Only have one day to explore Bulgaria’s capital city? We have you covered! While you could easily spend two or more days in Sofia, we managed to fit in quite a lot into our 24 hours in the city.
As you only have a short time here, you’ll need to focus on the city centre, which is very walkable with excellent transport links. But in our experience, you can have a great time spending a full day exploring Sofia’s churches, museums, and restaurants.
Here, you have the route we took, where we slept, where we went, what we ate and drank, and how we got around. As we used Sofia as a base for our entire Bulgaria trip, we also have alternative recommendations for places to visit and eat, in case some options don’t take your fancy.
For the most part, we enjoyed our time in the Bulgarian capital, but there are definitely a few things we would skip if we could redo the route and other things we’d want to try when we return. So, in addition to what we did, we’ve also included a few suggestions if you want to customise this itinerary to fit your interests better.
Where to Stay
Sofia has quite a few districts with good accommodation options. If you have a limited time in the city, as we did, then it’s best to stay in one of the central areas. Most people will recommend getting accommodation in Sredets (Средец), the historic centre, as you’ll be right in the action. For nightlife and cheap hotels, Studentski Grad (Студентски Град), where most of the student population lives, is your best bet. For nature and more luxury options, look no further than Vitosha (Витоша), near the mountain of the same name. For quieter, family-friendly environs, Lozenets (Лозенец) and Oborishte (Оборище) are perfect.
The place we stayed was technically at the north end of another district, Triaditsa (Триадица), but was perfectly located, being a 10-minute walk to the main attractions and 5 minutes from the NDK, Sofia’s largest convention centre with excellent metro and bus links. The area is super quiet, has lots of food options nearby, and is pretty well-kept.
Even better, our apartment was decorated with traditional Bulgarian items and felt like we were staying in a cosy wood cabin. For these reason, we really recommend checking out the Ethno Art Maisonette.
By way of warning: you do have to walk up a few flights of stairs to get to the apartment. But at the top, the place is well-furnished, with a small kitchen, fridge, coffee machine, loft with a double bed, a view of Vitosha Mountain, AND some discount vouchers for activities, with a small gift. We were given a little bottle of Bulgaria’s famous rose oil, which was a really nice surprise. Seriously, check this place out!
Itinerary
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Bulgarian Breakfast
Duration: 20–40 mins.
Price (per person): €3–6.
Must-try/Skippable: Must-try.
Location: Delicious Bakery; Mekitsa & Coffee.
Start your day with some traditional breakfast foods. You have two recommended options here: 1) the classic pairing of banitsa (filo pastry, often filled with sirene cheese) and boza (a fermented malt drink); or 2) mekitsa (fried dough with various sweet or savoury toppings) and a coffee.
For 1), you can go to pretty much any bakery in the city. However, we went to Delicious Bakery (Вкусната пекарна), a local snack stall near our apartment. There’s only an outdoor standing table, so in bad weather you might want to find somewhere else to eat (another reliable option would be King’s Bakery, which has locations across Sofia). But in good weather or if you want to take your breakfast on the move, we whole-heartedly recommend Delicious Bakery.
For 2), there’s one place that stands above the rest, and that’s Mekitsa & Coffee (Мекица и Кафе). It’s not the biggest place and can have a queue early in the morning, but there’s also some seating upstairs. Mekitsa & Coffee offers both sweet and savory toppings, both of which are really excellent, so consider sharing a few if you can.
Patriarchal Cathedral of St Alexander Nevsky
Duration: 20 mins–1 hour.
Price (per person): Free, unless paying for a photography permit (€5) or to enter the crypt’s icon gallery (€5).
Must-see/Skippable: Must-see, at least from the outside.
Location: Here.
Depending on where you have breakfast, you have a 10-/15-minute walk to the first sight, the beautiful Patriarchal Cathedral of St Alexander Nevsky. This 19th-century Neo-Byzantine cathedral is one of Sofia’s top sights. Once you get a glimpse of the sun glinting off the gold domes, you’ll understand why. It’s also recommended to come back at night: while the exterior mosaics are a bit harder to see, the Cathedral looms even larger when lit up against the night sky.
Make sure to spend at least 15 minutes taking a look around the interior, which, like many Orthodox churches, is covered in murals of saints, bishops, and Biblical scenes. We’re mostly believers that church exteriors are often more impressive than the interiors, and we certainly prefer the view of the domes and the mosaics to the paintings and decorations inside. But there’s also something very impressive about the harmony of the interior, especially given that the Cathedral’s construction was a pan-European effort. Artisans and builders from many countries collaborated in producing the building, so do take some time to appreciate this when visiting!
If you want to spend a bit longer here, you can also pay to enter the crypt, which houses what the Cathedral’s staff claim is Europe’s largest collection of religious icons. We didn’t visit so can’t confirm this. But bear in mind that you will need to pay a fee to take photos anywhere inside the Cathedral.
Church of St Sophia and Archaeological Level
Duration: 1 hour.
Price (per person): Free just for the church, unless paying for a photography permit (€7.67). Archaeological Level entrance is €4.
Must-see/Skippable: Must-see.
Location: Here.
Pretty much next to the Cathedral but much less visited is this basilica church, which was originally built in the 4th century and later gave the city its name. The Church itself is ok, but would not be worth a visit on its own. There are quite a few of these red-brick late-antique basilica churches, and this itinerary is already pretty church-heavy. If you’re a fan of ecclesiastical history, the failed Council of Serdica, which was intended to help heal religious divisions but instead widened them further, probably took place here in 343.
More interesting is the Archaeological Level, where you can see the remains of the Roman buildings, several masonry tombs, and a few nice Christian mosaics. This really sets the tone for some of the other ruins you can see later, as well as a trip to Plovdiv, if you have time later on. The Archaeological Level is also not visited that much: we saw two people in our entire time here, so this is a pretty off-the-beaten-track thing to see.
Church of St Nikolas the Wonder-Worker
Duration: 10 mins.
Price (per person): Free.
Must-see/Skippable: Skippable, if short on time.
Location: Here.
Around 5 minutes away is the third church of the day, but this time, it’s a Russian Orthodox church. This 20th-century church is very pretty, especially from the outside, but is quite small. So, only a quick visit is needed.
For those who didn’t immediately make the connection, this church, like many Orthodox churches with Nicholas in their names, is dedicated to that St Nicholas, as in… Santa Claus! Before he was known as Santa, though, Nicholas was mostly known as a semi-legendary bishop of Myra (a no-longer surviving city in Türkiye) who performed a lot of miracles and apparently slapped the condemned theologian, Arius, at a council.
Ivan Vazov National Theatre
Duration: 10 mins.
Price (per person): Free, from outside.
Must-see/Skippable: Must-see.
Location: Here.
2 minutes of walking takes you to the City Garden (Градска градина), a cute little park where, if the weather is good, you can spend some time relaxing. On one side of the Garden is the Ivan Vazov National Theatre, a beautiful 20th-century Neo-Classical building and Bulgaria’s oldest theatre.
If you get the chance to go inside, we’ve heard it’s worth it. Sadly, we did not find the time. But the Theatre has a big programme of events, so check ahead of time in case something fits your schedule.
A Quick Lunch Break: Hungry Station
Duration: 20 mins–1 hour.
Price (per person): €4–10.
Must-try/Skippable: Skippable, but recommended!
Location: Here.
You will probably be as hungry as us by this point, so stop off for a quick bite at the nearby Hungry Station (Гара за Гладни). We didn’t research the place ahead of time, so we had pretty low expectations. As it turns out, we loved it here! Hungry Station is a local food spot for nearby office-workers, so the food is fresh, quick, and very affordable.
For the most part, you can get various traditional comfort foods, such as tarator (the classic yoghurt and cucumber soup), here, as well as coffee, tea, and soft drinks. To our knowledge, we were the only non-Bulgarians in the place, and we stayed for an hour, just enjoying the chill atmosphere and tasty food.
As a side point: the toilets at Hungry Station were by far the best we used in Bulgaria. We recommend using these ones rather than the paid ones next to the Cathedral.
Serdica Archaeological Complex
Duration: 30 mins–1 hour
Price (per person): Half of the complex is free. Entrance to the better preserved areas costs €4.
Must-see/Skippable: Must-see, at least the free parts.
Location: Here.
A 10-minute walk back past the Theatre and through the Garden takes you to the ancient centre of Sofia, where you have a fantastic open-air museum with the remains of the Roman city of Serdica.
The open-air Archaeological Complex is in two parts, one ticketed and one free. Most visitors will want to start with the free half, which can be accessed through the Serdika Metro station. Here, you have some pretty well-preserved but undecorated remains of the insulae (residential blocks) and streets. There are also a few funerary reliefs and a dedication inscription attributing the construction of Serdica’s walls to the emperor Marcus Aurelius in the late 2nd century CE. It’s very interesting to see how the Metro station and various shops have built around these remains, so definitely spend some time wandering around.
The ticketed section contains buildings predominately used by Roman elites, and so are a bit more decorated. In particular, there’s the Felix Mosaic, a 4th-century CE floor mosaic decorating a magistrate’s home, with its early representation of an imperial diadem. There’s also the remains of the Episcopal Basilica of Protogenes, another 4th-century church and another candidate for the church that housed the Council of Serdica. We didn’t go into the ticketed part, as we were a bit short on time and were happy with what we saw under the Church of St Sofia as well as the free parts of the Archaeological Complex. But with a bit more time, it would probably be worth checking the paid part out.
Church of St Petka Samardjiyska
Duration: 10–20 mins.
Price (per person): Free.
Must-see/Skippable: Skippable, for the nearby Church of Saint George.
Location: Here.
In between the ticketed and free parts of the Serdica Archaeological Complex, and right next to the Serdica Metro station, this tiny church is worth a quick visit. The Church was probably built in the 14th century and, as with the Roman remains, you can see how Sofia has grown around this medieval building. However, we were not allowed into the building itself, as you can only enter on Sundays. Inside, there are apparently some nice murals, but we can’t verify this.
It’s certainly worth walking past, even if you can’t get in. At the same time, we wish we used the time to go to the Church of Saint George, Sofia’s oldest (early 4th-century) church filled with later medieval ceiling frescoes on the interior of the rotunda. We could not figure out how to get inside this basilica church until we left: at the time of writing, most entrances were blocked by construction works, with the only open entrance through an obscured passage near the Ministry of Education and Science.
Thermal fountain taps
Duration: 5–10 mins.
Price (per person): Free.
Must-see/Skippable: Skippable.
Location: Here or here.
This is barely a stop, but still a pretty interesting thing to see. There are various thermal hot springs underneath Sofia, some of which feed into thermal spas on the outskirts of the city. In the centre, about 5 minutes away from the Archaeological Complex, are two areas where this warm water is pumped to the surface.
Whether you go to the fountain just outside what was the former bathhouse and is now the Regional History Museum, or to the greater number of taps a bit north of the Museum, you can fill up a bottle yourself. It’s apparently safe to drink and we tried a sip, but expect it to taste a bit like eggs. You’ll also see locals filling up huge bottles to take back home. If you don’t have time to swing by, then don’t worry too much. But if you’re passing by to go to the next stop, it’s worth a quick look!
Women’s Market
Duration: 10–30 mins.
Price (per person): Free.
Must-see/Skippable: (Very) skippable. If hungry, consider going to the food court at the nearby Central Market Hall instead.
Location: Here.
The Women’s Market (Женски пазар) is often labelled as a must-see in Sofia. To be frank, we didn’t see the appeal. Sure, it’s a bustling fruit and vegetable market, but really, it isn’t that different to any fresh produce market you can find pretty much anywhere in Europe. It’s only a 10-minute walk from the previous stop, if you want to check it out and buy some fresh fruit or vegetables. But we only stayed about 10 minutes before looking to get a snack.
We noticed on the map that we were close to the Central Market Hall of Sofia, so we decided to head there for a while. As it turns out, the Central Market is a three-floored complex, with the ground floor being a large Kaufland supermarket (surprisingly well-priced and well-stocked), the underground level having various smaller shops and snack options, and the top half-floor being a small food court. We had some tasty, quick, and affordable Bulgarian staples here, including the famous Shopska Salad and the lesser known Patatnik. Both were great, so consider stocking up here.
Retro Gaming Bar
Duration: 1–2 hours.
Price: €7 per hour per gaming table, which can fit 4 people. Pool, darts, drinks, and snacks also available for extra.
Must-do/Skippable: Very enjoyable, but skippable, for Regional History Museum, Red Flat, or National Archaeological Museum.
Location: Here.
At this point in the day, we felt a little bit ‘churched out’ and disappointed after the combination of the Women’s Market, not finding the entrance to St George’s, and being turned away from St Petka’s. We wanted somewhere to sit down and relax before dinner. In the welcome package our accommodation gave us (and gives everyone who stays there) was a half-price voucher for Sofia’s first retro gaming bar, shockingly called… Retro Gaming Bar. We were nearby anyway, and decided to pop in.
We were so glad we did! It’s a little hard to find, as it’s down a side street behind several other buildings, but we had a great time in the bar. Even without a voucher, it’s pretty cheap at €7 per hour, which gets you a table for up to 4 people. Each table has a computer with two screens and SNES controllers, with hundreds of emulated games across retro Nintendo, Sega, PlayStation, and arcade consoles. If you’re thirsty, the bar also does various hot and cold drinks, including a few game-inspired cocktails. It’s worth looking around, too, as the place is decorated with a load of retro things.
We were here for an hour, but could have spent longer. If you’re coming with kids, the weather is bad, or (like us) you want to sit down and take a break from the historical sights, definitely consider coming here!
That said, if you prefer, you could also spend this time in one of Sofia’s nearby museums. Of particular note are the Regional History Museum (housed in the former baths next to the thermal fountain), the Red Flat (a Communist-era apartment museum), or the National Archaeological Museum (housed in a former mosque, with some interesting mosaics). While the Regional History and Archaeological Museums accept walk-ins, you have to book a few days ahead for the Red Flat. All have excellent reviews.
Traditional Dinner: Hadjidraganov’s Houses
Duration: 1–2 hours.
Price: €10–20 for a main dish and a drink.
Must-try/Skippable: Must-see for the architecture and decoration. The food and music are skippable, though. Instead, try Chevermeto, Manastirska Magernitsa, or Thirsty Dragon Inn.
Location: Here.
Walking 20 minutes in total, or taking the Metro for one stop and walking a short distance, takes you to Hadjidraganov’s Houses (Хаджидрагановите къщи), one of Sofia’s most-beloved restaurants like its twin in the centre, Hadjidraganov’s Cellars (Хаджидрагановите изби).
Normally, we avoid these kinds of tourist-centric restaurants as the food is often pretty bland or bad. We made an exception for the Houses as the Restaurant is a restored building, decorated as a collection of four traditional residences from different parts of Bulgaria. Reviews for both food and the included live folk music are also excellent, so we were pretty excited.
To be completely honest, we were pretty disappointed. The decoration and architecture was as great as advertised, and is worth going to see, maybe with a small snack at lunch and a drink. However, our food was pretty bland and came out wrong. We even had to return one dish as it had a load of eggshells mixed in. We also weren’t the biggest fan of the music, performed by a few older guys who seemed pretty tired and not into the songs.
All in all, it was a bit of an awkward experience. We would have preferred to go to Chevermeto (Чевермето), which has a better reputation for live performances, Manastirska Magernitsa (Манастирска Магерница), for higher quality home-cooked food, or the Thirsty Dragon Inn (Жадната Ламя), for a more local experience.
Walk down Vitosha Boulevard
Duration: 1 hour.
Price: Free, unless you buy something
Must-see/Skippable: Skippable, depending on energy.
Location: Start at Sveta Nedelia Square. End at NDK.
If you have energy left and you want to help your food go down, walking down Vitosha Boulevard, Sofia’s main street bustling with stores and restaurants, is a nice way to end your day. The Boulevard stretches all the way to the south of Sofia and is a great place to do some people-watching.
We walked from Sveta Nedelia Square (Площад Света Неделя) to the National Palace of Culture (NDK; Национален дворец на културата: НДК), a Brutalist concrete exhibition hall with a nice park. The NDK also has a big Metro station and good bus links, to take you to your accommodation when you’re done. If you haven’t eaten or drank enough for dinner, there’s lots of options for quick bite or drink around here, too.
Did we miss anything out? Did you try our itinerary? Or do have any other suggestions for the next time we visit? Let us know in the comments below!