I narrated the instructions, but later in trip daughter’s iphone connected easily to car.

Excellent lunch at Meraki near the Iskra Historical Museum (which we skipped due to time) then we walked to the tomb in a nearby park. Many stairs up to tomb, which is very small but worth a quick stop for history or fresco nerds, and easy to get to compared to other Thracian tombs. Kazanlak was also a logical lunch point. Would not have used transit to get here but it was fine with our own car.

Drove on to Veliko Tarnovo via bigger roads, arrived about 5 pm. Last stretch was a lot of mountains. Stayed at Tarnovgrad Apartments which was just OK – the AC was in the living room and did not reach the bedroom, no coffee system. We had wanted an apt at this point to do laundry, but there was none – my mistake during booking. Location was next to the fortress, it was very clean, and there was included parking. Would not stay again in summer, but it was okay.

We spent two very hot, hilly hours (5 – 7 pm) enjoying the fortress, which I recommend. There had been 42 different Orthodox churches there over time! You will get very, very familiar with the stone outlines of a former church. The only rebuilt one, on the top of the hill, was filled with gorgeous modern murals rather than trad’l icons. Fortress had very little English or signs of any type, so we used internet to find out what we were looking at. Interesting to contrast with Salzburg which we visited last December. They were setting up for some sort of outdoor concert with fortress tower ruins as backdrop.

Unfortunately we didn’t have much time for the rest of Veliko Tarnovo.

Highlight for me: Storks nesting in a special chimney nest structure across the street from apt!

TH 6/24: Had to leave Veliko Tarnovo before cafes opened b/c spouse had a 1:30 tee time at Thracian Cliffs Golf Course in Kavarna on the coast. He rented clubs, which were not as good as usual rental clubs. He says: “The level of service and maintenance don’t live up to the quality of the course” but he enjoyed it. Two marquee holes on the side of the cliff were hard for him (although beautiful) and greens were not ideal, but he’s an avid golfer (over 100 rounds/yr). We wished we had time to stay here at the resort, but we had to be all the way at the southern end of the coast by the next day.

While he golfed, I had a wonderful drive exploring the rural northernmost coast all the way into the town of 2 Mai, Romania. Stopped briefly at Durankulak Beach and the holiday camping village “Kosmos” there – absolutely a highlight for me. Undeveloped beach next to large wetlands, spectacular café, saw endangered geese, very quiet.

Note: If you see “Fenix” frozen yogurt in the small clay pots, get it! It is cold and delicious, much better than fro-yo in US, with incredible fruit toppings. I had the fig and I could eat it every day.

Border crossing to Romania was open b/c both are in Schengen. Nothing but a few communist era sculptures and one lonely guard. The first town across the border was mostly for camper vans and mini-marts. The next one, 2 Mai, was larger and more prosperous.

To Be Continued

BULGARIA TRIP REPORT (Part 4):

(Continuing from North end of Black Sea Coast):

Wish I’d had time to visit the Durankulak archaeological park, apparently Europe’s oldest stone buildings on an island in the middle of the protected lake. On the return I did stop at a beach café on the waterfront in the actual town of Kavarna (drive through the working part of the city and down through a green belt to the beach – a small gem of a beach, with delicious French fries at the beach café closest to the parking). Google maps lies about a waterfront road, you have to backtrack up the hill.

Picked up the golfer and we drove south past Varna to the quiet beach town of Obzor. We stayed at Coral Guest House which was fine. Very nice people, clean, AC worked, it was one block off the waterfront. Enjoyable waterfront walk with lots of restaurant choices, not overwhelmed by partiers. Extremely quiet town. I don’t know what one would do there other than beach stuff, but it was a nice location for a late arrival, dinner at the beach, and an early departure.

FRI 6/26: After spouse had a good long run along the beach walk (not the sand) in Obzor, we drove around Burgas to Sozopol, arrived in time for lunch. To find easy paid parking, put the archaeology museum in your nav app and there is a large parking lot between the museum and the marina, then explore Old Town on foot. Had lunch at one of many cafés on the seaside ramparts.

Quick visit to the archaeology museum, which was lovely (and cool). Don’t miss the terracotta children’s toys at the very top balcony in a cabinet – my daughter was enraptured with the one of a monkey making bread, and she made her own version with clay she excavated on her dig site.

Stayed at Hotel Melia Mar outside of main part of town, nice pool, truly excellent AC (I’m a 55 yr old woman, AC matters a lot in this stage of life), great breakfast. Parking a couple blocks away. Too far to walk to Old Town for me after busy, hot day. We were in the newer building at the back of the pool with water view. Extremely peaceful and would stay again.

Walked to dinner at Paradise Bay Beach Bar and Restaurant – mixed reviews. It is one of the few walking distance restaurants in that area south of Sozopol. Food was quite good, service started out okay and then imploded (husband’s entrée was forgotten, we got wrong bill, etc). Still, we could walk there from Melia Mar. Old Town has a lot of restaurants and tiny guest houses, but logistics are more difficult.

During the month program with Balkan Heritage Field School, daughter stayed at Hotel Polina Beach and liked it a lot – the people running it were very nice – but she said breakfast in Hotel Melia Mar was better. Her hotel was walking distance to all the restaurants of Old Town, grocery stores and the main beaches. She said that most restaurants did not open for the season until the last week of June.

SAT 6/27: Picked up daughter and drove to Plovdiv. Stopped first at Burgas for coffee at Dabov café (nice) and brief walk in the Sea Park, saw the concrete sculptures and the busy beach, then drove to Yambol for Museum of Battle Glory.

Both stops were worth it, neither took long. Trust the nav app to get to the Museum in Yambol. Yes, it is down a winding alley in the middle of a rather economically challenged town. It’s an old military installation turned into a museum with a lot of EU grant money. Great info on WWI (there was a zeppelin unit stationed in Yambol), a lot of Communist era vehicles, a HIND helicopter, etc. As noted elsewhere, the WWII exhibits started in 1944, which seems to be a Bulgarian thing. (We know why).

Then it was on to Plovdiv, which is INCREDIBLE. So glad we had two nights with a full day there.

To Be Continued

BULGARIA TRIP REPORT (Part 5):

PLOVDIV: So glad we had two nights with a full day here.

We stayed at the Hotel Villa Flavia, which I highly recommend. There is a Roman bath in the hotel basement, and they give tours after breakfast (excellent breakfast, btw). Highest level of service of the trip.

Daughter stayed at a small apartment called “So Close Kapana – 2 Rooms Central Apartments” that was half the price of Hotel Villa Flavia. It was very clean and spacious and she loved the privacy after a month with a roommate on the dig and car ride with us. Make sure to hit the ‘on’ light switch near the door in the building stairwell.

First night we had dinner at Tams House, which was one of our best restaurant experiences in Bulgaria – very good service and excellent food. Second night we had dinner at Saborna 23 in Old Town, which was a lovely setting and had great food, but indifferent service.

Plovdiv is well known and there is much internet info, but do not skip the Bishop’s Basilica mosaic museum.

We saw a show in the Ancient Theatre on the first night. Bought tickets three weeks ahead, and chose seats that were in the second row from the top of the main section in front of the stage, which was a good idea (not too much climbing down, b/c you enter at the middle, not the bottom, of the stands.). Note that while your ROW is assigned, your seat is NOT, so the people who arrived earlier had the ends and we had to climb over them to the middle. No cushions on the stone but the seats weren’t too uncomfortable. Very hot in the crowd. Take a paper fan and bring water.

On our full day, we started in Old Town to avoid the afternoon heat on uphill walk. First we did the Regional Ethnographic Museum in one of the giant Bulgarian Revival houses. If you do any craft whatsoever, this will be interesting – it’s everything from farm equipment to weaving to jewelry making in a stunning house. I wish the my spouse and kid had been interested in another old house, one more set up as a residence, but family trips are about compromise.

Climbed to fort on top of Old Town at Nebet Tepe Hill, then descended via the old Roman East Gate and a quick look inside St. Marina Church before returning to Hotel Villa Flavia for cool drinks from free minibar in room.

Refreshed, we climbed through the ruins of the Stadium (second set of bleachers is in basement of H&M clothing store), the Forum, and the Odeon – all outstanding – on the way to the Bishop’s Basilica for the mosaics. Do NOT miss this.

After, we split up and I visited a local bookstore where I stumbled upon the Bulgarian translation of Heated Rivalry!

MON 6/29: Husband enjoyed a long early morning run along the river out to the rowing canal, then we left Plovdiv early to drive to Rila Monastery. Note that the last Monday of every month, the chairlift at Seven Rila Lakes is closed for inspections, so we just went straight to the monastery. Quite the drive through sunflower fields and then winding through the mountains. Bulgaria produces a lot of sunflower oil, and many fields are starting to bloom by June.

Rila Monastery was spectacular – we took banitsa from a bakery in Plovdiv, but that wasn’t necessary, b/c there are many small, attractive restaurants on the drive in and a few places selling food behind the Monastery. It looks like they are building a future hotel too.

We climbed the tower but skipped the museum. You MUST have covered knees and shoulders to enter the complex, which is free (small charge for tower or museum). Security was turning people in tank tops away.

To Be Continued

BULGARIA TRIP REPORT (Part 6):

After monastery, we drove to Hotel and Spa Emar in the town of Sapareva Banya. Based upon the photos, I had expected a large resort, but it’s actually a small boutique hotel in the middle of a rural town. House on one side was abandoned, house on the other had garden, laundry hanging out, etc. We relaxed in the pool and sunbathed, as did the other guests.

Hotel is half-board, so it’s a buffet dinner and breakfast included. Dinner was average, breakfast good, but there is nothing else in the area and we were tired after driving. It was relaxing to have nothing to see or do and just hang out in the pool and read. Unfortunately the AC system was too complicated and we couldn’t get it to cool down, so we slept with balcony doors open (they had mosquito net curtains). I was hot.

I would stay here again for one night on a return from Rila Monastery or the mountains, if one doesn’t want to go back into Sofia, but I don’t really understand why one would stay more than one night. There must be a lot of outdoor activities in the area b/c several guests had backpacks and mountain bikes. If you stay here, note the really large solar farm across the valley and look up the info on Bulgaria’s transition to clean energy and be jealous.

TUES 6/30: Easy drive to return the car to Sofia Airport for a 13:50 departure.

REFLECTIONS: Trip was overall amazing, especially given our very short planning time frame. I would add three more days in this order:

• Two nights and a full day in Veliko Tarnovo. That way we could have done more sightseeing on the way (would have liked to take the longer route through Shipska Pass from Kazanlak to see more tombs or the Buzludzha Monument), and pulled into town at 7 or 8 pm. Do not drive the mountain roads in the dark, but in late June it is light until after 8. We could do the fortress and more of the town on the full day. We didn’t even make it down to the river, but it looked like it had great walking trails.

• Then I would add another night somewhere along the coast, probably at Sozopol but possibly up north, to enjoy beach leisure time and more sightseeing such as Durankulak if we stayed an extra day up north, or the Strandzha forest area if we stayed extra day in Sozopol.

• Third extra day in Rila National Park doing the Seven Rila Lakes hike. We tried a short hike in the Rila Monastery grounds, but it wasn’t particularly different from hiking in woods around Seattle.

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS:

FOOD: A vegetarian (who eats cheese) could be fine in Bulgaria in summer, because there are many delicious salads and cheesy pastries, but I think it would be extremely hard for anyone with a dairy or gluten restriction.

Also, it is nearly impossible to get a second drink at a restaurant so if you want a cocktail and also a drink with your food, order both at the same time. You have to ask for ice. You have to ask for water. At no point did a server ask if we wanted a second glass of wine. Bulgarians eat late in the summer, so we could have any table we wanted at 6:30 or 7 pm, b/c reservations filled around 8.

TOILETS: Most restaurants and cafes had nice bathrooms. Parks still had bathrooms that you pay 50 euro cents to use. I encountered two places without TP (one museum and a park) so was glad to have tissues.

Many hotel showers did not have sufficient doors, or the shower was just in the bathroom with no separation. Usual European thing with no face washcloths and duvets but no topsheet, which is hard in a heat wave.

We saw many places setting up for outdoor concerts using the historical settings as backdrops. I recommend seeking out tickets to something like that.

TO BE CONTINUED

BULGARIA TRIP REPORT (Part 7 - final)

Observations, cont'd:

Everyone is super friendly. Language was not a problem at sit-down restaurants, coffee shops, and stores. We only encountered maybe two restaurants that didn't have English language of some type on their menu. Places without menus, with just a wall sign, were much less likely to have English, but we did okay by pointing at the pastries in the case.

MONEY:
Visa accepted everywhere except maybe two bakeries, but need coins for all the coffee vending machines (and they are good!) and keep a few for toilet emergencies. They use only the euro since start of 2026, but prices are still given in both Euro and lev, and receipts are printed with both, so it's a lot of things to look at and figure out what the price is and if your receipt is correct. We had two restaurant receipts that were wrong, and it took us some concentration to figure that out b/c there is just so MUCH info on the receipts.

It took two tries to find an ATM that gave us money.

Bottom line on Driving (b/c I see a lot of it in the forum questions):

Driving was WAY easier than we expected. Nearly all road signs in Latin characters and excellent internet connectivity even in the mountains. We have T Mobile with a great int’l plan, so we had no problems on the road. Biggest expressways have very few exits or service plazas, they are really express, so do not let gas get too low. Mountain driving was twisty, but there are guardrails (much more than in 2000 when I was first there). Little side streets in small towns were sketchy, but the roads between things all met our standards for either highways or decent two-lane rural stretches.

You definitely do NOT want a car in Sofia, and you can do fine without a car in Plovdiv b/c it's all walkable, but outside of those two places, a car would make things much easier. Especially going up and down the Black Sea Coast - the towns are small, and if you're not going to just hang out at the (very nice, sandy) beaches, or it's not beach season, then you want transportation between towns, and that would be easiest if you drive yourself. These are not easy straight lines b/w these towns, b/c you often have to go inland to get over coastal hills. I honestly can't imagine that having a driver to cover these trips would be any cheaper than renting a car, and it's so much less flexible and so much work to set up. Like, if you wouldn't get a driver to take you around Central PA or Idaho, you really don't need one in Bulgaria. The roads between towns here were FAR easier than the roads in any major American city - much more like standards in rural America. And our rental from Avis at Sofia Airport was a nice automatic Toyota hybrid that drove very well.

After having done a very large driving loop, which we enjoyed but recognize that others might balk, I offer a different version of a round trip with less driving for those who are concerned:

Start in Sofia with no car. Train or Flixbus to Plovdiv, no car. When you leave, rent a car there and do a shorter distance version of the loop that we did: Plovdiv - Burgas Area - Nessebar and Pomorie - south to Sozopol - Strandzha Forest - then mountains and National Parks along border, heading away from the coast (possibly end up in Rila or do that as a day trip on tour bus from Sofia) and then back to Plovdiv to return car. The things we enjoyed at Veliko Tarnovo (old Bulgarian Revival townscapes, Fortress) also exist in Plovdiv and the mountains south of the town, so you can swap those in place of V.T. stop that we did.

Have Fun! Bulgaria is fabulous and quite easy!

Annette, thank you for the very descriptive and informative trip report! I really enjoyed reading it. I was in Romania last year and hoped to work Bulgaria into the mix but sadly it just didn’t work out. So at some point I want to travel there and this report will come in very handy.

It sounds like you had a wonderful trip and made the most of your stay in a very interesting country.

Annette, great report. This will be an amazing resource for anyone planning a DIY trip to Bulgaria!

Late June sounds like a great time to visit beach towns. And sunflowers! For those who might visit in late May or early June, it's rose season and you might even time your visit for the delightful rose festival in Kazanlak.

I've just finished your entry for Plovdiv. That's so cool that you got to see a show at the ancient theater. It's truly memorable how the city has incorporated the excavations into modern life.

I agree, do not skip the Bishop’s Basilica mosaic museum.

It's so interesting to compare what you were able to do on your own vs our Rick Steves tour. It sounds like you had a remarkable trip!

Thanks for writing this up! You are right that for some reason Bulgaria sounds a bit intimidating to many Americans. I loved all the details and names of cities I didn’t have on my list. I’ll get there at some point!

Well done. Great read. Thank you for the hard work to write this.

Thank you so much for all the effort, details and insights you gave in this super read!

~Mitzi

My only experience with Cyrillic alphabet was in Belgrade. It may have traumatized my husband and me. We got lost and could not even read the signs! When I approached my husband about going to Romania, his first question was about whether they used the Cyrillic alphabet or the Latin one. (I gave the right answer and we are going next summer!)

But your adventures gave me pause that Bulgaria might be doable if signs are also in the Latin alphabet. And of course, there is now goggle maps.

Your report is a delight to read. I was going to visit a friend a couple of years ago who lived in Sofia, but some issues didn't make it happen. My friend has now moved to a new country due to work. I'm bummed. But reading your report made me realize I still want to make that trip happen. Thank you for sharing.