Peshtera

Peshtera is a town of about 12,500 people at the northern foot of the Western Rhodopes, in Pazardzhik Province: 17 km from Pazardzhik, 36 km from Plovdiv and 123 km from Sofia. The name means "cave", after the many caves in the hills around it; it first appears in an Ottoman tax register of 1479. The town is known for its shoe industry and for the Peshtera rakia and mastika made by the local Vinprom distillery.

Snezhanka Cave

Snezhanka, one of the 100 National Tourist Sites, is about 5 km from town in the Batak mountain. Discovered in 1961, it is named for its snow-white formations. It is lit and visited on guided tours, and the last part is a steep path of about 800 m (around 25 minutes) on foot, so it is not suitable for pushchairs. A second cave nearby, Yubileyna, discovered in 1974, was sealed with a gate straight away to protect its formations and is not open to visitors.

Peristera fortress

The late-antique fortress stands on St Petka hill just north of the centre, by the road to Pazardzhik. At its core archaeologists found an older Thracian sanctuary with steps cut into the rock. It was declared a monument of national importance in 2012 and has been restored, with viewing shelters, an accessible path and a museum in the rebuilt south tower.

In town

• The Church of St Dimitar, built in 1825–1831 by the local master builders Kuzman Michov and Petar Kazov, with a carved iconostasis and 19th-century icons.
• The Sahat clock tower, dated to around 1650.
• The Historical Museum, opened in 1969, with more than 8,000 items in five halls, from the Neolithic onwards.
• The Prof. Veselin Staykov Art Gallery, founded in 1996.

Around Peshtera

The Kupena reserve begins about 3 km south of town. The road south climbs 18 km to the Sveti Konstantin mountain area, where a national folklore festival takes place on the last weekend of July, and continues towards Batak and the Batak reservoir. Bratsigovo is also close. Half a day covers Snezhanka and the fortress; add a day for the mountains towards Batak.