Photo by garthwalker

Travelers to Bulgaria short on time will be pleased to know that Plovdiv, Bulgaria’s second largest city, is often referred to by visitors as a “one-day town.” Most of what tourists typically find interesting—concentrated in Plovdiv’s Old Town—can be seen in a single day.

Built around three hills under Roman rule in the 1st century A.D., Old Plovdiv (known in Roman times as Trimontium) a very walkable maze of tangled, cobbled streets lined with Bulgarian National Revival Era houses from the 18th and 19th centuries. Some of these houses have been renovated on the inside and are now galleries, restaurants, or museums showing the elaborate furnishings and ornamentation from that time period in post-Ottoman Bulgaria.

The Municipal Institute of Old Plovdiv (+359 032 633 380) is now offering a package for visitors to see Old Plovdiv’s Top 5 in one shot. For BGN9 (€4.50), one can gain admission to the Balabanova House, Hyndlian House, Nedkovich House, Zlatio Boyadzhiev Gallery, and the city’s pride and joy, its Ancient Roman Amphitheater, renovated as a modern-day venue for some of Plovdiv’s summer performances. All of these sites are open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., seven days a week, except for the Nedkovich Gallery, which is closed on the weekends.

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