Plovdiv in 2 days, on foot

This 2-day self-guided walking plan for Plovdiv covers 13 narrated sights in an easy day-by-day order. Each day is split into a morning and an afternoon loop, and every stop has a two to three minute audio story in the Gingerguide app.

You set the pace: this is a suggested order, not a schedule. Walk it in 2 days, or stretch it out. Reorder freely; Plovdiv rewards a detour.

The Plovdiv route at a glance

• Day 1
• Day 2

Day 1

Day 1 covers 7 stops and about 2.6 km on foot, from Great Basilica of Philippopolis to Nebet Tepe. ≈ 2.6 km of walking, about 30 min

Morning

1. Great Basilica of Philippopolis: The Great Basilica of Philippopolis, the largest early Christian church found in Bulgaria, from the fourth century, now under a modern museum building with about 2,000 square metres of mosaic floors. 0.5 km on foot (6 min) to the next stop
2. Roman Theatre of Philippopolis: The Roman theatre of Philippopolis, cut into the saddle between two of the Old Town hills, with marble seat rows facing south to the Rhodope Mountains and still used for summer performances. 0.7 km on foot (8 min) to the next stop
3. Sahat Tepe and the Clock Tower: Sahat Tepe, the clock hill in the centre of Plovdiv, a rocky park crowned by an Ottoman clock tower of 1812, with views over the Old Town to the other hills of the city. 0.4 km on foot (5 min) to the next stop
4. Roman Stadium of Philippopolis: The Roman stadium of Philippopolis, built under Hadrian, whose curved northern end lies open below Dzhumaya Square while the rest of the track runs hidden under the main pedestrian street. 0.1 km on foot (1 min) to the next stop

Afternoon

1. Dzhumaya Mosque: The Dzhumaya Mosque, the Friday mosque of Plovdiv beside the Roman stadium, one of the oldest Ottoman buildings in the Balkans, with nine domes and a minaret of patterned brick. 0.3 km on foot (3 min) to the next stop
2. Kapana: Kapana, the old craftsmen's quarter of Plovdiv just north of Dzhumaya Square, a tangle of lanes named after old trades and now full of cafes, galleries, workshops and street art. 0.6 km on foot (7 min) to the next stop
3. Nebet Tepe: Nebet Tepe, the rocky hilltop at the north end of the Old Town, where the earliest settlement of Plovdiv began, with fortress walls, a postern tunnel and wide views over the city.

Day 2

Day 2 covers 6 stops and about 0.9 km on foot, from Old Town of Plovdiv to Bachkovo Monastery. 2 longer hops are best done by public transport or taxi. ≈ 0.9 km of walking, about 10 min

Morning

1. Old Town of Plovdiv: The Old Town of Plovdiv, a protected quarter on three hills where cobbled lanes climb between nineteenth-century merchants' houses with painted walls, overhanging upper floors and courtyard gardens. 40 m on foot (1 min) to the next stop
2. Church of Saints Constantine and Helena: The Church of Saints Constantine and Helena, beside the Hisar Kapia gate in the Old Town, on one of the oldest Christian sites in Plovdiv, with a painted porch and a gilded carved iconostasis. 70 m on foot (1 min) to the next stop
3. Regional Ethnographic Museum: The Regional Ethnographic Museum of Plovdiv, in the painted Kuyumdzhioglu House of 1847, one of the finest merchants' houses of the Old Town, with folk costumes, crafts and furnished rooms. 0.8 km on foot (10 min) to the next stop

Afternoon

1. Small Basilica of Philippopolis: The Small Basilica of Philippopolis, a fifth-century church found by chance in 1988, with colourful geometric mosaics and a baptistery showing a deer and doves, under a protective pavilion. 20 km to the next stop: take transport
2. Asen's Fortress: Asen's Fortress, a medieval stronghold on a rocky ridge above the Asenitsa gorge near Asenovgrad, crowned by the twelfth-century Church of the Holy Mother of God with fourteenth-century frescoes. 5.3 km to the next stop: take transport
3. Bachkovo Monastery: Bachkovo Monastery, in a wooded valley of the Rhodopes south of Plovdiv, founded in 1083 and the second-largest monastery in Bulgaria, with painted churches, an old refectory and a mural panorama.

Walking distances and times follow streets and footpaths (routing by openrouteservice.org, map data © OpenStreetMap contributors). Times are walking only, at an easy pace; add time at each stop.

Updated: October 27, 2026

Full Plovdiv guide and all stops →