Pirdop

Pirdop is a town in Sofia Province, at 696 m in the middle of the Zlatitsa–Pirdop basin. It has about 6,200 inhabitants (NSI, end of 2025) and is the seat of Pirdop municipality. It lies on the sub-Balkan road, about 70 km east of Sofia and 52 km west of Karlovo, with the Zlatitsa–Teteven section of the Balkan range to the north and Sredna Gora to the south. The largest employer is the Aurubis Bulgaria copper plant.

What to see

• The Elenska basilica, 5 km north-east of town — a fortified three-aisled basilica from the 5th–6th century, the only one of its kind in the Balkan Peninsula. It was the church of the Monastery of St Elijah, which lasted until the end of the 17th century.
• The house museum of Nikola Pushkarov (1874–1943), soil scientist and IMRO band leader.
• The history museum, the Church of the Dormition and the Chapel of St George.
• The local food: lozhena banitsa, Pirdop tutmanik and "bambal", large baked beans.

A short history

The Monastery of St Elijah was a centre of writing, and the 12th-century Pirdop Apostle was probably copied there. Pirdop is mentioned in an Ottoman document of 1430 as Purotobabinche. In 1698 the local teacher Georgi compiled the Protopopinski and Tihomirov damaskins. In the 17th–18th centuries the town was a major wool-working centre, with hundreds of braid, homespun and carpet workshops. The Napredak community centre was founded in 1869, and the town was liberated on 21 December 1877.

In the mountains

Pirdop is a starting point for the Paskal, Momina Polyana, Artyovitsa and Mali Izvor huts in the Balkan range.

Getting there

By car from Sofia it is about 80 km, roughly 1 h 15 min. Pirdop station is on the Sofia–Karlovo–Burgas railway.

Nearby

Koprivshtitsa on the far side of Sredna Gora, the Boatin reserve in the Central Balkan, and the trail from Chelopech to Murgana hut.