Discover some of the most beautiful villages in Bulgaria and stroll through the oldest Bulgarian streets from the end of the 19th century.
Admire the most authentic and romantic places that are part of Bulgaria's rich history and culture.
Shiroka Laka
Shiroka Laka is a village in the Rhodope Mountains located in southern Bulgaria. It is 26 km northwest of the town of Smoljan.
The village, mainly composed of buildings in the Bulgarian Renaissance style, is classified as an “architectural reserve”.
The village is known for its typical houses in the Rhodope mountain style, arranged in tiers on both banks of the Širokalăška reka.
Houses built by local masters generally have two floors and feature oriel windows. The interiors are characterized by built-in wardrobes. The houses have a small cellar, with a hiding place. Thick whitewashed walls hide the interior courtyard from outside view. This one is of modest dimensions and covered, with a fountain in the middle.
The village is also well known in Bulgaria as the cradle of traditional Rhodope music and for its songs accompanied by kaba gaïda.
Shiroka Laka is one of the hotspots for hiking tourism in the Rhodope Mountains and offers many hostels to tourists.
Gabrovo – Etara
Etar, commonly called Etara, is a district of the mountain town of Gabrovo, a former village and now an open-air ethnographic museum.
It bears the ancient name of the Yantra river which runs alongside it.
The ethnographic museum was opened to reveal to visitors the architecture, way of life and economic history of the city and region of Gabrovo during the Renaissance in the second half of the 18th and 19th centuries.
At that time the number of trades practiced in the city was 26. The objects manufactured in Etara were sold in other countries more or less distant from Bulgaria.
One can also see in the architectural and ethnographic complex one of the richest and best arranged collections of aquatic installations among open-air museums in Europe.
Designed to recreate the habitat and traditional local crafts, the village mixes houses and artisan shops in a bucolic setting.
It is a major tourist attraction in the region and is one of the favorite sites included in the list of 100 national tourist sites in Bulgaria.
Zheravna
Zheravna is a village in east-central Bulgaria, part of Kotel Municipality, Sliven Province.
The village is located in a small valley at the foot of the Balkan Mountains.
It is an architectural reserve of national significance consisting of more than 200 wooden houses from the Bulgarian National Revival period (18th and 19th century), and it is also a booming tourist destination.
The village was born between the 12th and 14th centuries and became a cultural and craft center in the 18th century.
Most of the houses in Zheravna were built during the Bulgarian Revival.
As the local population grew wealthier, the architectural appearance of the village was shaped by one- and two-story wooden houses surrounded by stone walls and cobblestone streets.
Many of the houses have been restored to attract tourists and are classified as guest houses.
Every year, Zheravna is visited by around 20,000 tourists.
Koprivshtitsa
Koprivshtitsa is a small town in Bulgaria located 110km southeast of Sofia in the Sashtinska Sredna gora mountain.
Today it is a true museum city, created in the 14th century and made famous by the first shot of the Bulgarian uprising of April 1876 (resistance movement against Ottoman domination).
There are many legends about the creation of the city.
And since 1971 it has had the status of an architectural and historical reserve which has more than 388 architectural, historical, cultural and ethnographic monuments.
In 1978, it was proclaimed a national architectural reserve of international importance and an international tourism location.
Koprivshtitsa maintains a typically Bulgarian architectural style from the 19th century and its architecture is linked to the overall evolution of Bulgarian Revival architecture preserved to the present day.
Many poets, writers and revolutionaries settled there and their homes were transformed into museums.
In 1956, a museum directorate was founded in Koprivshtitsa with the aim of preserving and popularizing the cultural and historical heritage of the city.
And there are many museums, sites and monuments to visit in the small town.
Koprivshtitsa has many hotels and tourist houses that welcome visitors in an authentic atmosphere.
There are many places to eat and they offer a variety of Bulgarian cuisine dishes prepared according to local recipes.
Kovachevitsa
Kovachevitsa is located in the westernmost part of the Rhodope Mountains, about 24 km from the town of Gotse Delchev. The village is located on the Kanina River along which there are some arable lands. A hiking trail leads from the valley to Gotse Deltchev.
The village of Kovachevitsa has retained its authentic look of 18th and 19th century architecture characteristic of the Bulgarian Renaissance style as it was practiced at the time in the Western Rhodopes.
The village is today an eco-museum.
The builders of its stone and wooden houses were renowned throughout the Balkans at the time of construction.
The wooden balcony terraces which crown the buildings, open in the summer and closed with wooden panels during the winter, give a particular character to the village, as do its slate roofs.
Kovachevitsa is one of the best-known museum villages in Bulgaria, and there are many second homes there.
The narrow streets of the village have also served as the setting for many Bulgarian films.
Tryavna
Tryavna is a small town in central Bulgaria located 20 km east of Gabrovo and 40 km south of Veliko Tarnovo in the Greater Balkan.
An important place of commerce and crafts between the 15th and 19th centuries, Tryavna is today a place of arts and tourism prized for its calm, its picturesque appearance, its old stones and its climate.
It is an essential stop during a cultural trip to Bulgaria.
Its historic center has remained intact since the 19th century and is full of historic buildings characteristic of the Bulgarian Renaissance, a period which began in the 18th century when a feeling of awareness and belonging to a same nation.
As you stroll through the streets, you will discover the beautiful houses with white facades and stone roofs, with their arched windows with wooden frames on the first floor, typical of Tryavna.
In the center of the old town stands the bell tower of the Church of Saint-Michel-Archange, the current construction of which dates from 1819 and which is accessed by a charming little stone bridge, the Kivgireniyat.
To better appreciate the architectural style of the Bulgarian Renaissance, around ten houses, transformed into museums, are open to the public.
Including the Slaveykov House – in this house transformed into a museum Petko R. Slaveykov lived with his family, it was here that his son was born, the delicate poet Pencho Slaveykov, whom only death prevented from becoming the first Bulgarian Nobel Prize winner in literature.
Ainsi, si vous voulez découvrir l’histoire culturelle et l’hospitalité locale en Bulgarie, vous devez vous diriger vers ces lieux presque cachés du monde et venir visiter ces villages bulgares au charme authentique et à l’accueil chaleureux.
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