Tour 9 -  5 days tour. From Sofia to Veliko Turnovo.

5 days tour. From Sofia to Iskar lake, Borovets, Rila  Monastery, Sandanski,  Melnik, Rozhen Monastery,  Bansko, Velingrad, Plovdiv, Koprivshtiza, Valley of Roses, Kazanluk, Shipka Monastery, Etera, Gabrovo, Veliko Turnovo, Oreshak, Troyan Monastery and back to Sofia. The price include all expenses of the driver and the car, minibus, bus,(fuel, hotel, car parking, insurance, ect). You have to pay extra only accommodation for yourself approximately (10 - 30) euro per person. Price: These prices are Per Car, or Bus and NOT per person. (all our prices include all taxes)

For group 1-4 passengers: Cars with air condition, air bags, ski rack up to 4 ski and snowboard.

Daewoo Leganza (4+1)

Citroen Berlingo (4+1)

Opel Astra combi (4+1)

Mercedes E class

Mercedes C class

 

 

 

 

Mercedes E class

Audi A4, 1.9 TDI (4+1)

Peugeot Partner 2HDI (4+1

 

 

 

 

For group 5 -18 passengers - Minibus  with air condition, video & TV, mini bar, microphone. Fully Insured, 2006, 2007 year. 

Peugeot6+1

MercedesVito7+1

VW Transporter 8+1

MercedesSprinter11+1

MercedesSprinter16+1

Mercedes Sprinter 18+1

 

 

 

  

For group 18-59 passengers - Minibus  with air condition, video & TV, mini bar, microphone. Fully Insured, 2006, 2007 year. 

MercedesVario20+1

Navigo (28+1)

Man Opalin (36+1+1)

 

 

 

 

 

Man (47+1) VIP

Man0(50+1)

Setra 417 GT-HD 59+1+1

 

 

 

   

Day 1.Transfer from Sofia airport  то  your hotel. After Sofia city tour: "St Nedelya" church, Rotonda of "St. George",  Russian Church,  Alexander Nevski Cathedral, Antique market, famous Boyana Church, JEWISH SYNAGOGUE, National  Museum of History, SOFIALAND - the biggest amusement park in the Balkans- Rides, rollercoaster and all the usual things in every amusment park + restaurants and cinema. Vitosha mountain. Diner - Bulgarian national restaurant with folk program.

Day 2. From Sofia to Iskar lake, Borovets, Rila monastery, Sandanski, Melnik, Rozhen monastery(overnight in Sandanski SPA resort)

Iskar lake, Borovets                                                

  Flora apartments,                 Hotel Alpin,                     Hotel Samokov,                    Hotel Rila,                      Hotel  Ice Angels

Rila Monastery

30km. before Rila Monastery             Rila Monastery              Restaurant ELESHNITSA            Trout fish

Sandanski: Spa- Resort

The town of Sandanski is located at an altitude of 224 m in the foothills of the Pirin Mountains, along Sandanska Bistritsa river. The resort climate is indeed UNIQUE. Throughout the year, local temperatures are higher then inland temperatures - the annual average being 14.7 °C. Winters are mild and short, autumns long and warm. Relative humidity is low (66%), there are over 2436 hours of sunshine a year and fogs are rare. The mineral waters are clear,  colourless, odorless and pleasant tasting, silicic, mildly fluorine, hyperthermal (42-81°C), slightly mineralized, hydrocarbonic-sulphatesodium.Resort conditions are particularly conducive to the treatment of bronchial asthma in its three forms atopic, infectious allergic and combined. Already during the first week a marked clinical improvement is observed, with fewer attacks both with regard to frequency, strength and duration, and in more than 55% of the cases they disappear completely.The comprehensive balneo-climatic treatment in the resort also exerts a beneficial effect on a number of other conditions:a non-specific pulmonary diseases: chronic bronchitis, post-pneumonia or post-bronchopneumonia states, chronchiectasis, early pulmonary emphysema;conditions of the upper respiratory tract: chronic rhinitis, sinusitis;disturbances of the locomotory system of a degenerative or inflammatory origin: osteoarthrosis rheumatoid arthritis, tenosynovitis;neurological complaints: plexitis, radiculitis, slipped disc;allergic skin diseases: urticaria, psoriasis;
some kidney and urological diseases and conditions of the digestive system: gastritis, gastric and duodenal ulcers in remission, colitis, glomerulonephritis, cystopyelitis.

 Melnik: Wine region 

Melnik's layout is simple, with a single main street running alongside a (usually dry) riverbed spanned by rickety footbridges, then diverging into two gullies. Due to the terrain, houses are small at ground level but expand outwards further up, with the living quarters on the upper floors jutting out above the lower barred and shuttered levels that function as cellars or barns. Tiny backstreets invite aimless wandering, while the hillsides abound in tortoises and lizards.On the left bank of the river, shaded by 500-year-old plane trees, a cobbled square is overlooked by the derelict former Konak (residence) of the Turkish governor, a tall white edifice with Moorish scalloped arches. At the outset of the Balkan War, police chief Karim Bey had 27 eminent citizens arrested and murdered to instil fear into the population. Ironically, the erstwhile jail beside the Konak is now a cosy hotel.The vineyards are planted with small, dark grapes of the variety known as Melnik Broad Vine, introduced from Syria in the fourteenth century. After harvesting, the grapes are allowed to cool in basements before being pressed and left to ferment in the chilly cellars that riddle the hills around Melnik.Wine is central to two of Melnik's festivals . On Trifon Zarezan (February 14) the vineyards are ritually pruned and sprinkled with wine to ensure a bumper crop, and families sample the young wine from last year's harvest. The harvest can fall any time from late September to mid-October, but is always celebrated on October 18. Another festival with horo dancing occurs on the last Sunday in August. 

Rozhen Monastery:

ROZHEN MONASTERY "Rozhdestvo Bogorodichno" is to be found 6 km east of Melnik. It is built in 1220 in the place of ancient pagan consecrated ground by despot Aleksiy Slav. In 14 – 17 c. it is a spiritual cultural and literary centre; a calligraphic school works here. During the years of Ottoman rule the monastery is turned into a cloister of Iver Svetogorski monastery (till 1912). Present day buildings date back to 18 and the beginning of 19 c. The outline of the yard is irregular, enclosed by the monastery wings and to the east (at the main entrance) – by a high wall. The southern wing is the oldest. The ground floor houses wine cellars and warehouses, and the main floor – cells, cook-house, the living quarters of Father Superior and refectory. The northern wing is built on donations by the craft-guild of Melnik and in times of danger the population found refuge here. Three-nave monastery church "Rozhdestvo Bogorodichno" is renovated and extensively painted in 1732, and later an older painting layer was uncovered dating back to 1597. The oldest paintings can be found in the monastery bone-vault built and painted in 1662. The monastery is remarkable for its wood-carved iconostases. The small iconostasis in the dema is a masterpiece of Bulgarian fretwork art. Stained glass paintings on the windows dating back to 1715 are a unique find for Bulgarian from that period. Rozhen monastery is one of the most worthy monuments of Revival religious construction in Southwestern Bulgaria. Close by one can see the grave of Yane Sandanski who often found refuge In the monastery, and also "Sveti Sveti Cyril i Methodius" cathedral.

Day 3. From Sandanski  to Bansko, Velingrad (a night in Velingrad-SPA resort)

Bansko

Hotels and private rooms in Bankso

Bulgaria hotel,           Bansko hotel,           Glazne Hotel,    Banderitsa complex, Perun hotel  

The town of Bansko is located on 925 m. above sea level, and its skiing area is on 2000-2500 m above sea level.
Bansko is the new Bulgarian ski resort, recently discovered by the foreign skiers and tourists, but well known in Bulgaria. Bansko provides a superb combination of virgin nature of The Pirin mountain and the atmosphere of the ancient Bulgarian small towns. Bansko is not only a resort but also a beautiful historic spot.Bansko ski resort is situated in South-Western Bulgaria at the foot hills of one of the beautiful Bulgarian mountain Pirin. The Pirin mountain is a natural preserve included in the World Natural Heritage list.
The distance between Sofia and Bansko is 170 km. The nearest International Airport is the one in Sofia. Transfer time from Sofia to Bansko is 2,5 hours.

Velingrad - SPA-Resort

Hotel Velina  mineral hot water(35.C)

With its diverse springs, excellent climate and leafy parks, VELINGRAD is one of Bulgaria's most popular spa towns, although those not intent on taking a cure will find little else to do here. It consists of three former Pomak villages originally named Kamenitsa, Lвdzhene and Chepino - lumped together in 1948 and renamed after local partisan heroine Vela Peeva. Both the train and bus stations are a few minutes' walk east of the modern centre, which in turn lies just to the east of Lвdzhene , where Velingrad's oldest baths, the Velyova banya (founded in the sixteenth century, although the buildings are modern), stand in a park beside the Yundola road. Just to the north of the centre is Kamenitsa , fringed by wooded parks that harbour the town's open-air baths, most of the modern spa facilities, and a small Ottoman-period hammam , the Kremвchna banya or "Flint Baths". Velingrad's third cluster of baths lies 2km south of the centre in the Chepino quarter (bus #1 from the centre), where mineral water flows free from taps in the streets. Above Chepino to the south lies the Kleptuza spring, waters from which flow down to the Kleptuza lake , just east of Chepino: with pedalos, rowing boats and lakeside walkways, this is the most popular of Velingrad's resort areas.

Day 4. From Velingrad to Pazardjik, Plovdiv, Koprivshtitsa, The Valley of Roses, Kazanluk, Shipka Monastery, Etera, overnight in Veliko Turnovo.

Plovdiv

The Eternal City, as Rome is conventionally called, is much younger than Plovdiv. So are Athens, Carthage and Constantinople. A contemporary of Troy, Plovdiv is a city upon layers of cities and an epoch upon layers of epoch. Plovdiv is all is one: a Thracian and a classical Greek polis, the pride of Philip II of Macedonia ( that is where the old name of the town Philipopolis comes from ), the capital of Thrace under the Roman Empire, a center of Byzantinism, a stronghold of the Bulgarians, a dream of the crusaders, one of the prettiest cities of the Otoman Empire, Bulgaria’s first capital after the Liberation. Situated on three hills in the Thracian Plain, encircled by the slow running waters of the Maritza river, Bulgaria's second largest city today, Plovdiv has a 24 centuries long history and is one of the ancient crossroads between East and West. Landmarks remaining from Roman times include the Philippopolis Amphitheatre and the restored 2nd century Antique Theatre. The marble-tiled Forum, the Ethnogrphic museum, the art galleries, churches and the street of folk arts and crafts are major landmarks of Old Plovdid. The Old Plovdiv on Trimontzium hill is famous fot its National Revival architecture (from 18th-19th c.). Many of the houses are now museums: the Ethnographic Museum, the Museum of the National Revival and the National Liberation struggles, the Alphonse de Lamartine museum house. The Sts. Constantine and Helena Church, completed in 1832, contains murals painted by the best known Zahari Zograph, in 1836, while the St. Marina Church (1852 - 53) has a beautifully carved iconostasis. There are many more things to see in Plovdiv: the permanent exhibition of the famous Bulgarian artist Zlatyu Boyadjiev (1903 - 1976) who loved to paint Plovdiv; the workshops of the old masters of Bulgarian arts and crafts on Strumna Street - coppersmiths, leather workers, potters, etc.

 Koprivshtitza

One of the most charming small Bulgarian towns, still preserving the atmosphere of the National Revival period, is huddled in the mountain folds 111 km east of Sofia. The town is a unique combination of a legendary history and fascinating present. No other Bulgarian museum town boasts such a large number of houses and monuments - 383 in all, most of which have been restored to their original appearance. A unique collection of ethnographical treasures, old weapons, National Revival works of art, fine fretwork, household weaves and embroidery, national costumes and typical Bulgarian jewelry has also been preserved. It was here that the first bullet of the April Uprising against the Ottoman oppressors was fired in 1876. And it is here that you will find the native places, now museums, of Todor Kableshkov and Georgi Benkovski, two of the organizers and leaders of the uprising; as well as of the poet Dimcho Debelyanov and writer Lyuben Karavelov. Koprivshtitza is the place where one can best trace the stages of evolution in Bulgarian National Revival architecture. The houses dated to the second half of the 19th century have exqusite painted facades and sunny verandahs, with carved ceilings and stylish European furnishings.

The Valley of Roses- Kazanluk:

Rose Festival,                                          The Valley of Roses,   Hotel Palas 

Every first week of June the Rose festival takes place in Kazanlak

Palas Hotel offers its guests a special program during this most beautiful Rose Festival. It includes participation of the guests in rose-picking ,
rose-distillation and in folk rituals typical for the region. The hotel arranges visits to modern distilleries and green-houses for cultivating
the essential rose, to concerts and to the local tourist attractions. Location : The “Palas” Hotel complex is situated in the centre of the town of Kazanlak. The Complex provides a perfect service during the whole year.The Valley of Roses is one of the biggest producers of rose oil in the world. The soil and the climate in this region are quite suitable for the roses. The conditions in Kazanlak proved to be more favourable for the cultivation of the rose than those in its own country of origin - Tunisia. This is specifically valid for the rainfalls. The air humidity, cloudiness and precipitation in May and June contributed to obtain roses yielding high percentage of oil. The Rose Valley is not a geographical name – it is just a notion, associated with the location where the Bulgarian oil-bearing rose grows. The valley altitude is 710m at his highest point Klisoura. The climate in the Rose Valley is transitional between moderately continental and transitional continental. The rose plants usually start coming into leaf around March 10, when the air temperature settles at over 5º C.Every May thorough early June the Valley of the Roses is magically transformed into a sea of beauty with a glorious scent and fields of color as far as the eye can see. The Museum of the Rose Industry is located there. The Rose Festival attracts numerous national and international tourists.The town of Kazanlak is located in an area accessible to national and international tourists. The Shipka and Haimboaz Passes, through the Stara Planina mountains, provide a direct connection with Northern Bulgaria. The Sofia-Burgas highway, through Stara Zagora, offers direct east-west access with frequent railway service available.

Shipka Monastery

Part and parcel of our history is the Shipka Monastery, a symbol of an epoch-making event for Bulgaria - her Liberation from Ottoman rule, the final outcome of the 1877/78 Russo-Turkish War. The monastery, together with an impressive memorial church, was erected near the town of Shipka, near Kazanluk, below the famous Shipka Pass in the Balkan Range, where inthe summer of 1877 the Russian troops and Bulgarian volunteers achieved the break-through which brought about the victoious outcome of the war. The means for its construction, which began in 1896 and was compleated six years later, were provided by the Russian and the Bulgarian people. The Shipka Monastery is one of its exquisite, and at the same time monumental, "editions".Solemn elegance is also emanated by the carved and gilded iconostasis. It stands by no means esranged in the overall panorama of Bulgarian monasteries. Just like them, it is more than just a place of worship.

Etera

Veliko Turnovo - An old Bulgarian Capitаl

Veliko Turnovo - one of the most picturesque Bulgarian towns, standing in tiers above Yantra River which meanders through the elevations of Turnovo and the three hills - Tsarevets, Trapezitsa and Sveta Gora, 241 km north-east of Sofia. Population of 67 000. A station along the railway line Rouse-Podkova. Known under the name of Tsarevgrad Turnov (i.e. King's Town) and Turnovgrad. In the town and its outskirts traces have been uncovered of life dating back to the late Palaeolithic, Neolithic, Chalcolithic, the Bronze and the Iron Ages. It raises to significance during the years of Byzantine rule (9th-12th centuries). After the foundation of the Second Bulgarian Kingdom (1186), the town becomes its capital. A centre of medieval Bulgarian coin minting. In the 13th-14th centuries in the town and its outskirts numerous literary schools spring up - centres of educational and literary activity.
In 1393 the town is conquered by the Turks and burned down. During the years of Ottoman rule it is a fortress of the Bulgarian national spirit and one of the centres of the struggle for liberation. In 1879 the Constituent National Assembly has its first session here and adopts the Constitution of Turnovo - the first constitution of the Bulgarian state liberated in 1878. Valuable architectural ensembles dating back to the Bulgarian National Revival have preserved the atmosphere of the past century. The buildings, perching one above the other, overhang rocks and precipices and Yantra River below, standing close to one another along narrow winding streets. The great master builder Kolyo Ficheto - a self-educated architect of the Bulgarian National Revival - worked here. The antique part of the town has been declared an architectural and historical reserve.
A university, a theatre, a historical museum, an art gallery. St. Demerius of Thessaloniki Church - a medieval church in Asenova Mahala. Upon its consecration in 1185 the Uprising of Asen and Petur against Byzantine rule for the restoration of the Bulgarian state is declared here. In later years the coronation ceremonies of the next tsars of the Asens' dynasty are held. Its architecture is characteristic of the churches of the Second Bulgarian Kingdom belonging to the so-called picturesque style, with rich facade decorations. Destroyed a number of times (18th C., the earthquake of 1913). In 1985 conservation and extensive reconstruction are undertaken. From the original building there have been preserved the abse, the fresco fragments of the 12th and the 14th centuries. Restored.

Day 5.From Veliko Turnovo to Troyan, Oreshak, Troyan monastery, Sofia.

 Troyan monastery "St. Holy Virgin"

The Troyan Monastery, is known above all for the creative work of Zahari Zograph who painted both the exterior and the interior (a rare practice for the time) of the main church built in 1835, 7 km from the town of Troyan. It is a fine example of the impact of the popular conception of the world and the influence of housing architecture on religious construction. Here, Zahari Zograph repeated the social and moral <> in religious painting (the compositions Doomsday and the Wheel of Life), left his second self-portrait signed with amazing self confidence in spite of the Ottoman bondage, and painted the figures of Bulgarian and Russian saints. Besides, he painted a completely secular group portrait of the monastic brotherhood in the refectory - something highly unusual for the time.A chronicle dates back the foundation of the monastery in the year 1600; nothing but the throne stone of the church remains from the time. The Troyan Monastery belongs completely to the Bulgarian National Revival period. Eminent men of letters worked here during the mid-18th century, and a School was also founded. The patriotic mission turned into a tradition. In 1872, Vassil Levski set up here a secret revolutionary committee, which was joined by all the monks headed by the Father Superior Macarius. Four years later, the monastery became a citadel of the 1876 April Uprising.Fortunately, mast of the great works of old and National Revival art have survived. The iconostasis of the main church made in 1839 is a masterpiece of woodcarving. Amazing in its originality, is the much earlier (1794) carving of the holy altar gates in the St. Nikola Chapel. The icons introduce us once again to the best known National Revival artists: the Samoltovians Dimiter Zograph and Nikola Obrazopissov. Tryavna's Simeon Tsonyuv, Dossyu Koyuv, Koyu Tsenyuv, Theodossius Koyuv Vitanov. Particularly valuable among the multitude of manuscripts and incunabula are the so-called Troyan Homilies of the 17th century. The monastery's <> in which fine graphic works, including many landscapes, were made, was widely known.

Oreshak

The town is situated on Beli Osum River at the northern foot of Troyan-Kalofer Mountain, 35 km south of Lovech; a climatic mountain resort for the healing of pulmonary diseases; altitude of 450 m. Population of 25 000. Terminal station on the railway line Levski-Troyan.

In the 19th century a huge market-place grew up near the Troyan Monastery, with its tradition very much alive today. Each and every year from June through September - thousands of people flock to the Fair of Traditional Crafts in the village of Oreshak, where work by leading Bulgarian folk artists is on sale. The queen of crafts is no doubt the unsurpassed Troyan style pottery - the warmth of the clay abounds in the gay colours of the Bulgarian land, and gives expression to the cheerful charachter of its people.

Hotel Venika - SPA

Double room - 25 euro. Rooms with bath, WC, cable TV, telethon, mineral hot water swimming pool, Fitness, Sauna, Massage,  Restaurant- barbecue.

ХОТЕЛ ВЕНИКА
Нов Тел./Факс: 0670/ 60 700, GSM: 0888/ 693 507, Факс: 0888/ 753 746, Тел.: 069613/ 460, Тел.: 069613/ 227, курорт Чифлик, Община Троян

Phones: +359 6913/ 460 or 227, GSM: +359 888/ 693507, 753746;
Internet: http://www.venika.net

Click here to e-mail us now bgkrasibg@yahoo.com

Contact Krasimir Brankov on +359888510675.  TEXT US on +359 888 510675     ICQ  262-872-902 

International Car, Bus transfer: These prices are in euro, per car or bus and NOT per person. (all our prices include all taxes)

Car, minivan, bus, coach air condition, video & TV, mini bar, microphone up to 51 persons with luggage.

Domestic Car transfer to/from Sofia: Free airport, hotel pick up.

Transfers in Bulgaria         Price in Euro	Car Sedan/Kombi 1-4 person		Van 5-6 person		Bus 7-8 person		Bus 8-18 person
Destinations:	one-way	return	one-way	return	one-way	return	one-way	return
Sofia - Borovets	40	80	55	110	85	165	95	185
Sofia - Bansko	75	150	95	190	155	305	175	345
Sofia  -Burgas	160	320	210	415	320	635	360	715
Sofia - Pamporovo	105	205	145	285	230	455	250	495
Sofia - Velingrad	70	135	105	205	145	285	155	305
Sofia - Veliko Turnovo	95	190	125	245	220	435	255	505
Sofia - Varna	170	355	195	385	395	785	445	885
Sofia - Russe	130	250	150	300	260	515	275	540

Cross-border transfer: 

Price in euro	Car Sedan/Kombi 1-4 person	Van 5-6 person	Bus 7-18 person
Sofia - Skopie	85	135	295
Sofia - Bucharest	195	255	430
Sofia -Thessaloniki	130	245	330
Sofia - Athens	390	695	820
Sofia - Istanbul	240	395	600
Sofia - Belgrade	240	295	440
Sofia - Kosovo	85	155	260
Sofia - Prishtina	145	225	340
Sofia - Ohrid Lake	175	295	390

 Transfers to the border: ( Kulata, Kalotina, Kapitan Andreevo, Ruse.)

Transfers to the border:                          Price in Euro	Car Sedan/Kombi 1-4 person	Van 5-6 person	Bus 7-12 person
Destinations:	one-way	one-way	one-way
Sofia - Ruse (Romanian border)	130	175	260
Sofia - Kalotina (Serbia Border)	40	55	90
Sofia - Giushevo (Macedonia Border)	55	65	115
Sofia - Kap.Andreevo (Turkish border)	125	195	260
Sofia - Kulata (Promahon, Greece border)	70	95	170

For all other destinations please ask for a QUOTE,  we will make price for you.     

Travel links:

Black sea - Nessebar - Hotel "Estrea"  

 

 

 

 Book Hotel in Sofia

Pick up service from Sofia Airport to downtown - 10 euro. (price is per car, A/C up to 4 persons with luggage).

 We will come to the airport on the day you have requested for the journey. Please let us know in advance if there are any wrong bookings. Your flight will be checked with the website at Sofia-airport for your landing time. Our driver will meet you in the arrival hall with your name on a board and will escort and help with the luggage to the awaiting vehicle.  Our drivers all have cellphones.

Hotel Galant    

 

 

 

Single room: € 40, Double room: € 50 ,  Apartment: € 60,  Breakfast: