Sofia Airport → Ruse

Ruse grew wealthy in the late 19th century as Bulgaria's leading Danube port and one of its most cosmopolitan cities, and the Austrian, French and Italian architects hired by that new merchant class left behind a centre of Baroque and Neoclassical facades unlike anywhere else in the country — hence the enduring nickname 'Little Vienna'. The pedestrianised Alexandrovska Street and the grand Liberty Square, with its dramatic Monument of Liberty, are the best places to take it in.

Ruse remains Bulgaria's main river port and sits directly across the Danube from Giurgiu in Romania, linked by the 'Danube Bridge' — the only fixed crossing between the two countries for decades. A short drive along the river, the Ivanovo Rock-Hewn Churches, a UNESCO World Heritage Site of medieval monastic cells and painted chapels carved into a limestone cliff, make an excellent add-on to a Ruse visit.