Tours in Plovdiv

Walk up from the main pedestrian street in the late afternoon and you will notice the town change under your feet. The pavement goes smooth and busy, then the stones turn large and uneven and the street starts to tilt. That is the Old Town, and it asks you to slow down whether you planned to or not.

Plovdiv sits on a cluster of hills, and the old houses climb them in tiers. Their upper floors lean out over the lanes, their colours range from deep red to ochre to pale blue, and behind many of the gates there is a courtyard you can glimpse but not always enter. Wear shoes with proper grip. The cobbles are polished by feet and can be slippery even when dry.

The Roman Theatre is the moment most people remember. You come around a corner and the hillside opens onto a curve of stone seats with the plain spread out below and the mountains beyond. Performances still happen there, so it feels like part of the town and not a ruin behind a rope. Down in the flat part of the city, the Roman Stadium lies along the pedestrian avenue, and you can follow its outline beneath the shopfronts. It is easy to walk straight past if nobody points it out.

Then there is Kapana, the creative quarter of small lanes, with coffee, craft beer, workshops and tables spilling across the stones. It is where locals go when they are not showing anyone around. Beyond this, the city has more to offer: the Hill of the Youth for the view, the churches and museums of the Old Town, and the Ethnographic Museum. If one of those calls to you, ask. A local guide can build a visit around it.