The Rose Festival

23 km from hotel Alexander.

The first rose celebration was in 1903 and its theme was not only the production of rose oil from rosa Damascena, but it also celebrated mercy and focused on gathering donations for poor families, orphans, old people and people who suffer from tuberculosis.

Throughout the last century, the rose festival has grown throughout the Rose Valley and is now celebrated in many towns and villages across the valley including Pavel Banya, Rozovo, Gorno Izvorovo, Karlovo etc.

The celebrations now include a wide variety of cultural, historic and artistic events such as Photo plain air of famous photographers, International Folklore Festival, Mini Rose Queen and Miss Rose Valley, merchants street and much more.

The first Friday of June is the official day of Kazanlak – the new Rose Queen is coronated and the last three days of the festival begin – and much fun is had (no Yoda pun intended). During the weekend, the days and nights are filled with various events across the valley, with the most known ones being the official Rose picking (rozober) and Rose boiling events followed by:

The epic Carnival Parade – the biggest in Bulgaria

On Sunday noon, students, dancing ensembles, volunteers, school classes, choirs and many many other local groups prepare to walk down the main street in Kazanlak, showing their dance moves, magic tricks, singing proficiency or simply wave to the crowd. You shouldn’t miss that!