3 days tour of Bulgaria from Bucharest

3 days tour of Bulgaria from Bucharest

Bulgaria from Bucharest tour Highlights:

Visit the mural paintings of Ivanovo Rock Churches

Tour the impressive Tsarevet Fortress

Visit the artisan street of Veliko Tranovo

Take the stunning pictures of Veliko Tarnovo old town houses

Visit Plovdiv best tourist attractions. Roman ruins and National Revival

Optional tour of Seven Rila Lakes

Visit the symbol of Bulgaria religious life – Rila Monastery

Sightseeing tour of Sofia

Day 1 Bulgaria from Bucharest – Ivanovo Rock Churches – Veliko Tarnovo- Plovdiv

This tour start from Bucharest early in the morning. We drive only for one hour and we reach the border of Bulgaria. The first interesting stop of the day will be in the area of Ruselski Lom River, where we will visit the Ivanovo Rock churches. This is the place where the first christian hermits had dug out their small cells and churches during the 12th century. This 14th-century murals give evidence to the exceptional skill of the hermit artists belonging to the Tarnovo School of painting.

Leaving this UNESCO site of Ivanovo Rock Churches, we go towards Veliko Taranovo. Once we reach this place, we visit Tsarevets Fortress, the former capital of the Second Bulgarian Kingdom and a stronghold of Balkans.

After a delicious Bulgarian lunch we take a walking tour of Samovodene Street (the artisan street of Veliko Tarnovo) where you will discover the small shops of Bulgarian craftsmen.

In the afternoon we leave Veliko Tarnovo and set off for Plovdiv where we will stay overnight.

Overnight in Plovdiv 3*** centrally located

Day 2 Plovdiv- Rila Monastery- Sofia

After breakfast we visit some of the best tourist attraction of Plovdiv. The tour of Plovdiv a wonderful city of Bulgaria, a city with rich artistic cultural heritage.  The guided tour of Plovdiv old town will take you to the famous Roman Theatre.  The tour will take you on the cobbled stone streets of Plovdiv lined with National Revival style houses, listed as UNESCO heritage sites.

The Monastery of Saint Ivan of Rila, better known as the Rila Monastery is the Bulgaria’s most important cultural, historical and architectural religious monuments. It is one of largest and famous Eastern Orthodox monastery of Bulgaria and today houses around 60 monks. The mural paintings, finished in 1846, are the work of many Bulgarian masters from Bansko, Samokov and Razlog. Rila Monastery is home to many valuable icons, dating from the 14th to the 19th century. In the courtyard of monastery, the porticos have Mamluk influence with the striped painting and the domes, which became popular in the Ottoman Empire after the conquest of Egypt.

We continue the tour of Bulgaria towards Sofia, a city located at the crossroads between Orient and Occident.

Overnight in Sofia 3*** centrally located

OPTIONAL: Instead of Rila Monastery we can take trekking tour of Seven Rila Lakes:

If you love the mountain landscape we can trek one of the famous mountain trail of Bulgaria which leads to 7 Rila Lakes. The difficulty of this mountain trail is easy but you will still need hiking shoes and at least a rain coat.

Day 3 Sofia- Sofia sightseeing tour – 5 hours transfer to Bucharest

After breakfast we proceed to a wonderful sightseeing tour of Sofia, the capital city of Bulgaria. During this tour we visit Sofia’s highlights including the 6th-century Church of St. Sophia, the St. George Rotunda dating back to the 4th century, the Cathedral of St. Alexander Nevski, the Russian Church.

Alexander Nevski Cathedral, the symbol of the capital, and one of the largest in the Balkans is a memorial church dedicated to Russian soldiers who died during the Independence war against the Ottoman Empire. Alexander Nevski Cathedral was designed by a Russian architect and named after the patron saint of the Russian „Tsar Liberator.”

The Central Market of Sofia will be an interesting stop and the place where you can taste some delicious Bulgarian products.

After this enchanting tour of Sofia and Bulgaria from Bucharest, we depart back to Bucharest or we will drop you here, in Sofia

Bucharest- Veliko Tranovo- Plovdiv – Rila Monastery – Sofia – Bucharest – 950km

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This tour of Bulgaria from Bucharest is quite a lovely one. Maybe you want to see something else ?
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You can as well try a tour of Romania and Bulgaria during summer, for 5 days.
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