Lady’s Itinerary for 2 Days in Sofia, Bulgaria

I want to share my travel itinerary for 2 days in Sofia with you today. The capital of Bulgaria is worth a visit for its rich history and wealth of cultural attractions. It’s a great place to go in the Balkans.

2 Days in Sofia

Fans of Saint Sofia had some good urban planning ideas when they built the city they named after her. Bursting with churches, cathedrals, parks, palaces, and pedestrianized streets, Sofia, Bulgaria is alive with cultural treasures.

Even decades of communism and the drab buildings that went up with them couldn’t dampen the spirit of the saint’s pretty city. My 2 days in Sofia were a riot of color and culture.

How to Get to Sofia

I arrived in Sofia at 1pm after a five-hour-and-15-minute minibus ride from Skopje, North Macedonia. My first order of business was to buy a train ticket for my trip to Belgrade the next day.

I walked over to the train station and eventually found the tiny international ticketing office. There I was told to wait until the next day if I wanted to purchase a ticket with a couchette reservation for the sleeper carriage.

I hopped into a taxi, which took me through eerily empty streets. I later learned Sundays in Sofia are an anomaly traffic-wise. The same streets my taxi breezed down that day would be choked with cars at most other times of the week.

I enjoyed a scenic drive through the empty streets. The golden light of afternoon graced Saint Sofia’s city, illuminating the historic buildings and wide boulevards with its broad beams.

Where to Stay in Sofia

At the end of the ride, I alighted at the Hotel Marinela Sofia, the tallest building on the highest hill in the city. It was also the largest five-star hotel in Sofia, so much so that a person could live there without ever leaving.

The hotel had offered me a complimentary room for my 2 days in Sofia. When I arrived, I learned it had no fewer than six restaurants, including one with the most opulent decor I’ve seen in a while.

It also had a rooftop restaurant with panoramic views over the city and a sushi restaurant in an authentic Japanese garden.

The Hotel Marinela Sofia also had a fitness center with the biggest hotel swimming pool in the city, a lobby bar and cigar lounge, conference spaces, ballrooms, and of course, guest rooms and suites.

My room was on the seventh floor, and it had great views over Sofia. It was a good size, with a large bed, a desk, chairs, and a spacious bathroom.

What to Do in 2 Days in Sofia

After getting settled, my 2 days in Sofia continued as I met up with some friends of a friend I went to Mongolia with last summer. They live in Sofia and were kind enough to set aside part of their Sunday afternoon to take me around the city.

Leaving the hotel, we drove down to the city center and parked near the main sights.

Our Sofia sightseeing tour started at the Sveta Nedelya Church, which was so popular with weddings that as soon as one couple left the building, another entered.

The icon-filled interior was one of the most beautiful in the city, and seemingly everyone wanted to have their nuptials there.

Around the corner from the church was a huge rectangular building that housed government offices, the presidential palace, and the Sofia Hotel Balkan.

The historic exterior gave way to an interior courtyard with 4th-century Roman ruins and the Church of St George, which was from the same period.

Walking out the other side of the building, my 2 days in Sofia continued as we strolled past the bright yellow National Art Gallery, which was housed in the former royal palace.

In front of it was a yellow brick road. Yes, it was just like the legendary street of the same name in The Wizard of Oz, only the bricks came from Austria.

Continuing along the yellow brick road, we passed by a stunning Russian church, complete with onion domes and a mosaic facade.

I learned it was one of the most visited churches in the city, which didn’t surprise me given its beautiful exterior.

On the next block from there, the yellow theme continued with the Central Military Club, a site my hosts informed me is now mostly used for private parties and functions.

Around the corner we came to Sofia’s most stunning monument, the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral. The church was one of the largest I’ve ever seen, and its architecture was as grandiose as its size dictated.

The gilded caps of cascading domes and blinding white exterior walls set the stage for a stunning interior replete with beautiful art and iconography.

Next to the church was an antiques market that sold everything from old military medals to kitschy souvenir magnets. My guides told me most of the goods for sale were overpriced, but it was still fun to stroll through.

Behind the church were several bars and clubs, one of which, Planet, was fabled to be the chosen hangout of the Bulgarian mafia.

I later continued my 2 days in Sofia by having drinks there with another friend of a friend.

He told me the owners had paid 2 million euros to have the interior designed and decorated. Given how stylish the place looked, I wasn’t surprised.

Passing Planet, we rounded another corner and circled back towards where we came from. We walked by the national library, Sofia University, and the national assembly, and eventually came to the national theater.

There was a concert going on outside, and music filled the air as we made our way back to the car.

When we arrived at the Hotel Marinela Sofia, I met up with my next host and returned to Planet for drinks.

One of his friends met us there and the three of us went to dinner at Spaghetti Kitchen, a nearby Italian restaurant on 6 Septemvri Street.

My hosts insisted I try a traditional Bulgarian drink that loosely translated as “sour milk”. It consisted of yogurt mixed with water, and it tasted much better than it sounded. With it I ate a big bowl of vegetable risotto.

After dinner my 2 days in Sofia continued as we walked to a nearby neighborhood with several lively bars and cafes.

I returned the next afternoon to see them in the daylight, and ended up having coffee at a cute place called Le Salon aux Fleurs on Oborishte Street.

Next door was a restaurant called Pavilion 37, and down the street were the French Embassy and the Museum Gallery of Modern Art. It was one of my favorite parts of Sofia.

As I walked back to the main street, I passed by a pretty park, a cupcake shop, and several bars and restaurants.

Not far from there was the 16th-century Banya Bashi Mosque, which was located in a peaceful square with a fountain. Near it was the stunning Sofia Synagogue, the third largest in Europe.

It was located close to the medieval Sveta Petka Samardjiiska Church. The tiny building was so sunken into the ground it was in the middle of a carved-out pedestrian underpass for a metro station.

The frescoes inside were badly eroded, but the parts that remained were beautiful.

After exploring as much of the city as I could during my 2 days in Sofia, I walked back to my hotel.

The 45-minute stroll took me along a pedestrianized shopping street, through a large park, past the National Palace of Culture, and up the hill to the Hotel Marinela Sofia.

I checked out of the hotel, hopped in a taxi, and made a quick stop to meet with another friend of a friend at his office by the train station. We caught up briefly before I went to purchase my ticket.

It was easy to buy, but the woman who sold it to me told me to purchase the couchette reservation from the conductor on board the train. I was a bit confused by that, but went along with it.

When I boarded the night train from Sofia to Belgrade, the conductor put me in a three-bed compartment. Fortunately, I had it all to myself.

Unfortunately, the conductor would only accept euros. I had 3. I needed 10. After a bit of negotiating, he allowed me to pay in a mixture of euros and dollars.

Relieved, I settled in for the 10-hour train trip to Serbia. I was excited Belgrade was on my Balkans travel itinerary, but I felt sad to leave Saint Sofia and her beautiful city behind.

2 Days in Sofia

Someday I’ll follow the yellow brick road back to Bulgaria and spend another 2 days in Sofia exploring its rich cultural heritage. I hope you get a chance to as well.

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