The Danube Tourist Region is the largest in terms of territory among the nine tourist regions in Bulgaria. Its scope includes 67 municipalities, and the largest Bulgarian city on the Danube - Ruse - has been designated as the administrative center. According to the share of the population, the region ranks third after the Sofia and Thrace tourist regions.
Thanks to its geographical location on the only navigable river in the country and the rich palette of historical and natural resources at its disposal, the Danube Tourist Region specializes in the development of cultural and cruise tourism, in particular cultural-historical, river cruise, adventure and eco, urban entertainment and shopping, wine and culinary, religious and pilgrimage tourism.
From Vidin to Silistra, from Oryahovo to Targovishte, the Danube tourist region welcomes you with authentic heritage from the ancient, medieval, Ottoman, post-liberation and more recent periods. It offers access to UNESCO sites and remains whose charm and historical value are yet to be discovered. It shows landscapes with wildlife and preserved biodiversity in protected areas and bioreserves. It leads to inaccessible caves and swampy areas. It invites solitude in numerous temples and places of worship. It shares culinary and wine secrets as well as cultural traditions of unique local communities.
The Danube River is the most international river in the world, which on its way from its source to the Black Sea delta passes through ten European countries: Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova and Ukraine. Four charming European capitals are located on the banks of the Danube - Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest and Belgrade. In addition, the Danube collects its waters from a total of 19 countries, and at least 17 national languages are spoken on the territory of the Danube river basin. As part of this multicultural region, influences from Central European traditions and a strong Danube identity can be found in Northern Bulgaria.
A special place is assigned to the Danube river in the consciousness and folk art of Bulgarians. The ruins of Roman castles along the river remind of the importance of the Danube Limes as a defensive line during the powerful Roman Empire, and the associations of Danube Bulgaria go back to the early years of the founding of the state. Danube is the most sung river in folk songs and poems. During the Renaissance, the emotional connection with the Danube was strengthened by the fact that the river was seen as a boundary between freedom and unfreedom, between life in the homeland and survival in exile. The patriarch of Bulgarian literature, Ivan Vazov, described the Danube as "quiet, white", which "excites, merrily makes noise". It is no coincidence that we find the river already in the second verse of the Bulgarian national anthem: "Proud Stara Planina, next to it the Danube flows."
The Bulgarian Danube coast is 471 km long - it starts from the mouth of the Timok River at the border with Serbia in the west and ends at the town of Silistra in the east, where the land border with Romania begins. The Danube is a natural state border between Bulgaria and Romania. Two bridges have been built along the river, which serve as a land connection with the northern neighbor.