Arrival Sofia Airport, private transfer to your hotel. Private walking panorama tour of Sofia – the capital city of Bulgaria, which Constantine the Great once called “My Rome”: Alexander Nevski Memorial cathedral, St. Sofia 6th c basilica, Parliament Square, National Theatre and the Old City Garden, St. George 4th c rotunda ( the oldest building reserved in Sofia ), the former Royal Palace, Presidency, the ruins of Ancient Serdica, Banya Bashi mosque and Sofia Synagogue.

Car delivery to your hotel. Departure to Veliko Turnovo – the medieval capital city, picturesquely located on 4 hills above Yantra river. Meet your tour guide for a 3-h tour of Veliko Turnovo and visit of Tsarevets Royal Hill with the fortress, Baldwin tower ( the leader of the 4th Crusade, who was imprisoned there and the Patriarh`s complex. Walk along Samovodska Charshia street – the old marketplace of Veliko Turnovo and Gurko street. Taste coffee prepared on hot sand. Late afternoon departure to Arbanassi museum village, located on a hill above Veliko Turnovo, just 8 km away. Check in and rest at your hotel.

Departure to the village of Subotkovtsi, where you will immerse yourself in the Bulgarian traditions and crafts. En route stop to Tryavna museum town – main centre of woodcarving and icon painting in Bulgaria. Check in at Staroto Shkolo ( the Old School ) guesthouse, part of a small eco village complex, with a “Green colour house” certificate, which has been featured in reports of Slow Food, Guardian newspaper and WWF Bulgaria. Possible horse riding in the afternoon or eco-path walk with a local guide. Other activities you can choose from are: prepare traditional Bulgarian yoghurt, cheese or even milk sheep/ cow, make souvenirs from wool, take a lesson of pottery, taste traditional honey and see the beehives, collect mushrooms, herbs and fruit depending on the season. Prepare traditional Bulgarian bread and bake it yourself. Dinner and overnight.

Breakfast and leave the village to pass via the highest and most beautiful part of the Balkan mountains, stopping en route to take pictures at Shipka memorial peak and Shipka memorial church. Another stop will be Kazanluk – the centre of the Valley of Roses, known as well as the Valley of the Thracian kings. Possible visits to Kazanluk Thracian tomb ( UNESCO site, copy ), Goliama Kosmatka Thracian tomb, the regional museum of Kazanluk, the Museum of Rose. Free time for lunch and continue to the nearby village of Skobelevo, where you will visit Damascena complex with its rose distillery and garden of more than 150 types of roses. The Valley of Roses is world-famous, here about 75% of the world rose attar was produced. Today a kilo of rose oil costs almost two kilos of gold on the world markets…Each year, from mid May to mid June, you will be able to see the rose fields. Several weeks after ( till beginning of July ), the rose valley becomes purple, because of the lavender, which is grown here as well. Bulgaria is No 1 producer of lavender oil in the world with 200 tons/ year. Taste rose jam, rose liquor and rose honey. Late afternoon departure to Plovdiv. Check in at your hotel in the Old Plovdiv architecture reserve and overnight

Day dedicated to Plovdiv - the 2nd largest Bulgarian city. The eternal city, as Rome is conventionally called is much younger than Plovdiv. Athens, Carthage, Constantinople came into being later. A contemporary of Troy and having survived Mycenae, Plovdiv is a city upon layers of epochs. It is all in one: a Thracian and a classical Greek polis, the pride of Philip the 2nd of Macedonia ( the father of Alexander the Great ), the capital of Thrace under the Roman Empire, a centre of Byzantianism, a stronghold of the Bulgarians, a dream of the Crusaders, one of the prettiest Turkish Ottoman cities, Bulgaria’s first capital after Liberation…. UNESCO awarded Plovdiv a gold medal for architecture in 1979. It has been an European city of Culture in 1999 and again in 2019. Plovdiv is considered the oldest continuously inhibited town in Europe. With a private tour guide, you will visit the Old Plovdiv with the Ethnographic museum ( the so-called Royal House ) and the Ancient Theatre. You will enter St. St. Constantine and Helena Church. Along the longest pedestrian street of the world, you see remains of the Roman forum and Stadium, etc. Free time in Kapana – the artistic neighbourhood of Plovdiv with its many small galleries, workshops, cafes and restaurants. Second overnight at your hotel.

Depart along mountain roads to Bansko museum town. En route possible stop to Velingrad and Kleptuza – the largest karst lake in Bulgaria. Early afternoon arrival to your hotel in Bansko. Possible walk in the centre of the museum town or relax at the pool of the hotel or rent bikes at the hotel. Dinner at the hotel and overnight.

In the direction of the nearby town of Dobrinishte ( 6 km from Bansko ) you can take the chair lift from Gotse Delchev Hut to Bezbog hut and Bezbog lake ( 2242 m above sea level ). Walk to Popovo lake and back ( 3 – 3.5 h ). Popovo Lake is Pirin's largest glacier lake by area and volume, and also the deepest one in the massif. Back with the lift to Gotse Delchev Hut and Bansko. Not far from Bansko is Belitsa ( 30 km away ), where you can visit Dancing bears park. Since 2000, it has given mistreated and neglected bears a safe and natural home. The sanctuary provides a suitable, lifelong home for brown bears previously kept in inadequate conditions, especially for those bears raised and trained as dancing bears in different countries of the Balkans. It comprises an area of 120,000 m², divided into seven open-air enclosures in which most of the bears live in pairs or groups. Another option is to drive south to Melnik – the smallest town in Bulgaria, declared museum and the 9th c Rojen Monastery. Melnik is built at the foothills of sandstone pyramids in which wine cellars were dug. If you chose this option, you will pass via Sandanski spa town, believed to be the home town of Spartacus. Back to Bansko. Dinner and overnight at your hotel. Possible dinner at a local family at a village 30 min drive from Bansko ) to taste local specialties – supplement 10 EUR per person

Departure from Bansko to Rila Monastery UNESCO site. Rising at 1147 m above sea level, it lies amidst some of the most scenic recesses of the Rila Mountains ( National Park ), to which the monastery owes its name. It is the largest monastery on the Balkans, with a total built-up area of 32 000 square meters, and is the most imposing architectural monument of the Bulgarian Revival. Rila Monastery was founded in the 10th century by the monk hermit John of Rila ( St. Ivan Rilski ). The monastery was declared a national historical reserve in 1976 and in 1983 it was included in the UNESCO list of world cultural and historical heritage. The monastery museum houses a unique cross, made of a whole piece of wood 81 cm x 43 cm in size. The Raphael’s cross, which bears the name of its creator, was made in the latter half of the 18th century by Monk Raphael, whom it took twelve long years to complete in 1802. Interwoven in the miniature woodwork are 104 religious scenes and 650 small figures. The master used very fine chisels, small knives and a magnifying glass in his work and therefore lost his sight when he finished his creation. Proceed to Sofia, check in and drop off of the rent-a-car at your hotel.

Free time. Private departure transfer to the airport.