Plovdiv: what to see, where to stay and how to get around
Plovdiv claims to be one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Europe: Thracians lived on its hills six thousand years ago, Philip of Macedon took it and named it after himself, and the Romans built a great city here. Much of Roman Philippopolis lies just under the pedestrian main street, and appears through glass and in pits. Ninety minutes, flat.
A short history of Plovdiv
Plovdiv is considered one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Europe, and a Thracian settlement stood on its hills as early as the 2nd millennium BC. In 342 BC Philip II, father of Alexander the Great, conquered it and named it Philippopolis. The Romans called it Trimontium, "the three hills", and built a theatre there that was uncovered only in the 1970s after a landslide. In 1364 it was taken by the Ottomans and called Filibe. From 1878 it was the capital of Eastern Rumelia, until the province united with Bulgaria in 1885. In 2019 the city was European Capital of Culture.
The ten best sights in Plovdiv
1Ancient ForumThe Roman forum beside the post office
2Bishop’s BasilicaTwo thousand square metres of early Christian mosaics
3Roman StadiumThe curved end of a stadium under the main street
4Dzhumaya MosqueOne of the oldest Ottoman mosques in Europe
5Roman TheatreA marble theatre on the hill, still used for opera
6Balabanov HouseA merchant house of the National Revival
7Ethnographic MuseumThe most painted house in the old town
8Nebet TepeThe hill of the first settlement; sunset over the city
9Zion SynagogueA painted synagogue hidden in a courtyard
10Sahat TepeThe hill with the Ottoman clock tower
Scan with your phone camera to open the map there
What is an audio walk?
Tours in Plovdiv →A guide in your headphones: open the walk on our site, walk from stop to stop, and at each one your phone tells its story. No guide, no group, and free. This is the first walk in Plovdiv:
Free walking tours in Plovdiv
Philippopolis under the main street
Plovdiv claims to be one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Europe: Thracians lived on its hills six thousand years ago, Philip of Macedon took it and named it after himself, and the Romans built a great city here. Much of Roman Philippopolis lies just under the pedestrian main street, and appears through glass and in pits. Ninety minutes, flat.
- Ancient Forum · The forum of Roman Philippopolis, a square of shops and public buildings of the first century, was found when the city dug the foundations of the post office in the 1970s. Beside it is the small Odeon, the council hall, restored as a little theatre.
- Bishop’s Basilica · Under a modern roof lie the floors of the largest early Christian basilica in Bulgaria, of the fourth to sixth centuries, covered in about two thousand square metres of mosaics of birds — peacocks, pheasants, doves. It was buried for centuries under a later church and opened to visitors in 2021.
- Roman Stadium · Under the main street lies a Roman stadium of the second century, about two hundred and forty metres long, for some thirty thousand spectators. Only its curved northern end is uncovered, below the square; the rest runs under the shops above.
- Dzhumaya Mosque · Above the stadium stands a mosque built soon after the Ottoman conquest in the fourteenth or fifteenth century, one of the oldest Ottoman mosques in Europe, with nine domes and a striped minaret. It is still in use, and its café sells Turkish coffee and sweets.
- Kapana · The name means the Trap, for its tangle of narrow lanes where the craftsmen of the Ottoman town had their workshops. Left half empty for decades, it was revived for 2019, when Plovdiv was a European Capital of Culture, and is now full of galleries, bars and murals.
- Zion Synagogue · Hidden in a courtyard of the old Jewish quarter, a synagogue of the 1880s with a richly painted interior in the Ottoman style. In March 1943, when the Jews of Plovdiv were rounded up for deportation, the city’s Orthodox Metropolitan Kiril declared he would lie down on the rails in front of the trains; the deportation was stopped, and the Jews of Bulgaria proper survived the war — while those of the Bulgarian-occupied lands of Thrace and Macedonia were deported to their deaths that same month.
The old town on three hills
On the three hills above the centre is the old town of the nineteenth century, when Bulgarian merchants grew rich and built colourful houses with upper floors jutting over the cobbled lanes. At its heart is a Roman theatre with a view over the plain. Two hours, steep and cobbled.
- Roman Theatre · A marble theatre of the second century, built into the slope between two hills, with seats for about six thousand. It lay buried until a landslide uncovered part of it in the late 1960s, and it is now used again for opera and concerts in summer.
- Balabanov House · A merchant’s house of the National Revival, the nineteenth century when Bulgarians built schools, churches and a culture of their own under Ottoman rule. Its upper rooms have carved wooden ceilings and walls painted with landscapes, and it hosts exhibitions.
- Ethnographic Museum · The most striking house of the old town, built in 1847 for a wealthy merchant, with a blue façade painted with garlands and a curved roof. Inside are costumes, rose-oil stills and the crafts of the region.
- Nebet Tepe · The hill where the first settlement of Plovdiv stood around 4000 BC, later the Thracian town of Eumolpias, with ruins of walls and a secret tunnel down to the river. At sunset the whole city spreads below.
- Sahat Tepe · Plovdiv was built on seven hills, and this one carries an Ottoman clock tower, among the oldest in the Balkans. From its top the other hills rise out of the city like islands.
- Alyosha · On the highest hill stands an eleven-metre statue of a Soviet soldier, put up in 1957 and nicknamed Alyosha. Since 1989 there have been repeated calls to remove it, and each time many people of Plovdiv protested and it stayed.
Monasteries and Thracian wine
South of Plovdiv the Rhodope mountains rise straight from the plain, with a great monastery, a fortress church on a cliff and natural stone bridges in the forest; west and north are wine villages and a Thracian temple in a mound. A full day and a car.
- Asenovgrad · The town at the foot of the Rhodopes is the home of Mavrud, an old Bulgarian grape that makes a dark, tannic red. A local legend says that a king ordered all vines uprooted, but one was saved by a young man named Mavrud, whose courage gave the grape its name.
- Asen’s Fortress · A medieval fortress on a cliff over the Chepelare gorge, rebuilt by Tsar Ivan Asen II in the thirteenth century. Of it stands a church of the Holy Mother of God, two storeys of brick and stone on the very edge of the rock.
- Bachkovo Monastery · The second largest monastery in Bulgaria was founded in 1083 by two Georgian brothers, Gregory and Abasius Pakourianos, high officers of the Byzantine army, as a monastery for Georgian monks. Its ossuary church, painted in the twelfth century, is one of the oldest frescoed buildings in Bulgaria.
- Wonderful Bridges · High in the Rhodope forest, a river cut through a marble cave until its roof fell, leaving two huge natural arches of rock, the larger about fifty metres high. A path runs over and under them.
- Red Church · The red brick walls of a large church of the sixth century stand alone in the fields outside Perushtitsa, with traces of frescoes inside. The town is also remembered for the April Uprising of 1876, when its people held out in another church until they were overrun.
- Starosel · North of Plovdiv, a Thracian temple of the fifth or fourth century BC built inside a burial mound, with a ring of stone steps and a domed chamber, thought to be used for royal rites. The villages around grow wine, as the Thracians did.
Getting to Plovdiv and getting around
- Plovdiv Airport · Fifteen minutes away; Sofia airport is about ninety minutes
- Central Station · Trains to Sofia and Istanbul; walk up the main street
Cheap eats in Plovdiv
Bulgarian food is cheap and fresh: banitsa, flaky filo pastry with white cheese, eaten for breakfast with boza or yoghurt; shopska salad of tomato, cucumber and grated sirene cheese; kebapche, grilled minced-meat sticks; and in summer tarator, cold yoghurt soup with cucumber and walnuts. The Plovdiv plain grows peppers for lyutenitsa, and the hills grow Mavrud wine. A banitsa costs about a euro.
- Kapana · Banitsa and boza in the morning
- Dzhumaya Mosque · Turkish coffee and lokum in the mosque café
- Asenovgrad · Mavrud wine at the source
- Brestovitsa · Wine tasting in the village cellars
- Bachkovo Monastery · Rhodope yoghurt and honey at the gate
Museums in Plovdiv
Plovdiv is a city of layers — Thracian, Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman and Bulgarian — and much of its museum is in the street.
- Bishop’s Basilica · Mosaics of birds
- Roman Theatre · The marble theatre
- Ethnographic Museum · Costumes and rose oil
- Starosel · The Thracian temple in a mound
- Balabanov House · A Revival merchant’s house
Nature and day trips near Plovdiv
Plovdiv lies on the Thracian plain, under the Rhodopes — forested mountains of marble, caves and gorges, and famous for their long-lived villagers and their yoghurt.
- Wonderful Bridges · Natural rock arches
- Asen’s Fortress · The gorge from the cliff
- Rowing Canal · A walk or run by the water
- Nebet Tepe · The city from its oldest hill
Things to do in Plovdiv with kids
With children: Roman ruins under glass in the street, a hill with a giant soldier, a theatre to run in and rock bridges in the forest.
- Roman Stadium · A stadium under the street
- Alyosha · Climb to the giant soldier
- Rowing Canal · Playgrounds and bikes by the water
- Wonderful Bridges · Walk under a rock bridge
Holy places in Plovdiv
Plovdiv holds an Orthodox old town, one of Europe’s oldest Ottoman mosques, a painted synagogue and the memory of the bishop who stood up for the Jews.
- Zion Synagogue · The synagogue and the Metropolitan Kiril
- Dzhumaya Mosque · The old mosque on the main street
- Bachkovo Monastery · The Georgian brothers’ monastery
- Asen’s Fortress · The cliff church
Nightlife in Plovdiv
Plovdiv’s nights are relaxed and cheap: the bars and terraces of Kapana, opera in the Roman theatre in summer, and the old town lit up.
- Kapana · Bars in the creative quarter
- Roman Theatre · Opera under the stars
- Nebet Tepe · Sunset on the hill
Frequently asked questions about Plovdiv
What is there to see in Plovdiv?
The top sights in Plovdiv are Ancient Forum, Bishop’s Basilica and Roman Stadium. The full list on this page has 10 sights, each with a photo and a short note.
How many days do you need in Plovdiv?
Three to four days are enough to see the best of Plovdiv without rushing, including at least one walking tour.
Is there a free walking tour in Plovdiv?
Yes. sleepntrip has 3 free audio walks in Plovdiv, with no guide and no group: your phone tells the story at every stop. The first one: Philippopolis under the main street.
How do you get to Plovdiv and get around?
The main ways are Plovdiv Airport and Central Station. Full details are in the transport section on this page.
Where to stay in Plovdiv, and for how much?
sleepntrip shows only rooms in Plovdiv that meet nine conditions: a good location, high guest scores, cleanliness, and a price of up to $80 a night for two. Pick your dates and see what is free.
Looking for a hotel in Plovdiv for your dates?
Only rooms that meet nine conditions, up to $80 a night.