Shumen offers medieval fortress history, diverse museum collections and a plateau with marked trails to suit a range of travel interests. If you are looking for a hotel in Shumen, you can first decide whether cultural history, nature excursions or a combination of both will shape your stay.
Fortress and plateau
The Shumen Fortress is an open-air museum and became one of the most important urban centres of the Second Bulgarian Empire in the late Middle Ages. It is open year-round; guided explanations are available in Bulgarian, Russian and English. Check the details of the guided tours before your visit. Tourist paths lead to the fortress from Kyoshkovete Park, as does a maintained asphalt road. The meadows in the surrounding area are suitable for nature excursions and complement the historical focus with a connection to the landscape.
The Shumen Plateau is home to a 3,896-hectare protected area. It was designated in 1980 to preserve plant and animal species, the plateau landscape, and suitable spaces for recreation and tourism. The protected area has 11 marked tourist routes, shelters, pavilions, picnic furniture, and options for overnight stays and dining. Routes and visitor facilities are therefore the main focus here, while each museum house has its own cultural and historical themes.
Museums with different focuses
The Shumen Regional History Museum has collections of weapons, jewellery, numismatics, old printed books, icons, church objects, ethnography and film posters. Its range extends from historical objects and religious art to ethnographic themes and film posters. The museum thus offers a broad overview of different collection areas rather than focusing on a single subject.
The Dobri Voynikov House Museum is an architectural monument from the Bulgarian National Revival period, built in 1862. Its focus is architectural history. The Pancho Vladigerov Museum Complex is dedicated to music and the life and work of the Bulgarian composer. The exhibition at the Srebrova House presents Shumen’s ethnic diversity. These houses each highlight a different subject: architectural history, music and cultural diversity can all be considered as separate interests when planning a visit.
Monument and stud farm
The Monument to the Founders of the Bulgarian State is located in Shumen, on the Shumen Plateau, 450 metres above sea level. It presents Bulgarian history through sculptures, excerpts from ancient inscriptions, an open-air mosaic and original artefacts. The complex also includes Europe’s largest modern open-air mosaic.
The Kabiyuk Stud Farm is near Konyovets, 13 kilometres from Shumen city centre. The grounds include a horse museum, Battenberg’s summer residence and an icon exhibition. If you wish to see horses and foals, you must book this in advance. This makes a visit different from the year-round-accessible fortress: advance booking is required to see the horses.
Accommodation and visitor interests
If you plan to visit Kabiyuk, take into account its distance from the city centre and the advance booking required to see the horses.
Discover more destinations: Kaspichan, Veliki Preslav, Preselka.
Return to the regional travel overview: Shumen Province.
