Sofia Airport → Belogradchik Rocks

Shaped over 200 million years by wind, rain and the slow dissolution of red and orange sandstone, the Belogradchik Rocks form one of the strangest landscapes in Bulgaria — scattered groups of pillars, towers and fins up to 200 metres tall, spread across roughly 90 square kilometres of the northwestern foothills. Local legend has attached names and stories to many of the more distinctive shapes, from 'the Schoolgirl' to 'the Bear', and the formations shift dramatically in appearance depending on the light and the angle you view them from.

In the 19th century, Ottoman engineers cleverly built the Kaleto Fortress directly into and around several of the rock towers, using them as natural ramparts, and the fortress walkways now offer some of the best vantage points over the whole formation. A short drive away, Magura Cave adds another dimension entirely: a vast limestone cavern decorated with rare prehistoric wall paintings made from bat guano roughly 8,000 years ago, among the oldest art of their kind found anywhere in Europe.