Gabrovo tourist info and hotels
Gabrovo is situated in the north Sredna Stara Planina Mountain (meaning middle Balkan Range), along the Yantra River, at 392 meters elevation and on 220 kilometers north-east from the Bulgarian capital - Sofia. In the vicinity of Gabrovo is actually the geographical center of Bulgaria. Due to its location, there are a numerous roads leading from Gabrovo to many municipalities in both Southern and Northern Bulgaria.
Gabrovo is famous for its tradesmen and craftsmen since the Middle Ages and around the end of the last century many factories were established in the town. Nowadays, Gabrovo is an important industrial center, mostly concentrated on leading machine-building, textile manufacturing, electronics, food and wine industries, etc.
Thanks to its clean mountain air and impressive historical ethnographical and historical sites, Gabrovo has also turned into a popular tourist center, especially for the Bulgarians from the nearby towns. The municipality of Gabrovo and the surrounding region is reckoned to be one of the most ecologically clean areas in the country. The Stara Planina diverse flora and fauna prove it, as bear, red deer and mouflon can still be easily found in the reserves.
A typical place of interest is Gabrovo’s House of Humour and Satire, where one can see art and ethnographical exhibitions. A number of world renowned humorists from over one hundred and fifty countries have visited it during the Festivals of Humour and Satire. (Gabrovo people are pretty popular for their humor.)
Etar (Etura) - Open Air Museum, Architectural and Ethnographical Complex
Another great and maybe the most popular attraction is the picturesque architectural and ethnographical complex of Etar, which is a unique open-air museum. If you want to feel the breath of the past, to see the marvellous power of water, put in canal,
to delight at the renaissance architecture and to see an old national custom - visit Etur.
Etar is the 1st open-air ethnographical museum of this kind established in Bulgaria, founded on September 7th, 1964. It is situated eight kilometers south of Gabrovo over a territory of 7 ha and includes fifty antique sites - water technical equipment, craftsman’s workshops, etc.
The idea of the Etar exhibition is to show the architecture and the life style of the region during the Revival period. The most important is that all equipments displayed here actually work in the same way as couple of centuries in the past, due to the authentic mill-strem system, which dates from the end of the 18th century.
Bozhentsi
Another very popular site near the town of Gabrovo is the six hundred years old village of Bozhentsi, which a historical and architectural reserve. Bozhentsi is situated in a picturesque valley and all of its houses are dating back to The Renaissance period.
Ouzana, also near Gabrovo is where the geographical center of Bulgaria is found. Ouzana offers good opportunities for both summer and winter holidays - skiing and snowboarding, horse-riding, mountain climbing and biking, etc.
Located only on fifteen kilometers from Gabrovo is the Lyulyatsite Resort (The Lilac Shrubs), which is very popular for its favorable effects on some cases of allergy, hypertonia and some diseases of the respiratory system.
