The 15 Best Self-Guided Tours in Bulgaria

Audio Tours, City Tours, City Tours in Sofia, Guided, Self-Guided Tours, Self-Guided Tours in Sofia, Sofia Tours, Tour Reviews, Tours, Walking Tours, Walking Tours in Sofia

Sofia: City Monuments Guided Walking Tour with Audio Guide

/ August 6, 2026

1.City Monuments Guided Walking Tour with Audio Guide

★★★★★★★★★★4.5 · 825 reviews · 2 hours · from $17Our pick

A 2-hour Sofia walking tour with headphones and a live guide, hitting 20+ monuments, including church interiors and the presidential guard change.

“This is an interesting tour, audio guide is set in different languages, we did in a good pace and we had time to take pictures. We visited around 20 buildings/statues in Sofia and at the end of the tour we could see the changing of the presidential guard. It's a good value for money.”

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Guided, Rila Monastery Tours, Self-Guided Tours, Self-Guided Tours in Sofia, Seven Rila Lakes Hikes, Sofia Tours, Tour Reviews

Rila Monastery and 7 Rila Lakes Self-Guided Shared Trip from Sofia

/ August 6, 2026

2.Rila Monastery and 7 Rila Lakes Self-Guided Shared Trip from Sofia

★★★★★★★★★★5.0 · 280 reviews · 13 hours (approx.) · from $54Top rated

A full day from Sofia to **Rila Monastery** and the **Seven Rila Lakes**, mixing easy transport with a self-guided mountain hike.

“Great trip. Loved that the logistics were all organised but I could go at my own pace for the hike. I skipped the top 2 lakes so I could do the rest of the hike at a slower pace and enjoy the scenery but all 7 lakes are easily do-able in the time if you’re fit enough and happy to go at a quicker pace. I wore trainers and these were fine, the higher 2 lakes still had snow on the track so this may have been a bit more difficult. Would recommend.”

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Sofia: Rila Monastery & Boyana Church – Audio guided tour

/ August 6, 2026

3.Rila Monastery & Boyana Church – Audio guided tour

★★★★★★★★★★4.6 · 91 reviews · 8 hours · from $58

Small-group audio tour from Sofia to UNESCO Rila Monastery and Boyana Church, with clear multi-language guidance and key sacred sights.

“Guida e autista molto disponibili e simpatici. Nessun problema, se non il fatto che siamo stati solo 2 ore al monastero di Rila che forse sono un po’ poche per godersi la gita a pieno e senza fretta. Abbiamo avuto delle audio-guide in italiano.”

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From Sofia: Plovdiv with audio guide + free pick-up

/ August 6, 2026

4.Plovdiv with audio guide + free pick-up

★★★★★★★★★★4.9 · 48 reviews · 8 hours · from $53

Day trip from Sofia to Plovdiv with pickup, small group, and an English audio guide covering Old Town and Roman sights.

“Perfect amount of time for what we wanted to do, super comfortable transport and Avi was a pleasure to work with.”

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Rila Monastery and Boyana Church Self-Guided Day Trip from Sofia

/ August 6, 2026

5.Rila Monastery and Boyana Church Self-Guided Day Trip from Sofia

★★★★★★★★★★5.0 · 41 reviews · 8 hours (approx.) · from $36

Self-guided day trip from Sofia to Boyana Church frescoes and Rila Monastery, with transport and online audio guide in English.

“Our guide is excellent. Boyona and Rila are a must sites to visit. We are actually on our way back to Sofia from Rila while writing this. The only downside side (big downside) are the buses! 40 to 50km/hr on our way to Rila (some injection pump issues as they claimed) and a bus with ZERO air conditioner system on our way back to Sofia which is very aggravating! I felt bad for the tour guides being caught between a rock and a hard place. Traventuria should step up with their equipments.”

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Full-Day, Guided, Self-Guided Tours, Self-Guided Tours in Sofia, Seven Rila Lakes Hikes, Sofia Tours, Tour Reviews, Tours

From Sofia: The Seven Rila Lakes Full-Day Self-Guided Tour

/ August 6, 2026

6.The Seven Rila Lakes Full-Day Self-Guided Tour

★★★★★★★★★★4.9 · 33 reviews · 9 - 12 hours · from $115

Self-guided hike from Sofia to the Seven Rila Lakes, chairlift access, route notes, and a choice of 5 or 7 lakes.

“The trip was planned so nicely. Our guide Megi was very kind, knowledgeable and giving important informations during the trip. The monetary was very beautiful and peaceful to be in just blended into nature. The lakes were very beautiful, some hike is there but the colour and beauty of the water will just mesmerise you. I would definitely recommend this activity :)”

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Audio Tours, Guided, Nessebar Tours, Self-Guided Tours, Tour Reviews, Tours, Wine Tours

Nessebar: Audio Guide Tour Nessebar + visit to the Winery

/ August 6, 2026

7.Audio Guide Tour Nessebar + visit to the Winery

★★★★★★★★★★3.7 · 30 reviews · 1 day · from $15

Self-paced audio tour of Old Nessebar plus a winery tasting, with a map and multi-language phone guide for a flexible one-day outing.

“The audio guide was good and informative but it was a struggle to use. I had to follow our route on google maps and then switch to the narrative in a different tab-sometimes we had to reload the maps so it was a bit of a mess about”

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Plovdiv: Old Town Self-Guided Audio Tour

/ August 6, 2026

8.Old Town Self-Guided Audio Tour

★★★★★★★★★★3.6 · 24 reviews · 1 day · from $15

A circular, self-guided audio walk through Plovdiv Old Town, with Roman ruins, basilicas, and museums, paced your way for $15.

“De audio info was leuk en interessant. Het is jammer dat de kaart niet interactief is en vrij grof.”

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Rila Monastery: Complex Smartphone Audio Guide

/ August 11, 2026

9.Rila Monastery: Complex Smartphone Audio Guide

★★★★★★★★★★2.7 · 21 reviews · 1 day · from $5Best value

Explore Rila Monastery at your own pace with a smartphone audio guide, a site map, and 15 numbered audio stops in 7 languages.

“je n'ai pas pu visiter ils n'ont pas voulu ma réservation sur internet”

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Self Guided Tour Experience in Rila Monastery

/ August 14, 2026

10.Self Guided Tour Experience in Rila Monastery

★★★★★★★★★★3.0 · 15 reviews · from $10

Rila Monastery self-guided ticket with conversational audio, e-guide notes, and mobile entry. Flexible timing for a UNESCO stop in Bulgaria.

“Compramos los tiques para el monasterio y no me pude descargar nada después me enteré que solía dar problemas. Se quedaron con el dinero sin soluciónar nada”

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Self-guided tour in Varna Archaeological Museum + ticket

/ August 15, 2026

11.Self-guided tour in Varna Archaeological Museum + ticket

★★★★★★★★★★3.5 · 14 reviews · 2 to 3 hours (approx.) · from $22

Visit Varna Archaeological Museum with ticket included. A family-friendly, self-guided 2 to 3 hour break from the beach, in English.

“I never received my ticket to enter the museum. . . Even though we paid in full on Viator. Must be a scam. . .”

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From Sofia: Rila Monastery and Plovdiv Self-Guided Trip

/ August 16, 2026

12.Rila Monastery and Plovdiv Self-Guided Trip

★★★★★★★★★★4.9 · 13 reviews · 13 hours · from $104

One-day self-guided trip from Sofia to UNESCO Rila Monastery and Plovdiv Old Town, with maps, comfort transfers, and an English host.

“Il nostro autista è stato gentilissimo e molto disponibile, ci ha parlato della Bulgaria in generale e spiegato cosa avremmo visto. In più ci ha fornito una cartina, con spiegazione sul retro, dei due siti! Il monastero molto bello e suggestivo, la città di Plovdiv da vedere! Prelevate contanti perché altrimenti non potete accedere nemmeno alle aree archeologiche in città!”

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Self-guided Day Trip to Rila Monastery

/ August 17, 2026

13.Self-guided Day Trip to Rila Monastery

★★★★★★★★★★3.5 · 12 reviews · from $27

Self-guided Rila Monastery day trip from Sofia with an English audio guide, e-guide notes, live maps, and admission included for a 3-hour visit.

“Me mintieron en lo que yo contraté. Incumplieron la reserva contratada. El viaje a Rila desde Sofia para 4 personas desde Sofia,tengo mail de confirmacion por parte de la empresa del viaje desde Sofia a Rila) Estoy pendiente de devolucion de la suma pagada 76€ y espero ponerme en contacto con la oficina del consumidor al regresar a España.”

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Guided, Private, Self-Guided Tours, Tour Reviews, Tours, Veliko Tarnovo Tours

Discover Veliko Tarnovo at Your Pace: Private or Self-guided tour

/ August 17, 2026

14.Discover Veliko Tarnovo at Your Pace: Private or Self-guided tour

★★★★★★★★★★4.0 · 11 reviews · 2 to 4 hours (approx.) · from $34

Walk Veliko Tarnovo your way, with a private guide or self-guided route from Tsarevets to cathedrals and viewpoints, with optional pickup.

“Velocity Tarnovo is very hilly and cobblestone streets. I needed a shorter tour and decided to cancel. Viator wrote and said it would be adjusted. It was shortened by over an hour annd we did not go to the fortress. Lots of stops ant shops which we anre not fond of. and we were left with a difficult walk back to our hotel. It was not a good value then at $209 US for just a couple of hours. Guide was informative and kind. Just be sure you are up to the walk.”

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Guided, Self-Guided Tours, Tour Reviews

Self-Guided Sand Festival in Burgas

/ August 20, 2026

15.Self-Guided Sand Festival in Burgas

★★★★★★★★★★3.5 · 9 reviews · from $10

Explore Burgas Sand Festival at your pace with a downloadable e-guide, plus a culture stop option, all for an affordable price.

“We wasn’t able to get there until quite late due to other travelling so lighting wasn’t great, I would suggest going in the day. The level of sculpture is awesome, very detailed for Sand!! Was full of familiar characters from movies and kids cartoRead more”

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