Surrounding areas of Troyan

A local biology teacher created the Museum of Natural Science in the village of Cherni Osum (12 km southeast from the town of Troyan and 2km to the south of the Troyan Monastery). Working hours: 8.00 a.m. - 12.00 a.m. and 1.00 p.m.  4.00 p.m. all the week round. There is a regular bus line between the village and the town. There are accommodation facilities in Cherni Osum (refer to the Stara Planina related chapter herein, Troyan Monastery section). The village is a point of departure for hiking tours around the Troyan Balkan Mountain (refer to the Stara Planina related chapter herein).

National Fair  Crafts and Applied Arts in the village of Oreshak (7 km to the east of the town). Articles of the modern masters of art crafts and the applied arts not only from Troyan and the region but from all over the country, often of foreign guests, are is exhibited in the numerous halls there. A part of the exposition is a bazaar, too. Demonstrations of masters and tasting of the famous Troyan plum brandy (rakiya) are organized upon a preliminary request. Working hours: 9.00 a.m.  5.30 p.m., all the week round, tel.: 0670 2318, 2317. There are accommodation facilities in the village as well (refer to the Stara Planina related chapter herein, Troyan Monastery section). All the buses from Troyan to Cherni Osum, the Troyan Monastery, Apriltsi, etc. have a stop in the village of Oreshak.

Beklemeto - a resort tourist complex in the area of the same name, 22 km to the south-west from the town and 3 km under the Troyan Pass in the Troyan Balkan Mountain (about 1300 metres above sea level). There are a lot of private country-houses, public catering establishments, a hotel complex named Bulgaria with 50 beds, a restaurant.

Battles for control of the Troyan Pass by Russian units and Bulgarian volunteers were held there during the Russian-Turkish War of Liberation (January 1878). The historical Kartsov Buk (Beech-tree) bearing a mark of the sword of a Cossack is located at about 1 km south of the central part of the complex. Beklemeto is a point of departure for tourist hiking tours round the Troyan Balkan Mountain - for the Dermenka Chalet (about 3 hours), for the Kozya Stena Chalet (2.30-3 hours) and others. All the regular buses passing through the Troyan Pass stop at Beklemeto.

The village of Shipkovo - 18 km to the west, on the road for Teteven, among the northern elevations of Vassiliovs Mountain. A balneotherapy resort with holiday houses, private country-houses, an open-air mineral beach with a swimming pool. Private lodgings are offered as well. The mineral spring is with the output rate of 55 l/sec at the temperature of 52� The mineral waters there cures hypertension, gastric, liver, kidney and nervous diseases. It is the point of departure for the Vassiliov Chalet (a 2-hour walk) under the higher peak in the Vassiliovs Mountain. 5 buses run daily between Shipkovo and Troyan.

A great part of the Troyan Balkan Mountain is within the boundaries of the Central Balkan National park within the framework of which the Steneto and Kozya Stena Bio-sphere Reserves are located. The first is included in the list of UNESCO and comprises an area of 3602.4 hectares around the upper course of the Cherni Osum River. It is characterised by a great deal of rocky formations, karst shapes and caves. A regular bus running to the village of Cherni Osum may be used and one can walk from there on. The second is the smallest reserve in the park and it was created mainly for the preservation of the endemic kind of old mountainous edelweiss. One of the most beautiful peaks of the Balkan Mountain is situated here  Mt. Kozya Stena. It may be reached most easily from Beklemeto (about a 2-hour walk). Troyan is one of the most important points of departure for tourist hiking tours around the Central Part of the Stara Planina Mountain and, in particular, around the Troyan Balkan Mountain.

Sopot Dam - at about 30 km to the north-west, by the village of Golyama Zhelyazna, it is a wonderful place for recreation, sunbathing, water motor sports, water tourism, fishing. There are good conditions for camping as well as holiday houses, private country-houses, public catering establishments. All the busses passing by have a stop there.