Bulgaria
About Sofia
Sofia stacks two thousand years in plain sight-Roman ruins glassed over beside the metro, an Ottoman mosque, a golden-domed cathedral, all within a few blocks.
Mount Vitosha rises green and snow-capped right at the city's edge, close enough to ski before lunch. It's one of Europe's oldest and cheapest capitals, unglamorous and easygoing, still shrugging off its grey socialist coat.
The pace is relaxed, the parks are generous, and the city rarely bothers to show off.
Eat flaky cheese banitsa and a shopska salad, and discover a surprisingly good local craft-beer scene.
Get to Sofia
Round trip from Prague, any dates in November 2026.
Buses from Sofia
Day trips from Sofia
- Day trip
Seven Rila Lakes
~1.5 h
, then chairlift
€20 one wayA staircase of seven glacial lakes strung between 2,100 and 2,500 metres, linked by a half-day ridge hike — lakes with names like 'The Eye' and 'The Tear'. A chairlift from Panichishte shortcuts the climb.
- Day trip
Plovdiv
~1 h 45 min, ~2 h , ~2.5 h 
€20 one wayOne of Europe's oldest continuously inhabited cities: a Roman theatre still in use, an Ottoman-era old town of painted merchant houses spread over three hills, and the gallery-bar quarter of Kapana below.
- Day trip
Rila Monastery
~2 h, ~3 h €18 one wayBulgaria's holiest site, deep in a forested mountain valley: black-and-white striped arcades, a fresco-covered church and a stone tower from 1335, all beneath 2,700-metre peaks.
About Bulgaria
Hill towns under the mountains
Ski slopes at European small-money prices, Roman ruins under the modern streets, and rose valleys and monasteries in between.
Explore BulgariaRegions, highlights and when to go