How To Spend A Week In Bulgaria

Have you planned to spend a week in Bulgaria? Here’s a short guide on how to make the most of your stay in the country and see many of its iconic destinations and attractions. To follow this route, you can either rent a car, or use public transportation – buses or trains, which are cheap and reliable.

Day 1: Sofia

Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, is home to the most important museums in the country, it is where most of the biggest concerts and festivals take place and the biggest diversity of bars and cultural venues are located. Its modern, often hipster-prone creative crowd makes it a place where you can meet professionals and travelers from all over the world. However, one day in the city is enough, especially if you are not a museum buff who wants to visit all the attractions. Afterwards, you can continue east to Plovdiv and later on, the seaside.

Day 2 and 3: Plovdiv

Day 4: Koprivshtitsa

Koprivshtitsa is a Bulgarian historical town with a hard-to-pronounce name and hard-to-forget colorful houses. Its preserved 19th-century houses that used to be possessed by prominent Bulgarian revolutionaries, poets, and scholars will transfer you back in time and help you imagine what life in Bulgaria looked like 150 years ago. Koprivshtitsa is one of the best day trips both from Sofia and Plovdiv.

Day 5 and 6: Burgas or Nesebar

Depending on whether you prefer bigger or smaller towns when you go to the seaside, choose the major Burgas city or the nearby historical town of Nesebar with its UNESCO-heritage Old Town. Burgas will seduce you with its choice of cultural bars, wildlife destinations such as Atanasovsko Lake, summer events like the Sand Sculpture Festival, and the opportunity to visit Saint Anastasia Island, which used to be a pirate haunt and a prison. Nesebar, on the other hand, has all the perks of a small summer resort, with the Old Town full of ancient and medieval churches and stunning vantage points being the highlight.

Day 7: Varna

Varna, or as it’s nicknamed, the seaside capital of Bulgaria, has an international airport and you can use it to fly out of Bulgaria to skip all the way back to Sofia. Another advantage of this choice is that you will have more time to spend at the seaside with more resorts and hidden beaches to explore. Varna itself is full of fun attractions, such as the Dolphinarium with dolphin shows several times a day, the Retro Museum showcasing what life under the communist rule was like, and the nearby Aladzha Cave Monastery.

Since you are here, we would like to share our vision for the future of travel - and the direction Culture Trip is moving in.

Culture Trip launched in 2011 with a simple yet passionate mission: to inspire people to go beyond their boundaries and experience what makes a place, its people and its culture special and meaningful — and this is still in our DNA today. We are proud that, for more than a decade, millions like you have trusted our award-winning recommendations by people who deeply understand what makes certain places and communities so special.

Increasingly we believe the world needs more meaningful, real-life connections between curious travellers keen to explore the world in a more responsible way. That is why we have intensively curated a collection of premium small-group trips as an invitation to meet and connect with new, like-minded people for once-in-a-lifetime experiences in three categories: Culture Trips, Rail Trips and Private Trips. Our Trips are suitable for both solo travelers, couples and friends who want to explore the world together.

Culture Trips are deeply immersive 5 to 16 days itineraries, that combine authentic local experiences, exciting activities and 4-5* accommodation to look forward to at the end of each day. Our Rail Trips are our most planet-friendly itineraries that invite you to take the scenic route, relax whilst getting under the skin of a destination. Our Private Trips are fully tailored itineraries, curated by our Travel Experts specifically for you, your friends or your family.

We know that many of you worry about the environmental impact of travel and are looking for ways of expanding horizons in ways that do minimal harm - and may even bring benefits. We are committed to go as far as possible in curating our trips with care for the planet. That is why all of our trips are flightless in destination, fully carbon offset - and we have ambitious plans to be net zero in the very near future.