Svilengrad

Svilengrad (Bulgarian: Свиленград) is a border town in the Upper Thracian Plain in Bulgaria, close to the point where the national borders of Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey meet. It's one of the most important border crossings in the country, and there are a few interesting places nearby.

Administratively, the municipality of Svilengrad is a part of Haskovo Province. The town is adjacent to two border checkpoints - Kaptian Andreevo/Kapıkule to Turkey (close to Edirne) and Kapitan Petko Voyvoda/Ormenio to Greece (Didymoteicho).

In the 16th century the Ottoman Empire built a large bridge over the Maritsa river, and a settlement formed around it. Despite a sizable Bulgarian population, after the Liberation War (1877-1878) the area remained outside of the newly created Bulgarian state. It was granted to Bulgaria only after the First Balkan War (1912-1913). Originally named after the bridge, the town was officially renamed to Svilengrad in 1913. The name literally means "Silk Town" or "Town of Silk", reflecting the local practice of silk farming - in the early 1930s, Svilengrad produced about a third of Bulgaria's silk output.

Svilengrad's disproportionate number of casinos is explained by the fact that gambling is banned in Turkey and Edirne is close across the border.

One of the stops on international trains from Turkey (Istanbul-Sofia or Istanbul-Bucharest).

• 41.774526.144321 Railway Station (ЖП гара, Zhe-Peh Garah). Svilengrad's train station is 5 km (3.1 mi) from the city centre, in the outlying neighborhood (absorbed village) Kapitan Petko Voyvoda. Walking is not an option, as the road lacks sidewalks/pavements. Thankfully, Svilengrad's only bus line connects the station and the city. Buses run on an irregular schedule between 05:40 and 21:30.  (updated Feb 2024)

From Sofia: there's at least one daily direct bus (Central Bus Station); buses to Haskovo are more frequent, and there you can get some of the frequent local buses that go to Svilengrad.

• 41.77867426.2034092 Bus Station (Автогара Свиленград, Avtogara Svilengrad, автогара „Бойдеви“) (in the northern outskirts of Svilengrad, next to the large supermarket Janet, on Road 8 near the roundabout where Road 55 enters the city after its junction with the A4/E80). Svilengrad's new bus station since 2025, due to a dispute with the owners of the old one in the centre of the city. The municipally contracted buses stop there, as well as the intercity buses of companies such as ArdaTur.  (updated Oct 2026)

From the north-west (Plovdiv, Haskovo, Dimitrovgrad): Bulgarian Motorway A4 ("Maritsa") splits off Motorway A1 east of Plovdiv and heads south-east; it passes between Haskovo and Dimitrovgrad, and at the end bypasses Svilengrad closely before it ends at Kapitan Andreevo at the border with Turkey. (The A1, a.k.a. Trakia Motorway, runs east-west between Sofia, Plovdiv, and Burgas on the Black Sea.) The old National Road 8 between Plovdiv and Svilengrad follows a somewhat more meandering course to the south of the motorways, passing directly through Haskovo, and enters Svilengrad from the west, though it still tries to bypass the city centre on its way to the border, so you have to get off it at some point if you want to look around Svilengrad itself. Whichever road you use, it's about 150 km (93 mi) from Plovdiv; from Haskovo it's about 70–75 km (43–47 mi): you can either first go north towards Dimitrovgrad to get onto the A4, or exit Haskovo to the east and follow Road 8 (though you can still get onto the A4 at Harmanli).

Two European Routes pass through the area, which can make signs and maps confusing:

• the E80 follows the A1 by Plovdiv, and afterwards when the A4 splits off, the E80 runs on it into Turkey
• the E85 follows Road 8 from Haskovo to Svilengrad, but before reaching the city, at Kapitan Petko Voyvoda it swings south on another road towards the Greek border.

From the north, if for some reason you need to go from Veliko Tarnovo directly into Greece or Turkey via Svilengrad: National Road 55 splits off National Road 5 just south of Tarnovo, and crosses the Balkan Mountains through the Pass of the Republic, emerging at Gurkovo; then Road 55 passes through Nova Zagora and without encountering any other sizable towns for a long time, it enters Svilengrad from the north, crossing the A4 at that point. By Road 55, it's about 150 km (93 mi) from Veliko Tarnovo, and 100 km (62 mi) from Nova Zagora.

From the north-west (Burgas or Yambol via Elhovo): this assumes you want to go into Greece, as both Burgas and Yambol have more direct routes to Turkey (Burgas - Malko Tarnovo - Kirklareli; Yambol - Demirköy - Edirne). From Burgas, Road 79 splits off in the south part of the city and heads west towards Elhovo; from Yambol, exit to the south via Road 7 and follow it to Elhovo; from Elhovo, follow Road 7 south and then shortly out of town exit onto Road 76 to the south-west, towards Topolovgrad. Road 76 passes Topolovgrad and some distance to the east, crosses Road 55 mentioned above, which you can take to Svilengrad. In total, Svilengrad is about 170 km (110 mi) from Burgas, 115 km (71 mi) from Yambol, 75 km (47 mi) from Elhovo, and 50 km (31 mi) from Topolovgrad.

See also #Nearby below.

• 41.7687826.193511 Mustafa Pasha Bridge (Stariyat most, The Old Bridge). Completed in 1529.  (updated Feb 2024)
  • On the eastern side, there's an equestrian monument to General Nikola Ivanov (1861-1940), who lead the Bulgarian troops that liberated Svilengrad during the First Balkan War.
• 41.7647526.20542 History Museum.  (updated Feb 2024)
• Monument to the Fallen (in front of Hotel Svilena and the Municipality building) - a simple war memorial with name lists on its sides.

A number of hotels and other accommodations, due to the border crossings.

• 41.7683826.19851 Hotel Svilena (Хотел "Свилена"), pl. "5-ti Oktomvri" 1 (the same Bulgaria Blvd as the main street, 5 min walk east of the pedestrian part). Renovated Communist-era hotel, with a decorative mosaic relief on the facade. 3 stars, close to the Municipality building, the Old Bridge and the west end of the main pedestrian street. Double: 87 лв, suite (double bed): 105 лв, double deluxe: 115 лв.  (updated Feb 2024)
• 41.76469926.2107412 Park Hotel Romantica (Парк Хотел "Романтика"), ul. "Dragan Tsankov" 4. Modern 4-star hotel overlooking the city park. Double/twin: 120 лв, double deluxe: 140 лв, etc.  (updated Feb 2024)

For some reason (remote border region?), two of the best preserved medieval fortress ruins in Bulgaria (with minimal restoration) are in Svilengrad Municipality.

Mezek (Мезек, meh-ZECK) is a village 10 km (6.2 mi) west of Svilengrad, with a permanent population of nearly 200 people (2025). To get there by car, the main road to the village exits the E85 to the west between Kapitan Petko Voyvoda and the Greek border. There's also a shuttle bus that runs on Tuesdays and Thursdays, starting in 9:15 and 17:20 from the bus station, and arriving in 9:55 and 17:49 in Mezek, so you can get there with the morning bus and return with the afternoon one. The line is nominally to the village of Siva reka north of Mezek, so you should be careful where you get off (confusingly, the morning bus visits Siva reka first, the afternoon one - vice versa). Bus schedule in Bulgarian on the Svilengrad Municipality website, you can search for "Сива река".

• 41.73722226.0836113 Mezek Fortress (overlooks the village).  (updated Feb 2024)
• 41.73526.1013894 Thracian domed tomb (east of the village centre, within walking distance). Underground tomb or heroon (sanctuary) dated to 4th-3rd centuries BCE, discovered in 1931. A 20-metre (66 ft) gallery leads to a circular domed chamber. Open to visitors as a small museum; ask at the tourist information centre in the village for access. Tomb only: adults 5 лв, students & pensioners 3 лв.  (updated Sep 2024)
• 41.71583126.0291535 Sheynovets Peak (връх Шейновец) (about 6 km (3.7 mi) by hiking trail or paved (?) country road west-southwest of Mezek, starting at the fortress). The site of the first skirmish of the Balkan War (1912). Altitude 703 m (2,306 ft); there's a modern TV tower, a monument-ossuary to the Bulgarian border troops killed in that battle, and an old pillbox (bunker) from WWII or Communist times.  (updated Sep 2024)

Matochina (Маточина) is a tiny village close to the border with Turkey, 39 km (24 mi) west of Svilengrad by road. Named after the lemon balm herb (Melissa officinalis), it has an official population of 15 (!) as of 2024. The easiest way to get there is with a car, and requires a GPS device and close examination of the map - surprisingly, there are "brown signs" indicating direction to Matochina along the road, but not in Svilengrad itself. It's a very rural area, and the roads can get bad at the end; with some careful route planning afterwards you can swing north towards Elhovo and Yambol. Without a personal vehicle, Matochina is hard to reach. Svilengrad's history museum offers guided tours by advance arrangement, but it's unclear if this includes transport. Theoretically, it's possible to get there by bus from Svilengrad once a week (on Wednesday) - there's a bus in the morning (07:00), and another in the early afternoon (13:30), so you can go there with the first and return with the other, but Matochina is the end point of the line and there's no accommodation in the village, so better not miss the return bus... Bus schedule in Bulgarian on the Svilengrad Municipality website, you can search for "Маточина".

• 41.85426.54696 Matochina Fortress (Boukelon).  (updated Feb 2024)

Plovdiv ← Haskovo ←

W  E

→ Kapitan Andreevo/Kapıkule → Edirne