Destination round-up: Bulgaria
Sofia
Still to attract the attention of UK city-break operators, Bulgaria’s capital deserves many more leisure-based visitors than it gets. The city sits on a plain 1,500ft above sea level beneath Mt Vitosha at a crossroads of former trading routes.
Highlights include the neo-Byzantine Alexander Nevski Church and the expansive National History Museum.
Much older are the sixth-century Basilica of St Sophia, who gave her name to the city, and a fourth-century Roman rotunda, now the Church of St George, in the midst of old Roman streets.
The Black Sea
The resorts along Bulgaria’s 250-mile Black Sea coast are concentrated in the north around Varna and in the south near Bourgas. The largest is Sunny Beach, with more than 100 mainly high-rise hotels spread along a four-mile sandy beach 20 miles from Bourgas. Neighbouring Nessebur occupies a small rocky peninsula.
Varna is Bulgaria’s chief Black Sea port and a focus for summer tourism. Nearby are the resorts of Golden Sands, with around 60 hotels, Albena and St Konstantin. They are all packaged by UK operators.
Plovdiv
The Romans called it Trimontium, the Turks named it Philibe. Now Bulgaria’s number two city is centrally situated for exploring both the southern mountains and northern Bulgaria.
The picturesque city displays many fine 19th-century buildings built in baroque style and is also rich in Roman remains, mosques, museums and churches.
The mountains
The Bulgarian mountain ranges offer winter sports facilities targeted primarily at the beginner and intermediate ski markets, as well as good summer hiking.
The chief resort is Borovets in the Rila Mountains, 40 miles south of Sofia. It is Bulgaria’s oldest ski resort with an advanced infrastructure that includes 25 miles of runs.
Part hidden in a narrow valley is Rila Monastery, founded in 927 and now among the country’s most venerated sites. It houses three museums around a large courtyard.
In the Rhodope Mountains 50 miles south of Plovdiv, Pamporovo is Bulgaria’s second-largest mountain resort with 12 miles of ski runs. Like Borovets, it is widely featured by UK ski specialists.
A less commercialised winter and summer venue is Bansko in the Pirin Mountains towards the Greek border.
Marked paths make the area particularly good for summer hiking.