Rila Monastery and St. Ivan Cave History & Nature Trip from Sofia
Description
This day tour perfectly combines history, culture, and nature experiences. Enjoy a comfortable ride through the beautiful green countryside as you head toward the majestic Rila Mountains. Discover Bulgaria’s most famous UNESCO site, the Rila Monastery, with a guided or audio-guided tour. Afterward, take a relaxing walk through the woods to reach the Cave of Saint Ivan. You will also have free time to explore the monastery on your own before we drive back to Sofia.
Tour Options
Itinerary
Departure at 09:00 from the car parknext to Vasil Levski Monument, in front of the Embassy of Slovakia
Transportation from the Meeting point to the Rila Monastery. Estimated time of arrival - 12:00.
Rila Monastery is one of Bulgaria’s symbols and a popular tourist destination. The monastery is set deep in the heart of Rila Mountain, between the Rilska and Drushliavitza Rivers, at 1147 metres (3760 feet) above sea level. It is situated 120 kilometres south of Sofia.
Visit the Cave of Saint Ivan Rilski - one of the most sacred places in Bulgaria. Pass through the tunnel of St. Ivan Rilski. The belief is that only people with clean souls can pass through and that magical powers keep the sinners away. While you’re there, do not forget to drink some water from the holy spring. It is believed that this water never stops, nor freezes even when it is extremely cold.
Return to the starting point at approximately 17:00
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- Due to uneven surfaces, this tour is not recommended for those with walking disabilities
- Comfortable walking shoes recommended
- Minimum traveler age is 6 years old
- Tour with ONLINE (cloud-based) Audio-guide in different languages. INTERNET required to download and use.
Reviews(40)
Highly recommended. Our tour guide Ludo was great. A really interesting, fun day.
A very well-organized tour. The guide explained everything to us very well. They have given us enough time to complete all the visits.
Excellent day trip. Rila monastery was incredible. The guide Hristo was great amd knowledgable and shared many good stories.
Rila Monastery is spectacular. The cave is not easily accessible. The Vayana guide very nice and has given us many details along the way and in the destination.
Very good tour and the tour guide Maria was very nice and helpful.
A very well done trip that had a few extras thrown in. Our guide, Velislava, was outstanding, showing a good knowledge of the subject matter and the Italian language. The bus driver was excellent and handled the sometime demanding roads with ease and aplomb. The tour provided many opportunities to increase knowledge, try new things, and accomplish goals and growth. Would do again!
Antonio has been an excellent guide! Perfect English and Spanish management, gave us interesting data and was very fluent
Precision in organization, friendly staff , Rila Monastery must see if you go to Sofia, the museums inside are for a fee if you want to see (between €1.5 and 4.5€) super suggestive and relaxing atmosphere. Honest tour prices.
Very entertaining excursion. On the way there was a lot of information about the country and people. And a coffee break with free toilet (very clean). At the monastery the essential details were explained and you had enough time afterwards to explore for yourself ... and a very delicious grilled trout in the closed restaurant. The trip to the cave should only be made by those who feel fit enough to climb a steep and unpaved path over rocks and roots. Back there was a stop at a winery. The wine tasting is highly recommended. (You can choose 3 wines from the offer. Very good quality.) Just in time for dinner you are back in Sofia. Highly recommended !!! P.S.: The price is a joke. Driver and guide live off the tips. So please don't be stingy.
Lubo our tour guide was very knowledgable and friendly - lots of history facts on the way and a quick guided tour in the monastery. Be aware that this tour was for Boyana church, monastery and St Ivan’s cave. We had booked monastery and cave, but spent 30 minutes at Boyana for our first stop (you could pay extra to enter church or just walk around the gardens for free). We spent 1.5 hours at the monastery which was enough time to see the church and buy some bread from the bakery. Then we were back on the bus for the hike to the cave. This was 600m walk up steep rocks - but very manageable, even in surprise snowy conditions! This was the highlight in my opinion. Don’t forget to take the opportunity to be reborn by climbing through the chimney of the cave - thanks Lubo!
