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Small Group Tour: Exploring Plovdiv, Asen's Fortress and Bachkovo Monastery
4.8
128 Ratings
Plovdiv
With this daylong journey, you’ll have the opportunity to explore a location in Bulgaria that’s a must-visit and was fittingly chosen as the European Capital of Culture for 2019. Also included in this tour are two significant landmarks of the area - Asen’s Fortress and the Bachkovo Monastery.
With this daylong journey, you’ll have the opportunity to explore a location in Bulgaria that’s a must-visit and was fittingly chosen as the European Capital of Culture for 2019. Also included in this tour are two significant landmarks of the area - Asen’s Fortress and the Bachkovo Monastery.
Duration:
9 hours
Cancellation:
24 hours
Highlights
- Plovdiv Old Town - The tour starts with pick up from your hotel/accommodation in Sofia. After approximately an hour and a half drive, we will reach Plovdiv. Plovdiv is said to be the oldest continuously inhabited city in Europe. The city has cultural and economic significance both in the past and in the present due to its strategic location….
- Plovdiv Old Town - The tour starts with pick up from your hotel/accommodation in Sofia. After approximately an hour and a half drive, we will reach Plovdiv. Plovdiv is said to be the oldest continuously inhabited city in Europe. The city has cultural and economic significance both in the past and in the present due to its strategic location. Pieces of evidence of its millennial history can be found all over the place
- from the Roman Theatre to the Ottoman mosques. This is the reason why Plovdiv is one of the most charming sights in Bulgaria- wherever you look you will find history, a legend from a different period, traces of glorious past and at the same time, it’s a pleasure to see how vivid is it still and how it continues to develop and writes its new history. There we will visit the highlights
- the Roman Theatre, the Roman Stadium, and have a walk in the Old Town with typical for the Revival Period house museums and narrow cobblestone streets. Afterward, we will have lunch.
- Assenova krepost (Asen’s Fortress) - When we are done with our traditional Bulgarian lunch, we will head towards the final destination of the tour
- Asenova Fortress (approx. 25 min drive from Plovdiv). Asen’s Fortress is situated on the top of a cliff in Rodopi Mountain, at approx. 20 km distance from Plovdiv. It is a Medieval fortress with a rich history and breathtaking view.
- Bachkovo Monastery - After feasting our eyes on the beauties of nature, we will drive to the Bachkovo monastery. This is the second biggest monastery in Bulgaria and one of the oldest. It was established in the late XI century by a man for Georgia. The monastery later became part of the Bulgarian church. It suffered a lot from the turbulence of the time and keeps a lot of history and drama.
What's Included
- Hotel pickup and drop-off
- Professional guide
- All fees and taxes included
- Transport by private vehicle
- Hotel pickup and drop-off
- Professional guide
- All fees and taxes included
- Transport by private vehicle
What's Not Included
- Food and drinks
- Food and drinks
Additional Information
- Children must be accompanied by an adult
- We understand your concerns in relation to COVID 19, therefore we’ve taken the needed measures for you to feel safe. All our guides and drivers go through regular medical checks, wear masks during the tours and in each vehicle, we have a disinfectant spray. Furthermore due to the situation nowadays we organize…
- Children must be accompanied by an adult
- We understand your concerns in relation to COVID 19, therefore we’ve taken the needed measures for you to feel safe. All our guides and drivers go through regular medical checks, wear masks during the tours and in each vehicle, we have a disinfectant spray. Furthermore due to the situation nowadays we organize tours only for small groups (up to 7 persons) and we have the option for private tours.
Location
Plovdiv Old Town
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Customer Ratings
4.8
(128 Ratings)
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Ann_n
Oct 2, 2024
Small tour to Plovdiv, Arsen's Fortress + Bachkovo Monastery - What a wonderful trip. Stanimira our guide was fantastic. Her extensive knowledge plus expert driving skills made for an unforgettable day. Such a terrific cultural experience. Highly reccomend.
Review provided by Viator
Shlomizehavi
Sep 9, 2024
It was an excellent excursion out of Sofia - The group was small and enjoyable. Excellent views and explanations by the tour guide. Encountered highlites from different eras and cultures.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Maria_h
Sep 7, 2024
Language Mastery at your service - What an unexpected surprise! Our guide, Laura, has extensive expertise in languages, old аnd older. This turned out to be a key differentiator in the depth of our tour experience. Laura was extremely well prepared and versed in dates, places, and historical elements, very accommodating, and energetic. We enjoyed the vibrancy and exuberance she conveyed throughout the tour. Highly recommend!
Review provided by Viator
Jennifersn5106ud
Sep 6, 2024
Very interesting day with beautiful views - We were picked up from our Airbnb on time by our guide, Domi, who was fantastic. He told us all about the countries’ history, pointed out sights as we went past, knew all about the places we visited and even stopped for us to get coffee. Was an amazing day
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Ken_m
Aug 28, 2024
A mind walk thru Balkan history and language development. - On this excursion I was the customer. My guide, Ilyia, is a very impressive man. He is very knowledgeable of Bulgarian history. He speaks an impressive number of languages. He is a very thoughtful and reflective person. He made this trip. I learned alot about Bulgarian history. History of language in the eastern Mediterranean and philosophy.
Review provided by Viator
Shasurita86
Aug 27, 2024
I recommend this company - The Guide Driver picked us up at the Pension, we were treated to a private excursion. He was very friendly, good advice and knew how to explain everything to us during the visits, while leaving us free time to enjoy. A day rich in history and landscapes.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Savvas
Aug 26, 2024
Very nice experience!! - Really worth it, very good our guide Dimitris I highly recommend !!! He showed us places we would never find on our own and explained everything in detail!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Sylvia_g
Aug 23, 2024
Amazing day trip to Bachkovo Monastery, Asen's Fortress and Plovdiv - We thoroughly enjoyed this trip. Our guide (Val)ery was extremely knowledgeable and only too happy to share his knowledge covering many aspects of Bulgarian history and culture.
As there were only three people booked on the trip we travelled by comfortable car, which was a much better experience than the usual small seat minibus.
We covered the itinerary in reverse order, with the monastery first and Plodiv last. We would have liked to have spent more time at the monastery, which was fascinating, but due to the distances to be covered in the day, we only had 30 mins. The church was spectacular and it's context in Bulgarian history very interesting.
Asen's fortress was also well worth the visit, with a beautiful medieval church in the middle of the Rhodope mountains. If you want to see the full panoramic view be prepared for a lot of irregular stone steps!
Plovdiv is richly adorned with buildings from many faiths and periods of history, Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Jewish, Ottoman and it would take several days to visit all of it. We took in the Greek arena, the Roman theatre and lots of houses and a beautiful church in the Medieval town.
All in all a thoroughly enjoyable, if tiring (9.5 hours), day. Many thanks to Val who really made it with his extraordinary insight into all things Bulgarian (and Russian, Turkish etc). His English is excellent and thus we got a real insight into the details of everything.
Very highly recommended
Review provided by Viator
Tracie_c
Sep 20, 2024
Nice, but vehicle was hot. - It was a nice day and the driver/tour guide was willing to adapt to what we wanted to do and deviate a bit from the plan, so that was nice. The vehicle was pretty hot, especially for the back row and there were no vents in the back to help it cool off quicker. You had to wait for the front vents to cool off the whole vehicle.
Review provided by Viator
Robyn_w
Sep 4, 2024
Wonderful day with lovely guide - We did the tour in reverse so a 3 hour drive (including brief pit stop) to start at the monastery, then the fort and Plovdiv last. This works well because Plovdiv is the most interesting and it’s a shorter drive back at the end of the day
Val was a lovely guide - kept a steady pace for slower walkers and was very open to answering questions in addition to his commentary on the things we were seeing. All the sites were wonderful and we seemed to have a quiet day from a tourist perspective- the monastery was almost empty, we just missed a large bus at the fort and Plovdiv was quiet.
It can feel a longish day due to the driving, but take a book or nap for that part.
Would definitely recommend.
Review provided by Viator
