Sofia Airport → Koprivshtitsa

Tucked into a highland valley in the Sredna Gora mountains, Koprivshtitsa grew wealthy in the 18th and 19th centuries on the trade of livestock and crafts, and its merchants built some of the finest National Revival houses in Bulgaria — brightly painted, timber-framed mansions with carved wooden ceilings and courtyards, over 380 of which are now individually protected. Cobbled streets, small stone bridges and the babbling Byala Reka stream running through the centre complete a town that feels frozen somewhere in the mid-1800s.

Koprivshtitsa also holds an outsized place in Bulgarian history: it was here, in April 1876, that a local uprising against Ottoman rule broke out, becoming the spark for the wider April Uprising that eventually led to Bulgarian independence. Several of the merchant houses are preserved as museums dedicated to the revolutionaries who lived in them, making a visit here as much a history lesson as an architectural one — and an easy, relaxed half-day trip from Sofia.