Pravets

Pravets (Bulgarian: Правец, also romanized Pravetz) is a small town (pop. 4000 in 2022) in East-Central Bulgaria, nested in a scenic valley just north of the Balkan Mountains, between Botevgrad and Etropole, north-east of the capital Sofia. It's famous for being the birth place of Todor Zhivkov, the leader of Communist Bulgaria between 1956 and 1989, and (not unrelated) as the brand name of the first Bulgarian personal computers. Nowadays, it boasts a luxury golf resort. For budget travelers, Pravets is more suitable to be the target of a day trip or a stop on your way somewhere else.

Understand
Pravets lays in a small valley on the geographical boundary between the lower Predbalkan ("Fore-Balkan") and the northern slopes of the proper Balkan Mountains.

The most notable person born in Pravets was Todor Zhivkov (1911-1998), a Communist activist and guerilla fighter who ended up becoming the First (and later, General) Secretary of the Central Committee of the Bulgarian Communist Party. This made him the person de facto in charge of the People's Republic of Bulgaria between 1956 and 1989, i.e. for most of its existence. His 33 years in power make him not only the longest-ruling among the Communist leaders of Bulgaria, but also the longest ruling leader of any Eastern Bloc country in Europe during the Cold War. Unsurprisingly, a number of the sights in Pravets are somehow related to Zhivkov.

It's not a coincidence that Pravets was chosen to have a central role in Communist Bulgaria's computer industry. In 1982, a local factory started production of the first Bulgarian personal computers, the 8-bit Pravetz-82 (Правец-82, a clone of the legendary Apple II but with Cyrillic support). The Pravetz-8 series expanded further, including the cheaper Pravetz-8D (Правец-8Д, a clone of another Western product - the British Oric Atmos home computer), and was followed in 1984 with the Pravetz-16 series (based on the IBM PC/XT). Sadly, the sole remnant of that industry in Pravets today is the National Vocational School for Computer Technology, one of the few government-run boarding schools in Bulgaria.

With the fall of the regime, Pravets lost its privileged status and the economic crisis of the 1990s wasn't kind to it. Nevertheless, it has enjoyed a small rebound in the past decade. A luxury golf resort opened in 2011, and some light industry has returned to the town. Amusingly, one family-run business, Niki Rotor Aviation, makes autogyros as a side product of their furniture factory.

By car
Pravets is right by a junction between the eastern segment of the unfinished Hemus Motorway (A2, connecting Sofia and Varna via E772) and National Road 3 (part of E83, connecting Botevgrad with Pleven and Ruse, and thus Romania). Just exit the highway at the Botevgrad junction, following the signs "Pravets, Etropole", and then follow National Road 3 for a short while until the detour to Pravets (Road 3009).

east of Botevgrad.

Get around
It's a small town and the main attractions to the casual traveler can be easily reached on foot.

See
Like in many places in Bulgaria, the central square of Pravets and a portion of its main street are reserved for pedestrians. There's a fountain in the square and a statue of... the ancient Greek philosopher Diogenes with his lantern.


 * Right across the street is a park dedicated to Lyudmila Zhivkova (1942-1982), the daughter of Zhivkov, including a bust monument of her. She was known as being a patron of the arts and an enthusiast for various "esoteric" ideas.
 * Pravets Monastery
 * Right across the street is a park dedicated to Lyudmila Zhivkova (1942-1982), the daughter of Zhivkov, including a bust monument of her. She was known as being a patron of the arts and an enthusiast for various "esoteric" ideas.
 * Pravets Monastery
 * Pravets Monastery

Do

 * Pravets Golf Club
 * Fish?

Hiking
Three marked trails, connection to other trail networks. Theoretically, it's possible to reach the Kom-Emine trail (runs along the whole length of the Balkan Mountains; part of the E3 European long-distance trail), but it's a long walk (9 or more hours) as it requires chaining several indirect routes (though there are mountain huts at the end of some stages). BGMoutnains.org map zoomed in on Pravets

Sleep
In addition to the hotels, there are several guest houses/villas in the town and its outskirts. The old hotel in the city centre closed in 2020, presumably due to COVID-19 and competition by the golf resort. You can also look for accommodation in nearby Botevgrad or Etropole.



Go next
If you are a golf player, you can see for the country's other golf resorts.