Welcome to a new segment of my blog, ‘24 hours in…’! I’ve been so lucky since returning from 6 months of travelling last year to continue exploring the world, thanks to my fab job. While visiting for work, I’ve done my best to get some exploring in around my work commitments and this has led on to the idea of ‘24 hours in…’! While these may not be the most detailed blogs, I’m hoping it’ll spark your interest into exploring somewhere new & starting your itinerary off with some ideas.

We headed to Sofia in March just as the winter weather was winding down and the first appearances of spring were beginning. Bulgaria hadn’t been high on my travel wish list, but I truly think this is an injustice since visiting. I believe Bulgaria has been fairly popular with Sunny Beach attracting those looking for a cheaper beach holiday in the more recent years, but not many people head to the capital which offers a different style of holiday break. Sofia – the 3rd oldest capital of Europe, is popular with skiers as the city is built in the valley surrounded by mountains, making it extremely picturesque.

While in March it was warm enough to be out and about, we did head into the mountains where the snow was still around & the temperatures dipped. I’d recommend checking whether you’ll need winter things before heading here as I was glad I had a thick coat and scarf for the evenings & mountain trip but I didn’t need them whilst exploring the city in the day.

So if I had 24 hours in Sofia, this is what I’d do:

In advance, I’d book a tour to the Rila Monastery. It was a really scenic drive up to the 10th century building with plenty of snow on the mountains and winding hilly roads. It took a couple of hours each way, but it was so worth it. Our ‘tour’ was more of a transfer, but our driver was lovely and was much nicer than being crammed on a minibus.

On arrival we explored the monastery – it currently houses around 60 monks, took photos of the beautiful architecture and sampled freshly baked bread. If you head out the back of the monastery, you’ll find a small bakery through a hole in the wall. From here we tried deliciously fresh hot bread with Bulgarian yoghurt. The local cats were also a highlight!

While the monastery is beautiful and well-worth a visit, it isn’t the biggest site so after a couple of hours of looking around (and with an early start) you should be back early afternoon, which is plenty of time to enjoy the rest of the day in the city. If you have longer in the Sofia, it’s definitely worth taking your time in the mountains and exploring nearby areas, viewpoints, taking the even more scenic routes.

Once you’re back in the city, I’d head into the centre and check out a free walking tour in advance. Learning about the history always gives you such a good basis of the city and immerses you in the local environment. Whilst we didn’t actually do a walking tour, I’ve done a few elsewhere and I really regret not doing looking into a walking tour in Sofia as I would have really liked to learn more about the city’s history from a local.

After a walking tour, I’d recommend continuing the city wander on your own, checking out the shops, restaurants and cafes. We found some fab souvenirs!!

If you fancy something more educational, the city also has a Museum of National History, a Regional History Museum, a Cathedral and plenty of parks such as Borisova Grandina Park.

The only one downside we found with Sofia is that we struggled a little with the restaurants’. It is legal to smoke in bars and restaurants within a ‘terrace’ area. We found that the terrace areas were sometimes as indoors as the indoor part of the restaurant and therefore, sometimes put up with the smell of smoke. The last restaurant we visited, we booked a table through our hotel but unfortunately we weren’t told that the table was in the smoking area. As it was the last table available, we weren’t able to move and it did taint the dinner experience for us a little. I’d recommend booking non-smoking area tables if possible when making a reservation to avoid this happening, if this is something that would also bother you!

Finishing on a more positive note, staying in the Grand Millennium hotel was a real treat. The staff were lovely, it was in a great location, with a lovely spa, rooftop bar and the rooms were huge. The biggest hotel room I’ve had yet, with remote controlled curtains! I’d absolutely recommend staying here for somewhere that is just a small slice of luxury.

Hope this inspires you to pop Sofia on your city break list & as always, thanks for reading!