Full-Day Belogradchik Rocks and Venetsa Cave Tour from Sofia

Where to even start with this review? This tour is a must see and was incredible from start to end. Ventsislav contacted us before the tour and recommended we push back the tour by 2 days as the weather would be clearer and the views would be better. He was very communicative beforehand, telling us exactly what to pack and what temperatures to dress for. He was waiting for us in the hotel lobby at 8am sharp. It was just the two of us on the tour and yet Ventsislav was so accommodating. The drive to belogradchick was around 3 hours from Sofia and during the drive we learned about the history of the fortress and its purpose in the Roman Empire, Ottoman empire and it's more recent uses. It was a cold February morning with snow still on the ground- when we arrived we had the place to ourselves. The photo opportunities are some of the best I've ever seen with views almost 50km north. The rock formations are unique and picturesque. After climbing to the top of the fortress and taking pictures with the rocks, we drove to a nearby viewpoint and learned some common folklore surrounding the origin of the rocks. Ventsislav then drove us to the Magura caves (this was suggested beforehand as the Venetsa caves were closed) and we toured round the extensive cave system. We were also the only ones on the 14:00 tour giving us yet more photo opportunities. The natural beauty of this cave system, including cave paintings 10-25,000 years old, was astounding. I am shocked that these locations are not more widely known or visited. Despite the tour usually taking around 12 hours, here comes the icing on top of the cake. Whilst talking with Ventsislav on the way to Belogradchik about the history of Bulgaria as one of the earliest civilisations in Europe Ventsislav asked if we had heard of the Kozarnika cave. This is a cave in which a tooth from the Lower Paleolothic period, estimated to be around 1.2-1.4 million years old, was found. This was thought to belong to Homo Erectus, the earliest form of human. The cave is significant because not only did it provide evidence of an earlier form of human migration to Europe but marked bones were found which may suggest the earliest ever example of human symbolism. After telling him we had not heard of it, he offered to take us there in addition to seeing Belogradchik and Magura. This was at least a 30 minute detour and involved a small uphill walk to the caves which was slippery in the ice and snow. Once we got to the entrance, Ventsislav had brought a head torch which allowed us to explore the cave which had multiple archeological dig sites. I am very appreciative of Ventsislav's generosity and willingness to show the beauty that Bulgaria has to offer. I cannot recommend this tour and tour operator highly enough.

Highly recommending this trip and this company and driver. He is really good at driving, explaining the tour and guiding. His car is very clean and all in all we had a great trip.

È stata un'esperienza bellissima. Il ragazzo che ci ha accompagnato e fatto da guida è stato puntualissimo, gentile, preparato e simpatico. Consiglio assolutamente