Bachkovo Monastery is a great starting point if you are looking for ideas for a day trip from Villa Topi. Usually our guests who stay longer in the house ask us for places to recommend them to visit. Bachkovo Monastery is located about 55 km and about 1 hour away by private car.
We can honestly say that the Bachkovo Monastery is one of the most beautiful monasteries in Bulgaria and the second largest. We recommend all Bulgarians to visit it and to allow enough time. Bachkovo Monastery is a great place for a leisurely walk, where you can combine history, culture and nature. In the monastery you can spend several hours without feeling the time pass.
Where to park?
Starting from Villa Topi, you will move along the road Plovdiv – Pamporovo. The turnoff for Bachkovo Monastery will be on the left of the main road.
When you get there and enter the short intersection, you have the option to pull into a parking lot immediately on the left. Thus, your walk will begin with a climb up the cobbled craft alley. It is also a nice place to walk.
The other option is to drive to the monastery itself. There is also a very large parking lot directly in front of it. Despite the many pedestrians walking along this alley, you can drive up to the top. At the end of Tarova street there is a point where you have to pay for the stay in the upper parking lot.
A great treasure is the Bachkovo Monastery and the entire complex to it
Already at the main entrance of the monastery, you can drink nice cold water from the stone fountain. The centuries-old plane trees around the monastery arouse the admiration of visitors. You want to lay your hands on them and tell them your story. A cynar tree welcomes you outside opposite the fountain and in the inner courtyard of the monastery.
In addition, you can take time to explore the museum, Orthodox bookshop, church shop, halls with multimedia in them. They all tell the history of the monastery. The two stone halls with multimedia entice you to take a peek and somehow imperceptibly sit down on the chairs to rest and listen.
There is also an outdoor cactus garden. The prickly plants are varied and huge, reminiscent of those in botanical gardens.
Of course, the wormhole in the center of the courtyard is the main starting point of the walk to the Bachkovo Monastery. It is extremely richly decorated, colorful and insanely beautiful. While you wait patiently for your turn to bow before the Miraculous Icon of the Mother of God, you have the opportunity to examine every detail around you. Everything is admirable. To bow before the icon of the Mother of God, you must enter the church. It is located on the right. It is necessary to climb a 3-step ladder to reach it.
The monastery is very busy and there are plenty of places to sit. You imperceptibly become quiet and humble in this place. It’s also pretty cool next to the stone walls.
If you stand with your back to the monastery you will see paths to two more chapels in the hills. You can continue with the walk. Nature is enticingly beautiful.
Where to eat?
After all this adventure, you will want to sit down and support yourself with something delicious.
Just in front of the monastery on the left, and also all along the craft alley, there are small traps, ice creams, donuts, waffles and other options for a bite.
At the end of the alley, right next to the intersection for the main road, there is the “Waterfall” restaurant. Here you can sit and reward yourself with authentic Bulgarian cuisine and a cool drink.
Our favorite place is the Tunela fishmonger restaurant. This is the last establishment on the right on the main road in the direction of Plovdiv – Pamporo. Here you can eat fresh trout, gouveje with Bachkovo sarmicki… above the sound of the river and under the shade of ancient plane trees. But we will tell you about them in a separate post.
A walk to the Bachkovo Monastery gives us many reasons to be proud. It also gives us tone, energy and admiration for our nature and history!