Alexander Nevsky Cathedral
The Alexander Nevsky Cathedral is one of the largest Orthodox cathedrals in the world, dominating the Sofia skyline with its gold dome. Free to enter.
Synagogue in Sofia
The largest Sephardic synagogue in Europe, completed in 1909. Entry costs a small fee and includes the Jewish History Museum on the upper floor. The Moorish Revival interior with its massive chandelier is genuinely stunning and rarely crowded.
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Other places worth the walk, and what each one costs.
The Alexander Nevsky Cathedral is one of the largest Orthodox cathedrals in the world, dominating the Sofia skyline with its gold dome. Free to enter.
The only functioning mosque in Sofia, built in 1576 during the Ottoman period. Free to enter outside prayer times, it sits next to the mineral baths and the public hot spring taps where locals fill bottles with free thermal water.
The Boyana Church is a small medieval church on the outskirts of Sofia, UNESCO-listed for its 13th-century frescoes that are considered among the finest examples of medieval art in Eastern Europe. Entry is paid at a modest price.
The Central Mineral Baths building is an ornate former public bathhouse in the center of Sofia, now housing the Regional History Museum (small fee). The building itself, with its ceramic decorations and domed roof, is beautiful from the outside.
A 6th-century Byzantine church that gave the city its name. Free to enter, the austere brick interior and underground Roman ruins beneath the floor offer a stark contrast to the ornate Alexander Nevsky Cathedral across the street.
Bulgaria's grandest theater building, with a neoclassical columned facade set in a small park with fountains. Free to admire from outside, and performances inside are remarkably affordable by Western European standards.
Working out what Sofia costs?
The whole of Sofia