Tsarevets is the symbolic heart of Veliko Tarnovo and the reason most travellers come. Set on a rocky peak almost entirely encircled by the Yantra, it once held the royal palace, the patriarch’s residence, churches, towers and a small medieval town within its walls. Today the fortified hill is an open-air archaeological reserve, and the climb up its restored ramparts gives some of the widest views over the city, the gorge and the surrounding ridges. On summer evenings, the hill hosts the “Sound and Light” audiovisual performance, which retells the dramatic history of the medieval Bulgarian state through music, lasers and church bells.

At the very top of Tsarevets stands the reconstructed Patriarchal Cathedral, once the seat of the Bulgarian Patriarch during the Second Empire. The interior is unusual for an Orthodox church: instead of traditional iconography, it is decorated with bold, modernist frescoes painted in the 1980s, which depict Bulgarian history in stark, almost graphic style. Climb to the bell tower for the highest viewpoint in the city — a full panorama of the Yantra meanders, the old town clinging to the opposite slopes and the green hills rolling away towards the Balkan Mountains.

Across the river, on a small terrace above the gorge, four bronze horsemen rise around a tall stone sword. The Monument to the Assen Dynasty honours the brothers Asen and Petar, who declared independence from Byzantium in 1185 and made Veliko Tarnovo the capital of the restored Bulgarian state, together with later rulers Kaloyan and Ivan Asen II. The approach itself is part of the experience: as you walk across the bridge towards the monument, the old town reveals itself in one long, cinematic sweep, with houses stacked above the river and Tsarevets crowning the far end of the panorama.

Gurko Street is the most photographed lane in the city, and rightly so. It runs along the steep slope above the Yantra, lined with revival-era houses whose stone foundations, whitewashed walls and timber upper storeys lean out over the river. Many of the buildings are more than two hundred years old, and the street has kept much of its 19th-century character. It is best walked slowly, with frequent stops at the small openings between houses where the gorge suddenly appears below.

A short walk from Gurko leads into Samovodska Charshia, the old crafts market quarter. This is where weavers, potters, coppersmiths and bakers traditionally had their workshops, and a number of them still do, alongside small galleries and family-run cafés. The wider old town is a network of cobbled lanes, stairways and tiny squares — easy to wander without a plan, and full of revival-era houses, small Orthodox churches and quiet courtyards filled with vines and flowers.

Veliko Tarnovo has its own small in-town station, but most travellers arrive via Gorna Oryahovitsa station, the regional hub ten kilometres north of the city. The station is well connected to the centre by frequent buses and shuttle trains, and taxis are readily available outside the main entrance. Once in the city, the old town, Tsarevets and the Asenevtsi Monument are all within walking distance of each other, though the terrain is steep — comfortable shoes matter more here than in most Danube towns. Cyclists who want to keep their bikes with them will find the old town largely unsuitable for riding, but the city makes an excellent place to leave the saddle behind for a couple of days and explore entirely on foot.