Veliko Tarnovo

Nicopolis ad Istrum

A Roman city Trajan founded to mark beating the Dacians

45 min–1.5 h

Tsarevets

The hill the Second Bulgarian Empire was ruled from

1–2 h

Holy Forty Martyrs Church

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

30–50 min

Bacho Kiro cave

30 min–1.5 h

Dryanovo Monastery

A nine-day siege in 1876, and Europe's oldest modern humans 300 m away

45 min–1.5 h

Church of the Nativity of Christ in Arbanasi

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

30 min–1 h