Shipka: Holiday Apartments and Holiday Homes

Shipka is the starting point of the Shipka Pass, which crosses the Balkan Mountains and connects northern and southern Bulgaria.

Culture and History

The town itself is home to the Memorial Church of the Nativity of Christ, a religious and historical monument with gilded domes, a bell tower, frescoes, and a crypt. The mortal remains of nearly 9,000 Russian and Bulgarian soldiers from the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878 rest inside it. The church is easily accessible by car and can be reached from Kazanlak on intercity bus route 6.

Near Shipka, the Shipka National Park-Museum at Shipka Peak presents an open-air battlefield complex with monuments, reconstructed positions, batteries, and shelters. The Freedom Monument includes a seven-storey exhibition and a viewing platform with panoramic views over the historic battlefield. The Shipka National Park-Museum also offers transport and hiking excursions to sites within the park.

Local cultural activists in Shipka preserved a Revival-era house in the town centre and converted it into the Chirpanlieva House ethnographic museum. The house is one of the few surviving buildings from the Bulgarian National Revival period in Shipka and houses a valuable ethnographic collection. Glass plates by Antip Obusharov, documenting life in Shipka between 1906 and 1931, are also preserved there.

The Svetlina-1861 Community Center in Shipka is one of Bulgaria’s first community centres and has a rich, well-preserved history.

The Thracian tomb of Seuthes III at Golyama Kosmatka is located 1 kilometre south of Shipka and is listed with visitor hours. The Shushmanets hill temple is also located 1 kilometre south of Shipka and features a corridor, an antechamber, and a round, vaulted chamber with white plaster. The Ostrusha tomb and cult complex is located 2 kilometres south of Shipka and includes a monolithic chamber carved out of a large block of stone.

Trails and Surroundings

The “Shipka–Shipka Monastery–Russian Cemeteries–Shipka Peak” route is intended as an educational hiking trail. The Bosilkoveț Trail is accessible for most of the year and connects Shipka, Strŭmnata Polyana, and Buzludzha Hut.

Near Shipka, the archaeological complex offers five guesthouses. The five guesthouses have a capacity of up to 30 people.

Anyone wishing to rent a holiday apartment in Shipka can continue their accommodation search afterwards.

For the higher-level travel overview: Stara Sagora Province.

More Destinations

More places within the same destination:

Chirpan, Pavel Banya, Stara Zagora, Radnevo, Kazanlak.