A Day Trip to Koprivshtitsa, Bulgaria
A day trip to Koprivshtitsa is perfect way to see this small picturesque town. It’s nestled in the scenic Sredna Gora Mountains. If you’re not from Bulgaria, chances are you’ve never even heard of it. But the town actually holds great significance for Bulgarian history and culture. It’s a pretty popular weekend destination for people in the area and rightly so.
Why is it significant? Koprivshtitsa is known for leading the uprising against the Ottomans in 1876 and freeing Bulgaria from Ottoman rule.
It’s also known for its emphasis on education, literature, and poetry, and has produced several writers and revolutionaries.
One of the things that makes this little town so unique is that most of the homes and shops have kept the traditional style from the Bulgarian Revival Period in the 19th century. You can wander the cobblestone streets and admire the beautiful buildings decorated in blues, yellows, and reds.
Despite its small size with just a little over 2,500 residents, Koprivshtitsa also has a surprising number of little museums where you can see and learn about the uprising, education, traditional clothing, textiles, and jewelry.
It’s about 1.5 hours from Plovdiv and 1.75 hours from Sofia, perfect for a day trip. We visited it along with Starosel Winery on a 1-night overnight trip from Plovdiv. Here’s what you can see!
Combined Museum-House Ticket
The best way to visit the museum houses is to buy a combined museum ticket for 15 BGN ($8 USD), which includes six of their museum-houses. You can also visit the houses individually for 5 BGN ($3 USD), but if you plan to visit most of them it’s a much better deal to get the combined ticket. The combined ticket includes the following:
Museum-House Luben Karavelov
This home belonged to two brothers important in Bulgaria’s Revival Period: Lyuben Karavelov (a writer and revolutionary) and Petko Karavelov (former Prime Minister and Minister of Finance).
Museum-House Dimcho Debelianov
This home is painted bright blue, belonged to a Bulgarian poet, and is surrounded by a beautiful little garden. This might take the cake as one of our favorites purely for the exterior.
Museum-House Todor Kableshkov
This house is known for its wood carvings on the ceilings, doors, and cupboards. It was the home of a revolutionary involved in the uprising against the Ottomans and displays swords, uniforms, and flags from the uprising.
Museum-House Georgi Benkovski
This is a pretty little wood house surrounded by trees and flowers, which belonged to the leader of the Bulgarian uprising.
Museum of Bulgarian Revival Education
This museum sits atop one of the hills overlooking the town and was formerly a school. There are some very cool views from here!
Lutova House Museum
This house belonged to a wealthy trader and has beautiful painted walls and wood carved ceilings.
Additional Museum-Houses
There are a few other Museum-Houses that can be seen. This ones won’t be included on your House-Museum ticket, but their still worth your while if you aren’t already museum-ed out by now.
Nencho Palaveev House Museum
Home of a wealthy trader who helped fund scholarships, monuments, and buildings in the town, and has now been turned into a gallery.
Living Museum
A 19th century school turned into a museum.
Oslekov House
The Oslekov House belonged to a wealthy merchant and is known for its wood carved ceiling and ornately painted interior and exterior.
What else can you see in Koprivshtitsa?
The First Rifle Shot Bridge
This aptly named bridge marks the spot where the first shot was fired against the Turks in 1876, which led to the liberation of Bulgaria from Ottoman rule.
Georgi Benkovski Monument
Georgi Benkovski is honored as a revolutionary and leader in the 1876 uprising. His statue sits upon a hill overlooking the people of Koprivshtitsa and provides a great view of the town.
Assumption of the Virgin Mary Church
This church was built in 1817 after the original burned down. It’s painted bright blue, has a prominent bell tower, and elaborately painted iconostasis and pulpit.
Where should you eat?
We only ate at one restaurant in Koprivshtitsa, Tavern Lomeva House (Механа Ломева къща), but we would highly recommend it to anyone passing through. When we visited this place had almost 200 Google reviews and a 4.7 rating. The interior is decorated with the traditional style that you see on the houses, with a large fireplace, beautiful woodwork, and yellow and blue hues. The waitress was friendly and the food was quick, reasonably priced, and delicious! They primarily serve traditional Bulgarian dishes, but have some other options, as well. We ordered their zucchini, eggplant, pepper, and goat cheese salad as an appetizer, “the tourist,” which was a buttery chicken and vegetable risotto, and the pepper chicken and fries. All of which we enjoyed!
How do you get there?
You can book a day trip from Sofia or Plovdiv to Koprivshtitsa through: Tripadvisor, Viator, or Get Your Guide, which is the more expensive option.
Or you can rent a car and go on your own, which is what we did. And it’s significantly cheaper than an organized group!
Koprivshtitsa is 1.5 hours from Plovdiv and 1.75 hours from Sofia, and you can rent a car for about $25 USD or less per day.
When you get there, paid parking is available all along the main street. Just make sure to pay a parking attendant (they’re usually wandering around near the parking lots and will find you) or use one of the parking apps as indicated by the signs near the parking spots.
* Note: Keep in mind these prices reflect when we visited and that prices may change over time with the economy and inflation.