Munich to Istanbul · part 8 of 10 · Bulgaria
Ride from Sofia to Plovdiv on your smart trainer
Out of Sofia over the hills at Vakarel and Ihtiman, then down into the Thracian plain by Pazardzhik to Plovdiv.
In Chrome or Edge on a laptop or desktop, with a smart trainer or on the keys. No subscription, no card. The iPhone app is coming.
- Distance
- 159 km 99.0 mi
- Climbing
- 878 m 2,882 ft
- Highest point
- 861 m 2,823 ft
- Steepest 200 m
- 8.0%
- At 45 minutes a ride
- about 3 weeks
Along the way
- 0.0 km 0.0 mi Sofia
- 41.2 km 25.6 mi Vakarel
- 58.0 km 36.0 mi Ihtiman
- 105.1 km 65.3 mi Pazardzhik
- 159.3 km 99.0 mi Plovdiv
About the road
Part eight of Munich to Istanbul climbs out of Sofia over the hills at Vakarel and Ihtiman, then comes down into the Thracian plain and follows the Maritsa by Pazardzhik to Plovdiv.
Plovdiv, the Roman Philippopolis, is one of the oldest cities in Europe that has been lived in without a break, and its Roman theatre is still used for concerts.
Also known as Via Militaris, Sofia–Plovdiv by bike.
How to ride it on your trainer
- Open longvoie in Chrome or Edge on a laptop or desktop. It is free: an email and a code to sign in, no password, no card.
- Connect your trainer: any smart trainer that speaks FTMS (Wahoo, Tacx, Elite…), or a power meter, and a heart-rate strap if you have one. No trainer yet? Ride on the keys.
- Pick Sofia to Plovdiv. longvoie sets your trainer's resistance as the road climbs and eases it as it falls, and you ride it in 3D, on the real street.
- Stop whenever you like. Your next ride starts from the metre you stopped at.
| Your usual ride | Sofia to Plovdiv takes |
|---|---|
| 30 minutes | about 4 weeks |
| 45 minutes | about 3 weeks |
| 60 minutes | about 7 rides |
| 90 minutes | about 5 rides |
At three or four rides a week, and a steady 25 km/h plus an hour for every 1,000 m up.
Take the road with you
The route is free to download as a GPX file, for your bike computer, Komoot, Strava or another trainer app: sofia-plovdiv.gpx.
More roads to ride
Route © OpenStreetMap contributors, under the Open Database License. Heights from the Copernicus DEM, through Open-Meteo.