Experience the best of Belogradchik

Belogradchik lies in the north-west of Bulgaria, in the foothills of the Balkan Mountains, near the Serbian border. Around the town, red sandstone and conglomerate rocks rise in towers, pillars and walls up to about 200 metres high, shaped by wind and rain over millions of years. Local names for them include the Schoolgirl, the Madonna, the Monk and the Horsemen.

A fortress begun by the Romans and extended by the Ottomans in the early nineteenth century uses the rocks as part of its walls, and visitors climb it for views over the formations and the plain. Magura Cave, near the village of Rabisha, has prehistoric paintings made with bat droppings. Vidin and the Danube lie to the north-east, with the medieval fortress of Baba Vida on the riverbank.

Shopska salad, kebapche, grilled minced meat, and banitsa, a pastry layered with cheese, are the everyday dishes, with yoghurt at most meals. The Gamza grape, a local red variety, is grown in the north-west, and the forests on the hills turn gold in autumn.