Tours and Tickets
Communist Walking Tour of Sofia
5

Communist Walking Tour of Sofia

By 365 Association Sofia Tours
Recommended by 97% of travelers
This number is based on the percentage of all Tripadvisor reviews for this product that have a bubble rating of 4 or higher
About
Sofia is filled with famous monuments from Bulgaria’s communist era, but there are also many secluded places that are easy to miss on your own. Ensure you see the recognizable and hidden sights, and learn about their backstories on this walking tour. Exploring by foot grants you access to place inaccessible by traditional tour vehicles. Plus, discover the realities of daily life under Bulgaria’s 1946-1989 government from a guide—insight you wouldn’t get if sightseeing independently.
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from
$16.14
per adult

Lowest price guaranteeReserve now & pay laterFree cancellation

Ages 1-99, max of 25 per group
Duration: 3h 30m
Start time: Check availability
Mobile ticket
English

Highlights
  • View Sofia’s communist-era landmarks on a walking tour
  • Explore with a guide to see famous sights plus easy-to-miss places
  • See the National Palace of Culture and secret police headquarters
  • Hear about daily life during 1946-1989 from direct anecdotes
  • Gain insight into communist dogma not provided on standard city tours

  • Local guide
  • Professional guide
What's not included
  • Gratuities

Meet your guide in central Sofia and set off on foot to learn about the 45 years Bulgaria spent as a Soviet state. Your guide presents the facts and talks through the theories behind communism and the ideologies of Marxism and Leninism. Pass some of Sofia’s key attractions from other eras en route, and stop to view communist-era landmarks including the former Bulgarian Communist Party headquarters, the Secret Police Investigation Facility, and the destroyed Georgi Dimitrov Mausoleum. Plus, see the Soviet Army Monument and National Palace of Culture as you hear the history of each. While you walk, hear fascinating anecdotes about life under communist rule, discovering the pros and many cons of the system, and the relation between the government, religion, and people’s ordinary daily lives. Your tour concludes at a central point in Sofia.

Departure details
  • Sofia City Court, bul. "Vitosha" 2, 1000 Old City Center, Sofia, Bulgaria Outside the Palace of Justice, at the corner of Vistosha Boulevard and Alabin Street
Return details
  • National Palace of Culture, bul. "Bulgaria", 1463 Ndk, Sofia, Bulgaria The tour will end next to a piece of the Berlin Wall on the left side of the park of the Palace of Culture.

  • Not wheelchair accessible
  • Stroller accessible
  • Service animals allowed
  • Near public transportation
If you have questions about accessibility, we’d be happy to help. Just call the number below and reference the product code: 14199P2

  • Confirmation will be received at time of booking
  • Children must be accompanied by an adult
  • Most travelers can participate
  • This tour/activity will have a maximum of 25 travelers

  • For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours in advance of the start date of the experience.

What you can expect during your visit
  • Regular temperature checks for staff
  • Regularly sanitized high-traffic areas
  • Guides required to regularly wash hands
  • Hand sanitizer available to travelers and staff
  • Transportation vehicles regularly sanitized
  • Paid stay-at-home policy for staff with symptoms
  • Gear/equipment sanitized between use
  • Social distancing enforced throughout experience
  • Safety precautions are provided by the property and are not checked by Tripadvisor for accuracy.

Which attractions will I visit with Communist Walking Tour of Sofia?
How much is Communist Walking Tour of Sofia?
Communist Walking Tour of Sofia price starts from $16.41. Discover and book Communist Walking Tour of Sofia on Tripadvisor
What is the Communist Walking Tour of Sofia cancellation policy?
Communist Walking Tour of Sofia cancellation policy: For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours in advance of the start date of the experience. Discover and book Communist Walking Tour of Sofia on Tripadvisor
Which company provides Communist Walking Tour of Sofia?
Communist Walking Tour of Sofia is hosted by 365 Association Sofia Tours. Read reviews, discover additonal experiences or contact 365 Association Sofia Tours on Tripadvisor. Discover and book Communist Walking Tour of Sofia on Tripadvisor

If you have questions about this tour or need help making your booking, we’d be happy to help. Just call the number below and reference the product code: 14199P2

Reserve your spot

Similar experiences

Itinerary
  • You'll start at
    Sofia City Court
    bul. "Vitosha" 2, 1000 Old City Center, Sofia, Bulgaria
    Outside the Palace of Justice, at the corner of Vistosha Boulevard and Alabin Street
    See address & details
  • 1
    Sofia Court House
    Stop: 10 minutes
    See details
  • 2
    365 Association Sofia Tours
    Stop: 10 minutes
    See details
  • 3
    Ancient Orthodox Church Saint Parascheva - the Old "St. Petka"
    Stop: 10 minutes
    See details
  • 4
    The Presidency Building
    Stop: 10 minutes
    See details
  • 5
    Former Bulgarian Communist Party Headquarters
    Stop: 10 minutes
    See details
  • 6
    City Garden
    Stop: 10 minutes
    See details
    Pass by
    National Art Gallery
  • 7
    Soviet Army Monument
    Stop: 15 minutes
    See details
  • 8
    National Palace of Culture (NDK)
    Stop: 10 minutes
    See details
  • 9
    Berlin Wall
    Stop: 15 minutes
    See details
  • You'll end at
    National Palace of Culture
    bul. "Bulgaria", 1463 Ndk, Sofia, Bulgaria
    The tour will end next to a piece of the Berlin Wall on the left side of the park of the Palace of Culture.
    See address & details
+
About the operator
365 Association Sofia Tours
5,374
Sofia, Bulgaria
Joined in April 2015

#1 of 245 Tours & Activities in Sofia
  • saraaF1267UO
    saraaF1267UO
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    0
    Highly recommended tour
    We participated in the free walking tour of Sofia, our guide was Vasil - best guide in town! We really enjoyed the tour, Vasil was very friendly and engaging, he explained everything we needed to continued our stay in Sofia.
  • cherylmS693CG
    cherylmS693CG
    0
    0
    A don’t miss activity in Sofia.
    Sofia FreeWalking Tour with Kris was great We learned so much about the city and Bulgaria. Kris was informative, gracious and funny.
  • 570berangere
    570berangere
    0
    0
    Very nice tour
    I have learned many things from Sofia history. Our guide Mina was very interesting. It is an excellent way to discover a city. Do it
  • Laurievos
    Laurievos
    0
    0
    Amazing experience, thank you Vasco
    We did the free walking tour around the city center of Sofia, guided by Vasil. This truly was the best experience we ever had with a guided tour. He made sure he kept your attention the whole time and made it slightly interactive and really low key to ask questions. We had the best time and learned a lot more about Bulgaria than just the Sofia city center. Thank you Vasil!
  • CindyG2627
    CindyG2627
    0
    0
    Very nice tour and worth the time
    We went on the free Sofia tour with ALEX. It is a very nice initiative and a good way to see the highlights of Sofia and hear a bit about the history of the City. I would recommend to do the tour on the first or second day, because it does not take you inside the sites, only outside, and after the tour you can go inside the sites on your own. ALEX was very nice, very knowledgeable and answered all our questions
  • 799j_rnk
    799j_rnk
    0
    0
    Free Sofia tour
    Great way to get an idea about the history of the city, super interesting and fun. The guide was super motivated
  • sirEverestGeorge
    sirEverestGeorge
    0
    0
    Must try if it’s your first time in Sofia
    It’s a great thing that there is a free walking tour that can help first comers to get acquainted with the city. In a couple of hours you will visit all main places as well as learn some interesting historical facts. The guides are professionals, ours (Boyan) was very charismatic and had good sense of humor. That really helps when a person tells a crowd dry historical facts. Thank you very much guys!
  • larabM6066EG
    larabM6066EG
    0
    0
    Great experience
    We did the free sofia tour and it was great. Our guide Ivo was interesting and super fun, we learned a lot of the city's history and lots of fun facts. Would recommend!
  • LV1991
    LV1991
    0
    0
    Loved it
    The tour was a lot of fun. Tommy was very funny and upbeat. The tour takes you through Sofia's rich history in 2 hours, for us this was great, not too long. Absolutely loved the tour.
  • Reenie K
    Reenie K
    0
    0
    Informative and Fantastic
    Nikola was wonderful! He was exceptionally knowledgeable about all of the locations we visited. We were able to tour the Sofia Synagogue which is special to us. He delighted in the opportunity. We discussed the Bulgarian role in the Holocaust. We already knew they protected all 50,000 Bulgarian Jews. He was able to clarify some of the misinformation that is understood. It was a hugely successful tour. I RECOMMEND NIKOLA TO EVERYONE.
  • Tourist39674680302
    Tourist39674680302
    0
    0
    Highly recommend this tour it’s a brilliant way to see some city highlights
    Our guide Martin was very clearly spoken , informative , pleasant & engaging and explained the main sites in a very easy manner
  • Rumyyyyy
    Rumyyyyy
    0
    0
    Great experience!
    The tour was interesting and gave us good insight into bulgarian history. Dino was friendly and enthusiastic. All recommendations!
  • Jasmine_Anguri
    Jasmine_Anguri
    0
    0
    definitely an unmissable experience
    Discovered Sofia in such a nice way, unforgettable anecdotes from Vasil Vasco, for instance about his domoshar grandfather and the late arriving tsar it was incredibly lively and captivating!!
  • GuybJackson
    GuybJackson
    0
    0
    Dino is an excellent guide
    We did the free city tour and Dino was simply the best. If you get a chance for a Sofia tour with Dino, you will be in for a treat. He is knowledgable, funny, enthusiastic and everything you could want in a guide. He was patient, answered all questions fully and I ended up understanding Sofia much better with Dino’s help. We ended the tour with several beers at the art museum bar, grest outside air con.
  • RANCH1968
    RANCH1968
    0
    0
    Highly recommend
    Excellent tour to the main sites. The guide Boyan was excellent with good English and a good voice. Try to walk in the shade and stop in shady places.
Detailed Reviews: Reviews order informed by descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as cleanliness, atmosphere, general tips and location information.
Popular mentions

5.0
289 reviews
Excellent
262
Very good
21
Average
5
Poor
0
Terrible
1

Clàudia A
29 contributions
Absolutely loved the experience! It was the best way to get to know Sofia and learn about the Bulgarian history and culture.
Our guide was very fun, well informed, and he made the two hours of the tour fly by. He even gave us a little guide book created by the 365 association with a lot of helpful information to get around the city.
Would definitely repeat! 100% recommendable.
Written October 30, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Alexa J.
Cincinnati, OH16 contributions
Jul 2022
This was one of my favorite experiences in Sofia. I had a bit of knowledge on the topic already since my background is in modern eastern European history, but this tour is completely accessible, informational, and interesting for anyone.

I went on July 1, 2022, and I can't stress enough the value of this tour--it is roughly three hours, and the entire time you are walking around Sofia (although we found some places to sit when available) and learning about Bulgaria's recent socialist history. Our guide was very knowledgeable and had a degree in modern Bulgarian history, so it was wonderful to pick his brain and learn both about history and how history is taught in Bulgaria. He also shared a lot of personal history about his family and what their experience was like under socialism.

While walking around Sofia, we saw many fascinating sites, and our guide pointed out things that I hadn't known or noticed during my own explorations. For example, he told the story of the giant glass (not a ruby!) red star that used to be above the parliament building and how it was removed by helicopter. It now resides at the Museum of Socialist Art, which this tour inspired me to visit the next day.

10/10 for the friendly and knowledgeable guide, great walking tour of Sofia, and the depth of knowledge and sense of history provided.
Written July 12, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Matt
Wolverhampton, UK201 contributions
Whoops, sorry forgot to leave my review earlier.

We contacted the company before we travelled to check the free tours were still operating in this covid time. Got a quick response.

Our guide was Nikola, who was very informative and friendly taking time to speak with as many of us as he could during the walk between different stops.

THe tour went at at a good pace and provided enough detail about each of the sites. Nikola was happy and able to answer all of the groups questions.

We enjoyed listening to him so much, when he said he was conducting the afternoon communism tour, we agreed to go back for more with him.

This tour is paid for, but is very reasonable and takes in different sites.

Both tours were very good and i highly recommend them both 👍

Written May 2, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Gianpaolo A
4 contributions
Dec 2021 • Friends
Definitely one of the highlights on my Trip to Bulgaria. Guide (Martin? I’m very bad with names) was very knowledgeable and passionate about history and you’ll get to see historic parts of the city you would usually miss. It’s great to hear stories taken from personal experience of his family and friends. Highly recommended
Written January 10, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Franca R
2 contributions
Jun 2022
You cannot leave Sofia without experiencing this! I had this tour on Saturday 11st of June 2022. I reserved online and paid online but you can also show there at the agreed time and place and then pay at the end of the tour.
I joined the group and enjoyed the walking tour A LOT. Dino was my wonderful guide and lead me to discover the past of this fantastic country and how this was and is now for the new generations. He asked all my questions and we had the chance to discuss the role played by Italy during the Cold war.
The walk takes around 3 hours and it is very pleasant as you will hear his stories while witnessing what the places you are seeing and having under your feet experienced for decades. Absolutely wonderful feeling.
I definitely would do again if in Sofia again and I strongly recommend all to do so.
Written June 14, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Bethan M
3 contributions
May 2023
I took part in the Communist Tour with Vasil which was fantastic. We did numerous stops around the city where Vasil had lots of information and personal stories to share. It was very informative and unbias allowing us to come to our own conclusions about socialism and communism in Bulgaria.
Written May 12, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Meir L
4 contributions
Jul 2021
I took this tour with my wife in 2019. I still remember it till today. It is a absolute MUST for any English speaker visiting Sofia. The guide is funny, informative and generally fantastic. This tour will most likely be the best value for money you can get in Sofia. If your visiting dates do not match up with this tour, you should consider taking the Sofia FREE walking tour (available daily)
Written July 18, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Shravan
1 contribution
Mar 2023 • Couples
Had an exceptionally great tour with our guide Martin. The 3 hour tour was far from dry, it's was very very fun and Martin's energy and passion came though the entire tour. Loved to also hear about the communist history as well as the personal stories of Martin.
Written March 25, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Mags M
6 contributions
Nov 2022 • Solo
That was very peaceful and informative walk around the city. Really appreciate those young ones who are very eager to promote and inform both locals and tourists more on their history and their country as a whole. Well done and keep it up!
Written November 27, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Razvan Catuneanu
1 contribution
Jul 2022 • Couples
The whole tour was an awesome experience. Martin, the tour guide, was such a nice guy, full of energy and great story teller. We enjoyed a lot and we recommend this tour for anybody who wants to discover a bit of Bulgaria’s history.
Written July 24, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

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Communist Walking Tour of Sofia provided by 365 Association Sofia Tours

Product Overview: Communist Walking Tour of Sofia

Prices From$0
Number of Reviews287
Number of Photos157
Duration210 minutes