Top 5 Shipka Day Trips: Reviews & Recommendations

So, planning a trip to Bulgaria? Very nice choice! The Shipka Memorial is one place you will certainly need to put on your list. But the thing is, you might be wondering which of the Shipka day trips you can choose to be absolutely certain to experience the spot to its fullest, right? Very well, you are where you should be! We took a little time to put together five very solid choices for you, covering what’s wonderful regarding the region, ensuring you see those important landmarks and additionally encounter all of that great Bulgarian culture.

1. Exploring History at the Shipka Memorial and Etar Architectural Ethnographic Complex

That is, if you find history interesting, this trip really hits the spot. The Shipka Memorial is the focal point, for certain, which provides very sweeping views and is dripping in importance as it is on a place of a vital struggle in the Russo-Turkish War. After that, there’s the Etar Architectural Ethnographic Complex which offers this fantastic peek at Bulgarian craftsmanship. It’s almost like walking into a time machine!

One very fascinating detail, I feel, is that in the Etar complex, very talented artisans continue to practice some of the traditional crafts as they had centuries prior. Is that you watching them produce pottery and some of these wood carvings, very neat.

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2. Kazanlak and the Rose Valley Discovery

If you like roses and also like interesting ancient history, then, it looks as if this trip might actually be for you! That Rose Valley surrounding Kazanlak, is, well, stunning, specifically when those flowers have already started blooming, right. Additionally, you will get a peek inside a Thracian tomb – that’s that Kazanlak Tomb, that is to say – to notice all the outstanding artwork dating entirely way back.

Actually, you know, the tour guides have a tendency to really make the Thracian history remarkably come alive, because of that vivid telling that, personally, I located rather moving. It offers you that richer, fuller appreciation, definitely.

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3. Buzludzha Monument and Shipka Pass

Okay, very keen on unusual structures? So the Buzludzha Monument tends to be on this mountain top! That deserted former communist building offers that striking backdrop, that’s it. The Shipka Pass on its own really is extremely historic, that. Anyway, the trip mixes some striking modern history with some stuff from times way back. It is very moving.

It might be great when it comes to the views around Shipka Pass, specifically, whenever the weather is being cooperative, actually. The experience gives you an unusual point from which to see how that history has impacted that scenery around here.

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4. Veliko Tarnovo: A Medieval Capital Adventure

If you are prepared to take slightly longer of a ride, so I think this is definitely more of a “go big or go home” option. Veliko Tarnovo tends to be one old capital which comes with an amazing fortress – that is that Tsarevets Fortress, is that! Then that little village of Arbanasi really exhibits these wonderful homes and quite interesting bits of architecture that could certainly capture your attention.

Whenever I got there, Arbanasi just seemed like this kind of relaxing location right following seeing that quite busy Veliko Tarnovo. The history that you could see and feel while exploring Veliko Tarnovo is absolutely intense.

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5. Local Life and Traditional Bulgarian Villages

Do you prefer experiencing regular life right? That tour often stops at places where several tourists seldom are. This actually provides this kind of personal experience of rural Bulgaria. It really helps anyone comprehend how people really lived centuries back and just how those practices continue up until now.

Visiting smaller villages had been an excellent solution to get to know some real local Bulgarians! Each place came with that charm of their own, almost.

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