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Veliko Tarnovo
City in north central Bulgaria

Veliko Tarnovo

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

Plan a trip to Veliko Tarnovo→From Plovdiv

It is the historical and spiritual capital of Bulgaria.

Get in

Getting to Veliko Tarnovo

Although Veliko Tarnovo's Gorna Oryahovitsa airport 4 km away is not open to passenger air traffic (it is possible to arrange private aircraft landings there), it is possible to fly to Sofia, or the coastal city of Varna and then by rail or coach to Veliko Tarnovo.

  1. 01
    Train Station

    A smart yellow building, dating back to the year 1900.

  2. 02
    Railway Ticket Bureau

    19 Stefan Stambolov Str (on the main street of the Old Town; inconspicuous ground floor office right next door to a conspicuous "sex shop" with red signs).

See

Worth seeing

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.

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.

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.

How locals move

Getting around Veliko Tarnovo the local way

  • 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. Last edited 2026-09.

Text adapted from Wikipedia and Wikivoyage, CC BY-SA 4.0. Photograph: MrPanyGoff (see Commons), Wikimedia Commons.