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Bulgaria Tours & Holiday
Bulgaria holiday packages reveal a country where Thracian tombs, Roman ruins, and Ottoman bridges sit quietly across the same hillsides. Explore our small-group Bulgaria tours to experience its ancient cities, mountain monasteries, and timeless landscapes up close.
Tucked into the south-eastern corner of the Balkans, Bulgaria spends most of its time being underestimated. The country layers Thracian burial mounds, Roman amphitheatres, medieval Orthodox monasteries and Ottoman quarters into the same compact map, with Sofia and Plovdiv bookending a hinterland of Pirin and Rhodope mountain villages, Plovdiv and the Rose Valley, and the Black Sea coastline.
This small-group trip sit firmly in this layered hinterland rather than the coastal resorts, and for travellers chasing a wider Balkan loop the country pairs naturally with neighbouring Romania. Our guided Romania tours often run end-to-end with a Bulgarian leg, and the cultural contrasts between the two countries make the combination feel like two distinct journeys rather than one drawn out.
Explore our Bulgaria Tours
Our Bulgaria guided tours are small group adventures capped at 12 travellers, led throughout by a dedicated English-speaking tour leader who knows the difference between a Roman odeon, a Thracian sanctuary and a working monastery. You’ll stay in characterful boutique hotels in old quarters and historic mountain towns, sit down to home-cooked meals at family-run mehanas, and travel between sites by private vehicle so the country opens up at a reasonable pace. Trips to Bulgaria with us also tap into the wider portfolio of small group tour specialists across the Balkans, with combined Balkan itineraries and tailor-made variations available for travellers who want longer in a particular village or valley.
Bulgaria Tour Packages Overview
1. London to Uzbekistan Rail Adventure
31 days, from £18,900 per person
A flight-free overland epic from Paris and Vienna across the Bosphorus to Tbilisi, Baku and the Silk Road cities of Khiva and Bukhara, including a rare Caspian crossing by working cargo ferry between Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan. You’ll mix daytime first-class services with classic sleeper trains such as Turkey’s Doğu Express, with cultural set pieces along the way: Ebru marbling in Istanbul, Georgian wine tasting in Kakheti, and Gobustan’s prehistoric rock carvings in Azerbaijan. View full itinerary →
2. London to Istanbul Rail Adventure
15 days, from £4,990 per person
A classic first-class rail journey from London to Istanbul with stopovers in Austria, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria, opening with lunch at Paris’s art nouveau Train Bleu and crossing the Arlberg pass to Vienna by Railjet. Highlights along the way include Transylvania’s medieval citadels, wine tasting in the 300-year-old cellars beneath the Alba Iulia fortress, brown bear watching with a local ranger in the Carpathian forests, and a final stay at Istanbul’s iconic Pera Palace Hotel. View full itinerary →
3. Essence of Bulgaria
12 days, from £3,095 per person
A 12-day loop opening in Sofia before swinging south to the imposing Rila Monastery, the cliff-set Rozhen Monastery and the wine village of Melnik beneath its strange sandstone pyramids. From there the route climbs the Rhodopes via narrow gorges to the wilderness around Trigrad, then crosses to Plovdiv with its Roman, Ottoman and 19th-century quarters, before tracing the Balkan Mountains north to the Thracian Tomb at Kazanlak and the Rose Valley on the way back to the capital. View full itinerary →
4. Best of Bulgaria and Romania
25 days, from £6,315 per person
A 25-day overland odyssey across two of Europe’s most underrated countries, starting with the full Bulgarian loop through Sofia, Pirin, the Rhodopes, Plovdiv and the Rose Valley before crossing into Romania at your own pace by train or private vehicle. Once in Romania the route heads into Transylvania for medieval Sighișoara and Sibiu, family-hosted nights in Saxon villages including Viscri, brown bear and wolf country in the Carpathians, the painted monasteries of Bucovina, and a remote settlement deep in the Danube Delta. View full itinerary →
What to see on our Bulgaria Group Tours
Explore the fascinating capital of Sofia
See the stunning frescoes and courtyards of the imposing Rila and Rozhen monasteries
Get a sense of the rich cultural heritage left by former civilisations – the Thracians, the Ottomans Turks and the Romans – over the decades
Explore the ancient wine-producing village of Melnik, surrounded by strange sandstone pyramids
Admire the quaint villages of the Rhodopes region
Revel in Plovdiv, home to a host of Roman, Ottoman and 19th – century Bulgarian architectural marvels
As featured in
With a 97% satisfaction rating from over 250 independent reviews on AITO, our travellers consistently praise the unique experiences and exceptional service provided by Undiscovered Destinations. From exploring the vibrant cultures of West Africa to uncovering hidden gems in the Caribbean, our carefully curated tours offer unforgettable adventures off the beaten path.
A wonderful opportunity to explore and experience a string of Caribbean islands. Although the pace of the trip was fast, we still managed to see behind the glitz and glamour of the holiday industry and get to grips with local history and culture.
Noggin
Simply amazing!
Some inspiration from our blog
Our Bulgaria guided tours run each April and September, the two windows when the country looks at its best. Wildflowers and the Rose Valley harvest are the spring story, while September brings dry warm days, ripe vineyards in Melnik and the autumn colours of the Rhodopes and Pirin. July and August can be hot and busy on the Black Sea coast, while December to February is firmly ski season.
Our trips to Bulgaria are full guided journeys rather than weekend stays, weaving the cities of Sofia and Plovdiv into a much wider loop that includes Rila Monastery, the Pirin and Rhodope mountains, Melnik, Trigrad and the Thracian Rose Valley. You travel with a small group of up to 12 and an English-speaking tour leader who knows the layered Thracian, Roman and Ottoman history first-hand. The result is closer to a cultural expedition than a city break.
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