4-Hour Veliko Tarnovo Food Tour

Buy fresh ingredients from Veliko Tarnovo Vegetable Stalls

Relish delicious Tourtière

Eat yummy Kebapches

Enjoy a full platter of fruit salad with cheese

Feast on traditional Bulgarian Meat Slices

Highlights

Relish the delicious Lutenitsa

Explore Buzludzha Market

Feast on Gabrovski chocolate

Veliko Tarnovo

gastronomical, winetour, walking

Private Tour

4 Hours

Easy

English

Description

Experience diverse neighbourhoods and charming small streets, as you sample the best of peasant food and regional dishes of Bulgarian cuisine. See a range of architectural styles ranging from Ottoman Balkan to New Age and Communist. Also, take a sip of Bulgarian craft beer and homemade brandy.

Itinerary

Veliko Tarnovo Food Tour
- Start at the central market. Taste the homemade wines and brandy under the counter, hidden from an unknown eye as it is forbidden to sell without a license.
- Break bread with Bulgarian ketchup, also known as Lutenitsa, at a small local shop.
- Embark on public transport and head for Buzludzha Market to taste various street food such as corn with cheese, katma and sample local wine.
- Board the bus again and head towards the old part of the city to explore Bulgaria’s 19th-century National Revival beauty with its Ottoman-style houses, orthodox churches and modernist monuments.
- Find a restaurant/tavern off the beaten track to relish a delicious Bulgarian salad and a traditional Bulgarian brandy - Rakia. Add to your platter a plateau of sliced cured meat, salami and "kebapche" (a type of skinless sausage) with a glass of wine or beer.
- Visit a small pastry shop stocked with typical Bulgarian sweets like Gabrovski chocolate, as the tour would not be complete without trying a local dessert. Sweet Kiss or Halva, which goes with a coffee heated in the sand. You can always opt for a strong espresso with a baklava sweet.

What's Included

Local English-speaking Veliko Tarnovo tour guide

Food and drink samples, including, banitsa and airyan/boza, homemade bread and lutenitsa, a ‘peasant platter’- meats plus seasonal vegetables, street snacks, a platter of local cheeses, 2 beers or 2 glasses of wine, a shot of rakia, 1 Bulgarian sweet and coffee.

Visit at least 4 unique and totally different food venues

Food and walking tour through the city’s atmospheric markets and neighbourhood restaurants

Taste traditional Bulgarian dishes (artisan cheeses, cured meats, sausages, fresh produce and more)

What's Excluded

Hotel pickup and drop-off

Additional food and drinks, unless specified

Personal Expenses (Souvenirs and shopping)

Tips and gratuities

Know Before You Go

Please notify at least 24 hours in advance as to whether you have any food allergies, sensitivities, or other dietary needs, such as vegetarian/vegan or gluten intolerant.

Learn about Bulgaria’s regional cooking traditions and techniques as you taste local cheese and cured meat and Bulgarian salami - lukanka, homemade bread, kebapche - like a skinless sausage and traditional salad.

Interesting Facts

While you were introduced to the stories, you will end up seamlessly in the colourful scents of the central market. It offers a wide range of fruits and vegetables, honey, marinades and is dotted with small local taverns where marketers eat. Here they sell homemade wines and brandy under the counter, which they hide from an unknown eye because it is forbidden to sell them without a license. Don’t worry, you will taste some. At that unique place, you will find out what the locals eat, especially in the morning, while hurrying to work - Banitsa is a delicious local pastry filled with eggs and cheese and it goes pretty well with the sweet drink Boza or sour Аiryan.

Lutenitsa is a vegetable relish or chutney and it goes really well together with a typical Bulgarian white cheese and parsley. Here you will also try a plateau of Bulgarian cheeses with a glass of wine or beer.

Buzludzha Market is located in the largest quarter of Veliko Tarnovo with the same name. The old name of the neighbourhood is Pishmana and is associated with a legend from the Ottoman invasion. It is a typical example of the construction and architecture of the totalitarian machine under communism, with typical panel blocks, built-in months, that housed thousands of people. The market is the heart of the neighbourhood and here it has everything needed to keep the locals staying in the neighbourhood for months.

Every self-respecting Bulgarian drinks brandy in small sips while having a salad or cured meat. The same Bulgarian should have in his house a homemade brandy made by his father, his grandfather or by himself. And there must be a bottle of brandy for uninvited guests.