Rila Monastery Day Trip from Sofia, Bulgaria
Rila Monastery is one of the most popular places to visit in Bulgaria. It dates all the way back to the 10th century and was an important center for culture and knowledge in Bulgaria for over 1,000 years.
After being destroyed by fire, the monastery was rebuilt in all its current splendor in the mid-19th century in the Bulgarian Revival style. Because of its cultural significance, Rila Monastery was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site. And it’s an amazing day trip that you can easily take from Sofia.
Set against a backdrop of the Rila Mountains, the monastery is a beautiful, peaceful place. There are five museums within the monastery complex, as well as an Orthodox church that is open to visitors.
Just outside the walls of the monastery, you’ll find a bakery, a couple of restaurants, and hiking trails that will take you along the Rila River. You can easily spend several hours at Rila Monastery. It takes roughly two hours to get to Rila Monastery from Sofia, which makes it a very popular excursion from the capital.
I just recently did this day trip myself, and I’m here to share everything you need to know!
How to Get to Rila Monastery
As I mentioned, Rila Monastery is located about two hours from Sofia. It can take a little less time or a little more time, depending on how traffic is. Over half of the route is on a highway, and then for the last 45 minutes or so, you’ll be taking a winding road as you get into the foothills of the Rila Mountains.
You have several options for getting ot Rila Monastery: tour, bus, and rental car.
Option 1: Taking a Tour (Best Option!)
Taking a tour is the best way to get to Rila Monastery. A tour is literally cheaper than the bus, and you’ll get a lot more out of the experience! This is the exact tour I did, and I would highly recommend it.
The company is called City Tour Sofia, but there are several other companies that run a very similar tour. For only $25, including transportation by bus from Sofia and an amazing guide who provided so much additional context about the monastery and Bulgaria as a whole, I felt like this was great value for money.
We had three hours at the monastery, which was plenty of time. Normally, the tour also includes a stop at the historic Boyana Church near Sofia. But since my tour fell on Orthodox Easter, the church was closed. We made an alternate stop at Kambanite Park instead, and returned to Sofia in the early evening.
Option 2: Taking the Bus
There used to be a cheaper direct bus from Sofia to Rila Monastery, but it stopped running in 2020 and never restarted. So right now, the only option is the bus that is run by Traventuria.
This is €15 each way, so it’s €30 round-trip, which is more than just booking a tour. There’s no real benefit to doing this, unless you really want to spend more time at the monastery. The bus leaves Sofia at 9 AM each morning, and departs the monastery at 3 PM and 5 PM, so you could stay for longer if you wanted.
However, I thought that the three hours the tour gives was plenty of time.
Option 3: Renting a Car
You could also rent a car to visit Rila Monastery if you wanted maximum flexibility. However, for just a day trip, I think this could be more hassle than it’s worth, since you’d have to pick up and return a rental car.
For solo travelers or couples, it will also probably be more expensive than taking the tour. The only way it might save you money is if you have a small group. That being said, if flexibility is important to you, this could be an option to consider. The drive itself is not bad, especially once you’re out of the city.
To find the best deals on rental cars in Bulgaria, I recommend DiscoverCars.
Things to Know About Visiting Rila Monastery
Here are a few important things to know about Rila Monastery before you go:
The monastery is free to visit. You don’t have to buy tickets, and you can walk around the public areas of the monastery and enter the church for free. Only the museums have an admission fee.
You can’t go upstairs. Visitors aren’t permitted to climb the steps to the upper floors of the monastery. It’s reserved for the monks and guests staying at the monastery. However, I have a little tip for how you actually can visit the upper floors. Read on in the next section to find out how to do it!
Modest clothing is required. To enter the church at Rila Monastery, men and women must wear clothing that covers their shoulders and their knees. Everyone must also remove hats and sunglasses.
You can’t put your hands in your pockets. Doing this is considered disrespectful in an Orthodox church. Our guide told us this, but I still forgot. I visited on a chilly day and was wearing a coat, and I always have my hands in my pockets. I was reminded by a worker in the church not to do this.
No photographs are allowed inside the church. You can take as many photos as you want in the public areas of the monastery, but photos are not permitted inside the monastery church itself.
There are fewer than ten monks living at the monastery. Although Rila Monastery is still an active monastery, there’s actually a very small number of monks who live there full-time these days.
Dining options are limited. There are two restaurants just outside the monastery, as well as a bakery. When you exit the monastery, the restaurant on the left is great (I ate here and had a lovely experience.) The restaurant further up the street to the right has terrible reviews, so definitely avoid that one.
And now let’s talk about the museums at Rila Monastery…
Museums at Rila Monastery
The following five museums are located inside the Rila Monastery complex:
- Church History Museum (€4.50)
- The Icon Gallery (€2.50)
- Hrelov Tower (€2.50)
- Economy of the Monastery Museum (€2.50)
- Ethnographic Museum and Guest Rooms (€3.50)
You can also buy a combined ticket to all of the museums for €12.
All of the museums are pretty small, so if you opt for the combined ticket, you can visit them in less than 1.5 hours. If you visit just one museum, make it the Ethnographic Museum and Guest Rooms.
As I mentioned earlier, visitors can’t go to the upper floors of the monastery. But if you visit this museum, you’ll be escorted upstairs to two of the upper floors to see various historic guest rooms as well as the museum rooms, which display traditional Bulgarian textiles and clothing. This was very much worth it!
I opted to visit this museum only, and it was a really cool experience. I was able to see more of the monastery this way. Plus I snapped some great pictures of the monastery from the upper floors.
Note that you might need to wait a little while for someone to become available to take you to this museum. After I bought my ticket from the museum office, I was told to come back in twenty minutes for my visit. At that point, someone escorted another visitor and me upstairs to see the museum.
Best Rila Monastery Tours
I already shared the exact tour that I did when I visited Rila Monastery, but I wanted to highlight a couple of other options too. All of these tours combine a visit to Rila Monastery with another destination as well.
Rila Monastery and Boyana Church Tour
This is the tour that I booked, although since my tour date fell on Orthodox Easter, Boyana Church was closed, and we made an alternate stop at Kambanite Park instead. Boyana Church is another UNESCO World Heritage Site, so if you book this tour, you’ll get to see two UNESCO World Heritage Sites in one day.
For this tour, you’ll meet at a central pickup point in Sofia, the Vasil Levski Monument. This is where all of the Sofia day trips depart from, and you’ll receive instructions on which bus is yours.
On my tour, we had an excellent guide, Iva, who provided a lot of commentary while we were on the bus, as well as a one-hour tour once we got to the monastery. We then had two hours of free time to explore the monastery, which was plenty of time for me to check out one of the museums and grab a bite to eat.
Rila Monastery and Seven Rila Lakes Tour
If you’re up for an outdoorsy adventure and want to explore more of the Rila Mountains, this extended day tour to Rila Monastery and the famous Seven Rila Lakes is a great option — but it’s a long day!
You’ll start by heading to Rila National Park, where you’ll get six hours of free time to do the hike to the Seven Rila Lakes at your own pace. After taking a twenty-minute chairlift up to the starting point, you’re still looking at a four-hour round-trip hike to reach this scenic viewpoint overlooking seven lakes.
This is a fairly strenuous hike, but the views are beautiful! Then you’ll settle in for a one-hour and 45-minute drive to Rila Monastery, where you’ll have an hour and fifteen minutes to explore on your own.
Rila Monastery and Plovdiv Tour
Another combo tour takes you to Rila Monastery and the historic city of Plovdiv. I personally recommend doing Plovdiv as a separate day trip from Sofia, but if you’re short on time, this is an option.
This tour will be another long day of driving. You’ll start off driving two hours to Plovdiv, where you’ll have four hours to explore this amazing city on your own. Then you’ll hop back on the bus for a 3.5-hour drive through winding mountain roads (with a break midway) to get to Rila Monastery.
Here, you’ll have an hour and 15 minutes to visit the monastery on your own. This tour is a good way to do two of the most popular day trips from Sofia in just one day if you don’t have much time.
Visiting Rila Monastery on a Day Trip from Sofia: Worth It?
I definitely think that visiting Rila Monastery on a day trip is worth it!
It’s an incredible example of the Bulgarian Revival style. But it also goes back even further than that, with more than 1,000 years of history. And the setting of the monastery is so beautiful in the mountains.
This tour is my top recommendation for visiting Rila Monastery. It’s the most cost-effective way of getting there, and you also get the added benefit of having a tour guide to provide additional context.
Enjoy your visit to Rila Monastery!
Related Guides:
