De Sofia: Mosteiro de Rila com a Igreja de Boyana ou a Caverna de St. Ivan

I took part in a day trip to Rila Monastery and St. Ivan Cave. I booked it through Booking.com, and everything went perfectly. The day before departure, I received a text message from the tour operator with all the exact details—the bus license plate, vehicle number, guide's name, departure time, and a link to the meeting point map. The bus was completely full. At the end of the trip, our guide shared that there were 69 of us representing 21 different nationalities! We started the journey with a short stop at Boyana Church, which was a wonderful surprise since it hadn't been mentioned in the original tour description. The Rila Monastery itself was breathtaking. The guide gave us some great tips on what to see and recommended things to do in the area, including a local restaurant and an amazing bakery. The hike to St. Ivan Cave was a real adventure. The climb up the rocky path, in particular, proved to be quite a physical challenge. The entire day was exceptionally well-organized; we had plenty of time at each stop, and the drive was smooth and relaxing. Last but not least, a huge thank you goes to our guide, Hristo, and our driver, Stojan, for making the day so fantastic. Together, they effortlessly managed to communicate not only in English but also in Italian and French with the participants.

I visited the monastery and cave. In the tour though, if you didn’t book the church you still have to go and wait for the group, (btw they were charging €6 for 6 minutes to look inside the church)! The Monastery was absolutely beautiful, out of this world. The cave was pretty cool, went inside and climbed through the hole. Overall was a good trip but group was too big and a lot of waiting around. Tour guide Lubo was excellent though, very funny and gave lots of information on each place we went to. For this trip, it only cost me about £17 on Viator. It was so worth £17, bargain tour!

Very interesting tour. Rila Monastery is beautiful and, thanks to the guide Simeon, the walk to the cave of Saint John of Rila was fun. 5-star experience!

Beautiful day. Rila Monastery and Saint Ivan's Cave are truly evocative. Driver and guide, Rosen and Simone, were super helpful and knowledgeable.

It was a great day with Svet...a guide in English who was really helpful with interesting infirmation all the time. We would recommend to anyone...!! We got back by 5pm and had time to visit the mosque and the cathedral.

The tour was interesting and well-conducted by our expert guide, Zakaria, who speaks excellent Italian and provided us with all the necessary information about the church, the monastery, and also the region. At the monastery, we bought a ticket, at a cost of 12€ (payable only in cash!) to visit the 3 small museums inside the monastery. At the exit of the monastery, there is a small restaurant where you eat well, at a very reasonable cost, and you can enjoy the surrounding landscape. The organization is good and the timing was respected. I definitely recommend it!

Satisfied, I recommend it, guide available and willing, speaks good Italian

Excellent choice of excursion to the Rila Monastery, visit to the Boyana Church, and with great joy the guide and the driver treated us to a visit to the Bells of Peace! Thank you

A well organised trip thanks to our guide Hristo and bus driver Peter. Hristo had excellent and intersting knowledge of both the church and monastry and had a few entertaining tales to tell on the way back. We were dropped off at the end of the trip at the top of Vitosha boulevard which was then just a short walk to the restaurant we had booked for dinner. An excellent day out at a good price

Silente,movement atmosphere, place , clean, original decoration, a masterpiece,,gorgeous beauty,on top of the mounting Rila..stunning place, feeling,.a must to see in Bulgaria. I am a proud orthodox, from România, and travel everywhere to thank to my God