Routes

Ready-made road trips around Bulgaria: a day-by-day plan, a budget guideline, key stops, and a map. The country mixes mountains, plains, and coast - a car opens up what’s hard to reach by public transport: the Rila Monastery valley, the Rhodope villages, the mountain passes of the Balkan range, and the fishing towns of the southern Black Sea coast.

How to choose a direction. The coast - Varna and Nessebar down to Sozopol and the southern beaches; the centre - Veliko Tarnovo and the Balkan monasteries, the Rose Valley and Kazanlak; the south-west - Rila Monastery, the Seven Rila Lakes, and Bansko in the Pirin mountains; the north-west - the Belogradchik Rocks and the Danube towns. And to see it all in one trip, there’s a grand tour of Bulgaria, roughly two weeks long.

Season and preparation. The best time for most routes is from late spring to autumn. In winter the mountain sections (the passes of the Balkan range, the Rila and Pirin roads, the Rhodope highlands) are harder, and passes are sometimes closed because of snow - check road conditions before setting off. For the high mountains and narrow serpentines, take a smaller, manoeuvrable car or an SUV. The mileage, days, and budget in the cards are guidelines, not exact measurements: it all depends on the number of stops, the season, and accommodation.