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City in north central Bulgaria

Veliko Tarnovo

Veliko Tarnovo is a city in north central Bulgaria and the administrative centre of Veliko Tarnovo Province.

Veliko Tarnovo
Veliko Tarnovo · MrPanyGoff
The place

Veliko Tarnovo is a city in north central Bulgaria and the administrative centre of Veliko Tarnovo Province. It is the historical and spiritual capital of Bulgaria.

Adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

What is there

Worth seeing in and around Veliko Tarnovo

10 places within 25 km that the world writes about, in the order of how widely: the ones a visitor has heard of first, then the ones only a local would name.

  1. 01
    Veliko Tarnovo University

    University

    2.7 km · Wikipedia
  2. 02
    Holy Forty Martyrs Church

    The Holy Forty Martyrs Church (Bulgarian: църква "Св. Четиридесет мъченици", tsarkva "Sv.

    2.8 km · church in Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria · Wikipedia
  3. 03
    Vasil Levski National Military University

    The Vasil Levski National Military University is Bulgaria's national military academy.

    1.4 km · military university in Bulgaria · Wikipedia
  4. 04
    Library of Veliko Tarnovo

    The Library of Veliko Tarnovo is the third largest library in Bulgaria.

    2.1 km · library in Bulgaria · Wikipedia
  5. 05
    Transfiguration Monastery

    The Transfiguration Monastery or the Monastery of the Holy Transfiguration of God is an Eastern Orthodox monastery located in the Dervent gorge of the Yantra River. It lies near the village of Samovodene, seven kilometres north of Veliko Tarnovo, in central northern Bulgaria.

    4.5 km · monastery in Bulgaria · Wikipedia
  6. 06
    Patriarchal Cathedral of the Holy Ascension of God

    The Patriarchal Cathedral of the Holy Ascension of the Lord is a former Eastern Orthodox cathedral in the city of Veliko Tarnovo, in north central Bulgaria. Located on top of the fortified Tsarevets hill in the former capital of the Second Bulgarian Empire, the cathedral was the seat of the Bulgarian patriarch from its construction in the 11th–12th century to its destruction in 1393.

    2.9 km · church in Bulgaria · Wikipedia
  7. 07
    Church of St Demetrius of Thessaloniki, Veliko Tarnovo

    The Church of Saint Demetrius of Thessaloniki (Bulgarian: църква "Св. Димитър Солунски", tsarkva "Sv.

    2.8 km · church in Bulgaria · Wikipedia
  8. 08
    M. V. Lomonosov School of Electrical and Electronics

    The M. V. Lomonosov School of Electro-technics and Electronics is a Bulgarian professional Engineering school and one of the most selective technical schools in Bulgaria. The school is located in Gorna Oryahovitsa.

    8.3 km · engineering college in Bulgaria · Wikipedia
  9. 09
    Church of Saints Peter and Paul

    The Church of Saints Peter and Paul (Bulgarian: църква "Св. св.

    3.1 km · church in Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria · Wikipedia
  10. 10
    Baldwin's Tower

    Baldwin's Tower is a tower house located in the Tsarevets fortress in the Bulgarian town of Veliko Tarnovo. The tower's name originates from Baldwin IX of Flanders, who was imprisoned in the tower after his capture in the Battle of Adrianople.

    3 km · tower house in Bulgaria · Wikipedia

Ranked by the number of language editions of Wikipedia with an article on each, from Wikidata; the sentences are the openings of those articles, CC BY-SA 4.0.

See

What Wikivoyage says to see

The city is divided into an old and new parts. The old city is a collection of traditional renaissance houses scattered over the hills around the river Yantra while the new part is a mixture of communist and modern style buildings. The Yantra River creates a natural choke point where much of the historic old town, including the main fortress, is situated. This area is compact and experiences high foot traffic.

  1. 01
    Tsarevets

    Tsarevets, the medieval stronghold of the Second Bulgarian Empire, served as the capital's primary fortress from 1185 to 1393.

From Wikivoyage: Veliko Tarnovo, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.

Do

Things to do

Bulgarian lessons, Lioben Karvavelov (In the centre of town opposite the outdoor market), info@bulgarianlessons.eu. A small language school offering Bulgarian lessons by qualified tutors with PhDs who specialise in the teaching of Bulgarian as a second language. Free walking tour Veliko Tarnovo, ul. "Hristo Botev" 5 (Tourist Information Center),. Every day at 11:00hr a free walking tour.

From Wikivoyage: Veliko Tarnovo, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.

Eat

Where to eat

Bars and restaurants worth visiting: Malkia Inter, Ivan Vazov 22 sr,. Local cuisine, run by a nice family. It is cosy with lovely and interesting decor of a lot of musical instruments. Tasty food and inexpensive. Ego Bar and Grill. National and foreign cuisine, cheap prices. There are three "Ego" restaurants, at 17, Nezavisimost St., at 1, Slaveykov Square, and at the 3rd floor of Central Mall.

From Wikivoyage: Veliko Tarnovo, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.

Go there

Getting to Veliko Tarnovo

Airports
Plovdiv (PDV), 129 km · Bucharest Băneasa Aurel Vlaicu (BBU), 163 km · Burgas (BOJ), 165 km
  • Plovdiv → Veliko Tarnovo
    126 km · quickest by road, 3h 38m · лв18–24
  • Burgas → Veliko Tarnovo
    163 km · quickest by road, 3h 38m · лв19–26
  • Varna → Veliko Tarnovo
    185 km · quickest by road, 3h 38m · лв20–26
  • From anywhere
    The planner compares every way there from wherever you are.
    Plan a trip

Road and air are today’s quick answer; timetabled trains, buses and ferries load on the results page from the operators’ feeds.

Not yet researched

No local-transport research exists yet for Veliko Tarnovo

Our researched notes are written from a sourced entry: every shared taxi, boat and village bus with its operator, its rule, its fare and the year we saw it, and what could not be confirmed. Nobody has done that work for Veliko Tarnovo. What is above is what we hold from open sources; nothing here pretends to be more.

What Wikivoyage says about moving around
  • Get inMany national trains to Veliko Tarnovo require changing at Gorna Oryahovitsa; in that case, it can be more convenient to just buy a ticket to that town and then take a bus, minibus or taxi from Gorna Oryahovitsa station to Veliko Tarnovo.
  • Get inThere are two minibuses per day to and from Plovdiv.

From Wikivoyage: Veliko Tarnovo, CC BY-SA. Not yet checked by us; that article was last edited 2026-09.

The nearest places where the work is done
  1. 01
    ThasosGR

    10 ways of moving, 17 sources

    267 km
  2. 02
    GökçeadaTR

    11 ways of moving, 39 sources

    325 km
  3. 03
    Mount AthosGR

    9 ways of moving, 21 sources

    342 km
  4. 04
    MykonosGR

    12 ways of moving, 23 sources

    627 km
  5. 05
    MljetHR

    9 ways of moving, 28 sources

    661 km

If you know how people move in Veliko Tarnovo – the stand, the rule, the fare – tell us, and the note gets an entry.

Around it

Next door to Veliko Tarnovo

  • Gorna Oryahovitsacity in Gorna Oryahovitsa municipality, Veliko Tarnovo oblast, Bulgaria9.2 km
  • Arbanasivillage in Veliko Tarnovo municipality, Veliko Tarnovo oblast, Bulgaria4.6 km
  • Lyaskovetscity in Lyaskovets municipality, Veliko Tarnovo oblast, Bulgaria8.5 km
  • Debeletscity in Veliko Tarnovo municipality, Veliko Tarnovo oblast, Bulgaria3.7 km
  • Kilifarevocity in Veliko Tarnovo municipality, Veliko Tarnovo oblast, Bulgaria9.3 km
  • Samovodenevillage in Veliko Tarnovo municipality, Veliko Tarnovo oblast, Bulgaria6.8 km