Hidden in the eastern part of the Stara Planina (or Balkan Mountains), you will find the town of Kotel in a wide valley surrounded by mountains, forests and remnants of ancient Thracian sanctuaries and Roman settlements. The nature in this area is still untouched, and there are many picturesque villages that exhale the atmosphere of days gone by. Kotel itself has about 7000 residents; the main industry is the collection and processing of wild mushrooms, herbs and berries from the woods and carpet weaving. The Kotel incumbent “National School of Folk Arts ‘Filip Kutev’ is famous far beyond Bulgaria.
Kotel is still pure, hidden and not included in the leaflets of the international tour operators. The team of goKotel helps you to discover this town with its glorious history as the varied environments and the wide variety of residents.
Read more about the town and its surroundings at About Kotel.
You are a guest at the Kotel by the family Galina Durmushliyska and Jaap van Beelen.
We offer three different options:
- Stay in our authentic wooden guest houses, each a monument. View them under Guest houses: Niric, Izvorska and Tintyava (now for sale).
- Our regular programs: “Hiking Program and Transhumance”, our “Ethnical Week” and the Gypsy music journey or compile your own program from our “Programme à la carte”. Look at Activities & Prices for what we offer.
- Discus with us a customized program for your group.
By staying with us you will help to keep Kotel and the nature around it clean.
Guest Houses
goKotel has two wooden guest houses in traditional Bulgarian Revival style. Both guest houses, which are just 3 minutes walk from each other, has its own specific character. Total we have room for 18 guests. For groups we can rooms at our colleagues in Kotel to extend up to 30 guests. You can stay at our guest houses from € 13,00 per person per day (incl. your € 1,00 contribution to the "Clean Kotel Fund").
Activities
We have selected three weeks that programs compiled the best, nicest and most exciting of Kotel and region has to offer. You can register them individually or as a group. As soon as a minimum of 4 participants have signed in, the weekly program will go on. The groups are kept small: up to a maximum of 12 people. So you get maximum personal attention and to the interest of the participants small changes or additions to the program may be offered. This week programs are offered during the period April 1 to October 30. See at Hiking Program, our Ethnical week and the Gypsy Music journey (10-17 August) under Activities and Prices. In addition, you can compile your program from our “Programme à la carte”. The Transhumance tours (May 13-20 and October 13-20) you will find them under Hiking program.
Registration: Guests houses and individual arrangements can be booked from 20 March to end of November. Go to Contact for information and reservations.
Travelling to Kotel: There are several ways to get Kotel. From most European countries there are daily direct flights to Sofia by Bulgaria Air or by price fighters like Wizz and German Wings. Cost of a return ticket is approximately € 80 to € 300 depending on the company and the time you book. From Sofia runs 2 times a day at 11:00 and 16:00 a direct busline to Kotel (approx. € 13), or take the train of 16:05 to Sliven. There are also several times a week flights to Varna and Burgas. We are pleased to advice and assist you with your flight and travel arrangements to Kotel.
Kotel is on the road 55 km north of the town of Sliven - a city on the highway Sofia-Bourgas - and 38 km south of Omurtag - a town at the highway Sofia-Varna. Distances to airports: Bourgas - 125 km, Varna – 200 km and Sofia – 375 km.
We also provide your transfers from airports to Kotel, and provide rent-a-car to when you want to drive yourselve to Kotel. Please contact us for more information.
We hope to welcome you in Kotel, already more than 950 guests came before you! Read their comments.
