Things to do in Sofia

Nature · Southern edge of the municipality

A 2,290-metre mountain inside the city boundary, with skiing, marked trails, a chairlift and a summit an hour from the centre.

Local tip: The stone rivers (kamenni reki) on the northern slopes are the geological oddity nobody mentions — vast fields of boulders left by periglacial weathering, and quite unlike anything else in the Balkans. The Zlatnite Mostove trailhead is where to start.

Landmark · Central Sofia

The gold-domed Orthodox cathedral, and the distinctive yellow paved boulevards radiating from it.

Local tip: The yellow paving bricks were a wedding gift from Austria-Hungary in 1907 and are still being restored piece by piece. They are also lethal in the rain — locals know to walk on the edges.

Culture · Central, next to the Banya Bashi mosque

Sofia sits on mineral springs; the former public bathhouse is now the city museum, with public taps outside where people still fill bottles.

Local tip: The queue at the outdoor taps is the most Sofia thing in Sofia — people arrive with crates of empty bottles for water that comes out of the ground at 46°C. It is free and it has been drunk here since the Romans called the city Serdica.

Food · Central, near Serdika

The largest open-air market in the city — produce, cheese, spices and the best prices in central Sofia.

Local tip: Go in the morning for produce and late afternoon for the discounted end of the day. The surrounding streets have the city's best cheap eating, and it is the one place in central Sofia where almost no English is spoken.

Culture · Boyana, southern suburbs

A small mediaeval church with 1259 frescoes that are a UNESCO World Heritage site, at the foot of the mountain.

Local tip: Entry is timed and limited to a few minutes to protect the paintings, which is exactly why it is worth planning around rather than dropping into. Combine it with the National History Museum next door and the walk up into the Vitosha foothills behind.

Landmark · Central, near Zhenski Pazar

The largest Sephardic synagogue in south-eastern Europe, standing within a few hundred metres of a mosque, an Orthodox cathedral and a Catholic church.

Local tip: The four buildings sit close enough to be seen from a single point that Sofia calls the Square of Tolerance. The synagogue itself is quiet, rarely visited and has a small museum on the wartime rescue of Bulgaria's Jewish population — one of the more remarkable and least known stories of the period.