Painted churches

Monastery of Saint John of Rila

The monastery that kept a written Bulgarian culture alive.

2–4 h

Alexander Nevsky Cathedral

Sofia's gold-domed statement of independence.

30 min–1 h

Boyana Church

Eighty square metres of painting that arrived two centuries early.

30–50 min

Rozhen Monastery

The largest monastery in Pirin, and a two-hour walk from Melnik through the pyramids

30 min–1.5 h

Saint Nedelya Church

Tsentar

Rebuilt after the deadliest terrorist attack in Bulgarian history

15–30 min

Holy Forty Martyrs Church

Three inscribed columns, a tsar's grave and the 1908 independence declaration

30–50 min

Saint George Rotunda Church

Early Christian red brick rotunda that is considered the oldest church building in Sofia

30 min–1.5 h

Dormition of the Theotokos Cathedral

Varna's cathedral, begun two years after the Ottomans left

15–30 min

Saint Sophia Church

The church that gave the city its name, standing on a Roman graveyard

30–50 min

Cathedral of St Joseph, Sofia

Bombed flat in 1944, rebuilt from nothing in 2006

15–25 min

Round Church, Preslav

10th-century church ruin in Preslav

30 min–1.5 h

Seven Saints Church

Church building in Sofia

30 min–1.5 h

Bishop's Basilica of Philippopolis

Two thousand square metres of early Christian mosaic under one roof

45 min–1.5 h

Church of St George

Hristo Botev (kvartal na Kyustendil)

Church in Kyustendil

30 min–1.5 h

St Paul of the Cross Cathedral

Brick Gothic in Ruse, built for a parish of Austrians

20–40 min

Great Basilica, Pliska

Church building in Pliska

30 min–1.5 h

Saint Demetrius Cathedral, Vidin

The largest church in Bulgaria after Alexander Nevsky

20–40 min

Church of Christ Pantocrator

Blind arcading, ceramic saucers and a brick swastika frieze above the apses

20–40 min

Church of the Holy Mother of God, Plovdiv

Where the Christmas liturgy of 1859 was first sung in Slavonic

15–30 min

Hagia Sophia Church

The Old Metropolis: a roofless 6th-century basilica standing in the middle of the town

20–40 min

The Memorial Temple of the Birth of Christ (Shipka)

Gold domes below the pass, with bells cast from spent cartridges

30 min–1 h

Church of the Nativity of Christ in Arbanasi

A barn from outside; 2,000 square metres of fresco within

30 min–1 h

Church of the Holy Archangels Michael and Gabriel

Green glazed ceramic in triple rows, and brickwork laid in chessboard order

15–30 min

Church of St Stephen

The New Metropolis: 258 painted scenes of 1599 on the walls of an 11th-century basilica

30 min–1 h

Patriarchal Cathedral of the Holy Ascension of God

30 min–1.5 h

Church of Saint Paraskevi

Nesebar brickwork at its most confident, on a church that lost its dome

10–20 min

Small Basilica

Basilica in Plovdiv

30 min–1.5 h

Church of St John Aliturgetos

The finest brick-and-stone facade on the Black Sea, wrecked by the 1913 earthquake

20–40 min

Church of Saint John the Baptist

A 10th-century church of rough stone, built over a 6th-century basilica

20–40 min

Church of St Demetrius of Thessaloniki, Veliko Tarnovo

30 min–1.5 h

Basilica of the Holy Mother of God Eleusa, Nesebar

A 6th-century basilica half in the sea, on the north shore beside the stone windmill

15–30 min

Church of St Theodore

A single-nave church of the 13th century, with staggered zigzag brickwork on two walls

10–20 min

Church of Saints Peter and Paul

Asenov, Veliko Tarnovo

Church in Veliko Tarnovo

30 min–1.5 h

Lopushna Monastery

A monastery near Georgi Damyanovo, in the north-west

30 min–1.5 h

Holy Cross church

Surp Hach, the Armenian church of 1853, built where a wooden chapel had stood

15–30 min

Church of the Holy Saviour

A small 1609 church, sunk below the street, with its murals almost intact

20–40 min

Church of Saint George in Sozopol

Sozopol's working church, with relics of St John the Baptist and a piece of the Cross

15–30 min

Mother of God Orthodox church

The Orthodox Dormition church in the centre, a short walk from the cathedral

10–20 min

Holy Mother of God Church

Nesebar

The only church in old Nesebar where anything still happens, consecrated in 1894

15–30 min

Saints Cyril and Methodius Church

The city cathedral, 33 metres high, built to an Italian design between 1897 and 1907

20–40 min

Saint Petka the Old Church

Church in Sofia

30 min–1.5 h

Church of the Assumption

Wasraschdane

The Roman Catholic parish church, built 1936–37 by the city architect

15–30 min

Hl Mutter Gottes, Burgas

The Greek Catholic church of the Dormition, part of a girls' school complex

15–30 min

Holy Trinity Church in Malko Tarnovo

The Eastern Catholic church of Malko Tarnovo, consecrated in 1936

15–30 min

St Demetrius Church

Church building in Asenovgrad

30 min–1.5 h

Church of the Nativity, Pomorie

The parish church in Pomorie's old quarter, among the ten listed houses

15–30 min

Saint John of Rila Church

A parish church of 1934, north of the centre and off every tourist route

10–20 min

Church of the Theotokos in Sozopol

A 15th-century church dug into the ground to keep within an Ottoman height limit

15–30 min

Saint George Church, Veliko Tarnovo

A church in Veliko Tarnovo

30 min–1.5 h

Saint Zosimus church

An 1857 chapel in the town garden, on the ruins of a medieval church

10–20 min

Holy Spirit Church, Sofia

The only Carmelite monastery in Bulgaria, and Eastern Catholic

30 min–1.5 h