The old town
Thick-walled nineteenth-century stone houses, built like small fortresses.
Duration
1 hr – 2 hrs
Best time
Late afternoon
Open
Every day
Entry price
Free
The houses of Bansko's old town were built in the nineteenth century by merchants, and they are conceived as small fortresses: stone walls over a metre thick, high narrow windows, courtyards closed by heavy timber gates, sometimes with hidden rooms inside.
That architecture answers a specific situation — the end of the Ottoman Empire, unsafe roads and banditry. Bansko was a centre of the Bulgarian National Revival, and the Holy Trinity church, finished in 1835, is its symbol: permission to build it was granted on condition that it stand no higher than a man on horseback.
Getting there
In central Bansko, around the church square. All on foot.
Rules on site
The mehanas, the traditional taverns, serve substantial and cheap food, but many take cash only. Outside the ski season and outside summer, a share of the businesses close.