Melnik, Bulgaria: The Wine Town and Rozhen Monastery

Melnik is the smallest town in Bulgaria, with fewer than 400 people, tucked into a valley of pale sand pyramids in the far southwest, about 180 km from Sofia. People have made wine here since the 14th century. Here is how to get there, what to see in town, how to walk over the hill to Rozhen Monastery and where I'd taste the local red.

Melnik at a glance

Melnik lies at the foot of the Pirin Mountains, in the warm Struma Valley, about 30 km from the Greek border. One cobbled main street runs up the valley past white stone houses, and 96 of the town's buildings are listed as cultural monuments.

A short history of Melnik

Melnik was once far bigger than it is now. In the early 13th century it was the seat of Despot Alexius Slav, a local ruler. Winemaking in the town is recorded as far back as 1346.

By the 18th century Melnik was a town of rich wine merchants, many of them Greek, who built the big stone houses that still line the valley. In the early 20th century a fire and the departure of the Greek residents shrank it to the small town you see today.

How to get to Melnik from Sofia

By car

The drive is about 180 km and takes 2.5 to 3 hours. The road runs south from Sofia toward Blagoevgrad on the E79, the route to Greece, and Melnik is a short turn off it near Sandanski. From Bansko the drive takes a little over an hour.

By bus

One direct bus a day runs from Sofia to Melnik. It leaves at 2 PM and takes about 4 hours, and the return runs the next morning, so the bus means a night in town. Buses also run to Melnik from Blagoevgrad, Sandanski and Petrich, which helps if you are already traveling in the south. For the rest of the country, getting around Bulgaria by bus works well between the big towns, but small places like Melnik see few departures.

By train

Melnik has no railway station. The nearest is Damyanitsa, about 12 km away, and from there you need a taxi, so I'd only use the train if you are already on the line to the south.

The Melnik Earth Pyramids

The Melnik Earth Pyramids are the pale sandstone cliffs and spires that wrap around the town. Erosion cut them into jagged ridges, towers and blades, some close to 100 m high, and they have been a protected natural landmark since 1960.

You see them from the town itself, but the best close view is from the ridge near Rozhen Monastery, on the walk between the two.

Rozhen Monastery

Rozhen Monastery stands on a low hill on the southern slope of Pirin, on the edge of the village of Rozhen and 6 km from Melnik. There may have been a church on the site as early as the 9th century, and the monastery was probably founded in the 13th century, in the time of Despot Alexius Slav.

The main church, the refectory and some of the living quarters date from the 16th century. A fire damaged the monastery in the late 17th century, and it was restored in the early 18th century. Inside the church are frescoes, stained glass, wood carving by masters from Debar, and the icon of the Virgin Gatekeeper. The iron gate still carries bullet marks.

Rozhen is an active monastery. The gates open at 8 AM for the morning service, entry is free, and in summer the grounds stay open until about 6 PM. There are rooms for pilgrims and a small museum of icons and folk costumes from southwest Bulgaria.

Yane Sandanski's grave

Close to the monastery, the Church of Saints Cyril and Methodius holds the grave of Yane Sandanski, the Bulgarian rebel leader.

The grave sits under a big tree beside the church wall, a short stop on the way out of the monastery.

Walking from Melnik to Rozhen Monastery

The trail from Melnik to Rozhen is about 3 km and takes about 1.5 hours each way. It climbs out of town through the sand pyramids, follows the bed of the Rozhensko dere, a stream gully, and then enters oak forest, with beech and conifers higher up. In places you walk on the cobbles of the old wine road that once linked Bansko with Melnik.

I'd walk it in the cool of the morning, both ways if your legs allow. The road takes the long way round, and the trail is the way to see the pyramids up close.

Things to do in Melnik town

Kordopulov House

The Kordopulov House was built in 1754 for the Kordopulos family, Greek wine merchants and the richest family in town. Its living room alone covers 90 square meters, with stained glass and walls painted in the Venetian style.

Below the house, a wine cellar is cut deep into the rock, and in front of it stand the ruins of the family's church of St Varvara. Entry costs about €2, and tasting packages cost extra. If you only go inside one house in Melnik, make it this one.

The Wine Museum

The Wine Museum tells the story of Melnik wine in rooms cut into the rock. Its vault holds about 400 wines, which are for show and not for sale. Entry costs about €3 with a tasting.

You can also make your own bottle here: fill it, cork it, seal it with wax and put your own label on it, with a date, names or a photo. A bottle with your own label is one of the best Bulgarian souvenirs to carry home.

The main street, old churches and ruins

Melnik is small enough to see on foot in an hour. The main street is cobbled, shaded by old trees and lined with white stone houses, many of them with wine cellars dug into the slope behind.

Above the town are the ruins of the Bolyarska House, also called the Byzantine House, the early 13th-century residence of Despot Alexius Slav. The Church of St Nicholas, from the late 12th century, is the largest and oldest church in town, half ruined now. The Church of St Antony has a local legend that a night spent inside it heals the sick.

Keep climbing to the ruins of the old fortress above the town for the best view of the roofs and the valley, and stay for the sunset. The steps up to Sveti Spileotisa, a 10 to 15 minute climb, give you the other good view back over Melnik.

Melnik wine and where to taste it

Melnik's grape is Broad-leaved Melnik, or Shiroka Melnishka Loza, a late-ripening red that grows almost only in this valley. It makes tannic wine that tastes of cherries when young and turns to tar, leather and spice with age, and the local story says it was Winston Churchill's favorite. Melnik 55, an earlier-ripening cross bred from it, is lighter and peppery.

The tasting rooms are in the old houses along the main street. The Kordopulov House and the Wine Museum both pour, and Pri Shestaka is another wine cellar in town. Tastings in town usually cost €5 to €15 per person. Around the valley, the wineries to know are Villa Melnik, Orbelus, Zlaten Rozhen and Rupel, and of the Bulgarian wine regions, the Struma Valley is the small southwestern one with a Mediterranean climate.

Of the two local grapes, Broad-leaved Melnik is the one I'd take home, and it ranks among the best Bulgarian wines for my money. The difference between it and its offspring is the first thing to learn about Bulgarian grape varieties, because both say Melnik on the label.

Where to eat and stay in Melnik

A full meal with local wine costs about €12 to €20 per person, and I'd open it the Bulgarian way, with a small rakia and a shopska salad before the red. Chavkova House and Mencheva Kushta are the two names I'd start with for Bulgarian food.

Most places to stay are small family hotels and guesthouses. Hotel Despot Slav and Hotel Mario are two to look at, and the Bulgari Family Hotel has 18 rooms, its own restaurant and a wine museum. The Zornitza Family Estate, a Relais & Chateaux property, has 6 villas and a restaurant, aEstivum.

Day trips from Melnik

With a car, Rupite and Samuel's Fortress are two more stops close to Melnik, and Sandanski, 23 km away, is the nearest bigger town.

Melnik also works as the last stop before Greece. The drive from Sofia to Thessaloniki runs down the same E79, and a night in Melnik breaks it in half.

Best time to visit Melnik

Late spring and early autumn are the seasons I'd pick, for the warm days and the open cellars. September and October are harvest time, and Melnik 55 comes in from late September. July and August are hot in this sheltered valley, so walk to Rozhen early. Winter is quiet and cool, with the town mostly to yourself.

One day or one night in Melnik

By car, Melnik works as a long day from Sofia, but I'd stay one night. The town is at its best in the evening, when the day visitors leave and the pyramids turn orange, and an overnight lets you do the Rozhen walk in the cool morning.

It is on my list of day trips from Sofia as a long day by car; by bus, treat it as a weekend away.

Is Melnik worth visiting?

Yes. Melnik gives you a wine town, the sand pyramids and a medieval monastery within walking distance, and it is on my list of the best places to visit in Bulgaria. One night and a morning walk cover it.

It suits:

• Wine lovers. Melnik is the place to drink Broad-leaved Melnik where it grows, and Bulgarian wine does not get more local than a tasting in a cellar cut into the hill.
• Walkers. The trail to Rozhen takes you through the pyramids up close, with a monastery at the end.
• Anyone who liked Koprivshtitsa. Melnik has the same kind of old merchant houses as Koprivshtitsa, in a hotter, wine-growing valley.
• Road trippers heading to Greece. Melnik is the last town I'd stop in before the border.
• Skiers in Bansko. A little over an hour's drive makes Melnik an easy day off the slopes in Bansko.

Skip it if:

• You have one free day, no car and no wish to stay overnight. The bus timetable will not let you see Melnik and get back the same day.
• You want nightlife. Evenings here mean dinner, a tasting and an early night.
• You come on a winter Sunday. Too much of the town may be shut.