Bulgaria: budget tourist chic and spectacular views - not to be missed!

Beauty in the East: Bulgaria is known as a country where you can take inexpensive vacations, but these 19 photos show that it's also breathtaking. This selection of breathtaking images of Bulgaria includes an image of a cave that is home to a large number of bats. It also boasts some surprisingly remote monasteries, such as the colorful Rila Monastery in the Rila Mountains.

With cheap restaurants, resorts and hotels, Bulgaria is known as a place where you can get great value for money, as we regularly report. But these photos show that this Balkan nation is also capable of enchantment.

These photos include mysterious caves - one of which appeared in the movie "Unbreakable 2" with Sylvester Stallone, while another is said to resemble the face of the devil - as well as chocolate box-like villages like Etar, with its cobbled streets and quaint watermill. There are also magnificently remote monasteries such as the Rila Monastery, a colorful cultural monument hidden in the Rila Mountains. And there's no secret that the country has magical beaches - among these images are some little-known gorgeous sandy beaches on the Black Sea coast.

We take a look at some of Bulgaria's most beautiful landscapes in photos...

The huge fortress of Belogradchik (also known as "Kaleto")

Villages that look like chocolate boxes, such as Etar with its cobbled streets and quaint watermill. There are also magnificently remote monasteries such as the Rila Monastery, a colorful cultural monument hidden in the Rila Mountains. And there's no secret that the country has magical beaches - among these images are some little-known gorgeous sandy beaches on the Black Sea coast.

This piece of paradise is Bolata beach.

The sandy nook within the Kaliakra Nature Reserve on the northeastern coast of the Black Sea in Bulgaria. The nature reserve is a haven for birdwatching and flocks of dolphins can also be seen there.

The picture shows the stunning Devetashka cave.

in northern Bulgaria, which is home to a large number of bats. You might recognize it from the 2012 film "Unbreakable 2," where Sylvester Stallone's character lands a plane inside a cave.

This idyllic photo shows the delightful Cherepish Monastery.

14th century monastery on the banks of the Iskjr River. The monastery has a small museum, a guest house and a restaurant that serves "traditional monastery dishes and Bulgarian cuisine," according to the website Bulgariamonasteries.com.

This breathtaking photo shows the Karjali Reservoir

The large reservoir formed by the Karjali Dam in the south of the country. It is a popular place for paddling and fishing, you can catch trout or catfish here.

This breathtaking photo shows the sunset over Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria.

The Vitosha mountain range can be seen in the background, and the green domes of the Church of Saints Cyril and Methodius rise in the center of the frame.

This is the magnificent Rila Monastery in the photo.

Founded in the 10th century by St.

This chocolate box-like village is called Etar

This is an ethnographic village and open-air museum founded in the 1960s in the Gabrovo region. It is a re-creation of a traditional village from the Bulgarian Revival period that began in the late 18th century. Featuring a watermill and cobbled streets, the museum is described as "a living portrait of a bygone era".

The emerald waters of Sozopol can be seen in this gorgeous aerial photograph.

Historical resort town on the Black Sea coast, founded in the 7th century BC.

The view from a cafe on the beach in Sozopol.

Although this place is charming, there are dark corners to its history. In 2012, skeletons from the Middle Ages were found in Sozopol with metal stakes grafted across their chests, presumably to prevent them from turning into vampires.

This beautiful winter photo shows the Freedom Monument.

This beautiful winter photo shows the Monument of Freedomwhich is located at the top of Mount Shipka in the Balkans. It honors those who died in Bulgaria's struggle for freedom from Ottoman rule in the late 19th century.

This atmospheric photo shows the path leading to the Ovech

Located near the town of Provadia. Founded in the 3rd century, the fortress was "inhabited successively by Tracians, Romans, Byzantines, Bulgarians and Turks," according to the tourism organization.

This striking photo shows Silistar beach

The sandy beach with shallow waters near the Turkish border. TripAdvisor user Adrian C said: "This is the most beautiful beach in Bulgaria. "

This attractive photo shows the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Sofia.

This is the largest cathedral in the Balkans, its domes reach a height of 53 meters and it can accommodate 5,000 people inside.

You could easily mistake this idyllic scene for the south of France, but it's actually a field of lavender in the Rose Valley in the center of Bulgaria.

As the name suggests, this area is known for its vibrant rose plantations - every summer it hosts the Rose Festival, where locals dress up in national costumes and celebrate the rose harvest.

This picture-perfect postcard shows the charming town of Veliko Tarnovo.

The Sound and Light show, which has been running since the 1980s, illuminates the city walls with more than 2,000 multicolored laser lights.

This postcard-perfect photo shows the "Devil's Bridge" over the River Arda, near the town of Ardino.

"According to legends, the footprints of the devil can be seen on the rocks nearby," says a Bulgarian tourist website.

This photo shows Largo, a triple socialist building in the center of Sofia.

The complex sits above the ancient ruins of Serdica, the Roman name for the city. A glass screen embedded in the ground in Largo offers a glimpse of the archaeological site underground.

This dark and mysterious photo shows the Devil's Throat cave.

near the village of Gyovren in southern Bulgaria. "The entrance to the cave looks like a devil's head, with a huge waterfall running down its throat, which has fascinated the imagination and spawned many legends since ancient times," the tourism organization notes, adding, "The most popular one says that Orpheus [a character from Greek mythology] descended through this opening into the underworld realm of Hades [Greek god of the dead] to find his lost love, Eurydice. "