Plovdiv is located in the Western part of the Upper Thracian Plain at 160 m above the sea level, on the shores of Maritsa River, onto and around six syenite hills with area 53 sq km, at 42º 9`N Latitude and 24º 45` E longitude. Plovdiv is the second biggest city in Bulgaria with population of about 376 911. It is the administrative center of South Central Region, District Plovdiv. There are important road arteries passing through the City, which since ancient times connect the East with Europe, the Baltic with the Mediterranean and Black Sea with the Adriatic.

Plovdiv is equally remote from all Balkan capitals, you can reach it within one day either from Skopje, Tirana, Thessaloniki, Istanbul or Bucharest.

If you first arrive in the capital of Bulgaria, Sofia, you can get to Plovdiv by taxi, rented car, intercity bus or train. The distance between the two cities is 130 km or 1 h and 30 min drive or around 2 hours bus ride on highway Trakiya. The express train reaches Plovdiv for 2 h and 15 min, and the fast train for 2 h and 45 min.

If you first arrive in one of the two seaport cities – Varna and Burgas, you should know that the distance Varna – Plovdiv is 398 km or about 5 hours, and from Burgas to Plovdiv is 260 km which is about 3 h and 30 min.

The people arriving in Bulgaria from Western or Central Europe by car or bus usually cross the country’s western border at Kalotina or Gyueshevo. The distance from Kalotina to Plovdiv is 204 km on the first-class road E80, via Dragoman and Sofia, and from Gyueshevo to Plovdiv is 221 km on the first-class road E871 via Kyustendil, Pernik and Sofia.

Most of the land traffic coming form Romania to Bulgaria is via the Danube Bridge connecting Giurgiu (Romania) and Ruse (Bulgaria). The distance between Ruse and Plovdiv is 299 km on the first-class road E85, passing the towns of Byala and Veliko Tarnovo, then Gabrovo, the Shipka Passage, the Valley of Roses and Karlovo on road E64. The ferryboat connections are through Vidin, Nikopol and Oryahovo.

The access from Greece is through Checkpoint Kulata, Checkpoint Novo Selo, Checkpoint Ilinden and Checkpoint Zlatograd.

The traffic from Turkey to Plovdiv passes through Checkpoint Kapitan Andreevo – 160 km from Plovdiv, Checkpoint Malko Tarnovo – 291 km and Checkpoint Lesovo – 194 km.

The international railway transport to Plovdiv is done by the trains en route from Western Europe to Istanbul and the Middle East.

The location of the City /in the Western part of the Upper Thracian Plain at 160 m above the sea level, on the shores of Maritsa River, onto and around six syenite hills/ determines its soft climate with short winter and long hot summer. The average annual temperature is 12 – 15° C, the City’s maximum of 46°C was registered in 1990 and the minimum -18°C in 1942. The average temperature in January is around 0°C and in July around 23°C.

Municipality Plovdiv stands out with small in number tourist resources with big potential: the longest river in the Balkans – Maritsa, which is also the longest river in Bulgaria and the six rocky hills (tepeta). The Thracian tourist region is located in the Transitional – Mediterranean geographic area. It includes the Upper Thracian Plain, the middle part of Stara Planina Mountain and the western and eastern parts of the Rhodope Mountain. The vegetation and the animal world are very versatile and in the higher areas there are representatives of the European flora and fauna. In the plains and the valleys there are both European and Mediterranean plants and animal species. As the geographic region is transitional, there are many endemytes – common pheasant, black poisonous spider, typical longose forest along the rivers Maritsa and Tundzha, and the northernmost population of sycamores.

The hills Bunardzhika, Sahat Tepe and Dhzendem Tepe are natural landmarks. Only in the highest parts there are still individual representatives of the original mass species: prickly juniper, European Hackberry, pistacia, Glossy Buckthorn, jujube, Balkan endemytes – tutsan, Astragalus physocalux, Genista rumelica. The animal world is represented by green toad, common toad, green lizard, wall lizard, copper skink, rat snake, starling, skylark, hawfinch, squirrel, mole, etc. Mammals – weasel, European polecat and mole. Birds – dove, scops owl, titmouse, Long-eared Owl, goldfinch. Particularly interesting is the protected pygmy cormorant, which could be seen along the riverbank of Maritsa.

The most interesting natural landmarks in the tourist region of Plovdiv are:

• Mountains and hills: Alabak, Karkariya, Syutkya, Batak Mountain, Dabrash, Mursalitsa, Chernatitsa, Radyuva Mountain, Prespa, Dobrostan. They have suitable terrains for ski tracks: Pamporovo, Yundola, Beglika, Tsigov Chark, Stoykite, Momchilovtsi, Chepelare, Zdravets, the hills between Rakitovo, Peshtera, Batak and Dorkovo.
• Valleys: along the rivers: Trigradska, Shirokolashka, Manastirska, Beglishka, Cherna, Malka Arda, Borovitsa, Vacha, Chepinska.
• Planes: Chepinska hollow, southern parts of Upper Thracian Plain.
• Rock Formations: the Wonder Bridges, the canyon of river Kanina, Kayaliyski Rocks, Dormanovi Rocks.
• Caves: Snezhanka, Devil’s Throat, Yagodina.
• Lakes and Dams: Batak, Beglika, Shiroka Polyana, Dospat, Krichim
• Mineral Springs: Velingrad, Devin, Narechen, Mihalkovo, Ongnyanovo, Varvara
• Vegetation and Animal World, natural parks and hunting reserves: Konski dol and Tamnata Gora (Dabrash), Mantaritsa and Dupkata (Dospat), Beglika, Kastralki (Smolyan), Hvoyna (Krichim), Kupena (Peshtera), Stara Reka, Momchilovski Dol, Amzovoto, Sovskovcheto, Kazana (Mursalitsa), Chernata Stena (near the Bachkovo Monastery); forests – beech, spruce, white pine, hornbeam, elm, ash tree, lime tree; hunting reserve Kormisosh with brown bears, deer, mouflon, stags.  

The natural resources and the diverse climate in the mountains, valleys, riverbanks, etc in the region contributes for the development of various types of tourism – ski tourism, balneological tourism, climate tourism (summer visit of ski resorts), eco tourism, cave tourism, hiking, climbing, etc.

The tourist region of Plovdiv borders the tourist region of Sredna gora and the Forebalkan, which includes Sredna Gora Mountain and the Rear-Balkan fields. The tourists staying in Plovdiv may benefit also from the tourist resources of this region, for example for a short spa tourism (Hisar, Pavel Banya, etc.).