Pravets

Pravets (Bulgarian: Правец, also romanized Pravetz) is a small town (pop. 4000 in 2022) in East-Central Bulgaria, nested in a scenic valley just north of the Balkan Mountains, between Botevgrad and Etropole, 60 km (37 mi) north-east of the capital Sofia. It's famous for being the birth place of Todor Zhivkov, the leader of Communist Bulgaria between 1956 and 1989, and (not unrelated) as the brand name of the first Bulgarian personal computers. Nowadays, it boasts a luxury golf resort. For budget travelers, Pravets is more suitable to be the target of a day trip or a stop on your way somewhere else.

Understand

Late autumn or early winter view of the mountain over the golf resort.

Fountains on the central square.

Pravets lays in a small valley on the geographical boundary between the lower Predbalkan ("Fore-Balkan") and the northern slopes of the proper Balkan Mountains.

The most notable person born in Pravets was Todor Zhivkov (1911-1998), a Communist activist and guerilla fighter who ended up becoming the First (and later, General) Secretary of the Central Committee of the Bulgarian Communist Party. This made him the person de facto in charge of the People's Republic of Bulgaria between 1956 and 1989, i.e. for most of its existence. His 33 years in power make him not only the longest-ruling among the Communist leaders of Bulgaria, but also the longest ruling leader of any Eastern Bloc country in Europe during the Cold War. Unsurprisingly, a number of the sights in Pravets are somehow related to Zhivkov.

It's not a coincidence that Pravets was chosen to have a central role in Communist Bulgaria's computer industry. In 1982, a local factory started production of the first Bulgarian personal computers, the 8-bit Pravetz-82 (Правец-82, a clone of the legendary Apple II but with Cyrillic support). The Pravetz-8 series expanded further, including the cheaper Pravetz-8D (Правец-8Д, a clone of another Western product - the British Oric Atmos home computer), and was followed in 1984 with the Pravetz-16 series (based on the IBM PC/XT). Sadly, the sole remnant of that industry in Pravets today is the National Vocational School for Computer Technology, one of the few government-run boarding schools in Bulgaria.

With the fall of the regime, Pravets lost its privileged status and the economic crisis of the 1990s wasn't kind to it. Nevertheless, it has enjoyed a small rebound in the past decade. A luxury golf resort opened in 2011, and some light industry has returned to the town. Amusingly, one family-run business, Niki Rotor Aviation, makes autogyros as a side product of their furniture factory.

Get in

By car

Pravets is right by a junction between the eastern segment of the unfinished Hemus Motorway (A2, connecting Sofia and Varna via E772) and National Road 3 (part of E83, connecting Botevgrad with Pleven and Ruse, and thus Romania). Just exit the highway at the Botevgrad junction, following the signs "Pravets, Etropole", and then follow National Road 3 for a short while until the detour to Pravets (Road 3009).

11 km (6.8 mi) east of Botevgrad.

By bus

• 1 Pravets Bus Station (Avtogara) (north of the crossing of 3-ti Mart Blvd and Vasil Levski Str, at the eastern side of the town centre). Several buses daily connect Pravets with Sofia (both the Central Bus Station and Poduyane Bus Station), Botevgrad and Etropole. Unfortunately, on the Pravets side the only bus schedule online, courtesy of the Pravets Municipality, is from 2021 and in Bulgarian only. (updated Jun 2023)

Get around

It's a small town and the main attractions to the casual traveler can be easily reached on foot.

See

Like in many places in Bulgaria, the central square of Pravets and a portion of its main street are reserved for pedestrians. There's a fountain in the square and a statue of... the ancient Greek philosopher Diogenes with his lantern.

• 1 History Museum (Исторически музей), 4 Todor Zhivkov Sq (on the main square, entrance to the right), ☏ +359879688802, muzeum_pr@abv.bg. M-F 08:30-12:30, 13:30-17:30; Sa Su opens 9:30. It shares a complex-looking building with the town library and other institutions. The collection includes Thracian, Roman and Medieval artifacts from digs in the area, icons dating back as far as the 16th century, and clothing and everyday life items from the 19th and early 20th centuries. The museum also runs the Todor Zhivkov House Museum Complex, hence the package ticket option. Adult: 8 лв - both the museum and the house, 7 лв - only one of them (both include an "audio guide"?), discounts may apply; 20 лв guided tour in English; 10 лв fee for amateur photos. (updated Jun 2023)
• 2 Todor Zhivkov House Museum, 32 Vasil Levski Str (6-7 min by foot north of the bus station or the main square), ☏ +359879688802. 09:30 - 17:30. The small house built by Zhivkov's grandparents in the 19th century was turned into a museum in 1974 and hosts a small ethnographic exhibition. A modern building was built next to it to serve as a "greeting hall" for entertaining foreign and domestic dignitaries and now hosts a museum exhibition about Zhivkov's life, a hall dedicated to Pravetz computers, and a collection of the 239 gifts that Zhivkov has received in his role as the head of state of Bulgaria from foreign delegations from all over the world (ranging from works of folk art to very expensive kitsch). See the museum prices above. (updated Jun 2023)
  • Right across the street is a park dedicated to Lyudmila Zhivkova (1942-1982), the daughter of Zhivkov, including a bust monument of her. She was known as being a patron of the arts and an enthusiast for various "esoteric" ideas.
• 3 Todor Zhivkov Monument (south side of 3-ti Mart Street (Road 3009), close to the western entrance of the town). A full-height statue of Todor Zhivkov by the side of the road. Created in the 1970s by Professor Sekul Krumov, the statue gathered dust in the archives of the Union of Bulgarian Artists until... 2001, when it was installed in its current location at the request of the local municipality. The dedication ceremony was attended by Georgi Parvanov, at the time the leader of the Bulgarian Socialist Party and later the third President of Bulgaria (2002-2012). (updated Jun 2023)
• Pravets Monastery

Do

• Pravets Golf Club
• Fish?

Hiking

Three marked trails, connection to other trail networks. Theoretically, it's possible to reach the Kom-Emine trail (runs along the whole length of the Balkan Mountains; part of the E3 European long-distance trail), but it's a long walk (9 or more hours) as it requires chaining several indirect routes (though there are mountain huts at the end of some stages). BGMoutnains.org map zoomed in on Pravets

Sleep

In addition to the hotels, there are several guest houses/villas in the town and its outskirts. The old hotel in the city centre closed in 2020, presumably due to COVID-19 and competition by the golf resort. You can also look for accommodation in nearby Botevgrad or Etropole.

• 1 Hyatt Regency Pravets Resort, 8 Ezeroto Quarter (entrance is on National Road 3 before the split to Pravets). Check-in: 14:00, check-out: 12:00. A 4-star hotel with several restaurants, bowling alley, indoor swimming pool, wellness center, etc. Separated by the Pravets Reservoir from the Pravets Golf Club, a "18-hole, par 72, Championship course designed by Peter Harradine". Unsurprisingly, expensive. The hotel underwent renovations when Hyatt acquired it and re-opened in the spring of 2023. There's a shuttle service to Sofia Airport, by arrangement. Summer prices, cheapest double room starts from 265 лв (295 лв for two people); rooms and suites on the side with a view of the lake and mountains are even more expensive. (updated Jun 2023)
• 2 Complex Praveshki Hanove (Комплекс "Правешки ханове") (right on Road 3, on the northern boundary of the town). Check-in: 14:00 - 22:00, check-out: 08:00 - 12:00. A small, family run (?) 3-star hotel and restaurant in a large house at the base of the wooded hills on the north side of Pravets. The name means "[The] Inns of Pravets", the name of the area where the hotel is. Double room (twin beds or double bed, breakfast included): 130 лв. (updated Jun 2023)

Go next

If you are a golf player, you can see Bulgaria § Golf for the country's other golf resorts.