My wife and I have booked flights to Sofia, Bulgaria, for a long weekend in October. After the excitement of getting very cheap flights died down, we now think that maybe four nights is too long in the city. Could you suggest anywhere else we could go that¹s not too far from Sofia? Malcolm Dewey, Bedford

Sunday Times travel expert, Richard Green, responds: Sofia has plenty to occupy you for a couple of days, but with four nights, you've time to take the train two and half hours east to the picturesque and historic city of Plovdiv (£6 return in first class). It's a pretty and characterful alternative to Sofia's grand boulevards and traffic, and is much more relaxing. The compact and hilly old town is a trove of fine "revival-era" houses and churches, which have now been renovated into house-museums and galleries. Their distinctive features are the upper floors, which overhang the narrow cobbled alleyways.

There's a tremendous Roman amphitheatre in the city centre too, plus the rather neglected hilltop ruins of Nebet Tepe, a Thracian settlement from 5000BC.

The most atmospheric hotel in Plovdiv, right in the heart of the old town, is the six-room Hebros Hotel (00 359 32 260 180; doubles from £64). This 200-year-old house is tastefully decorated and antique-filled, and also home to one of the country's best restaurants, with a fine outdoor courtyard in summer. It serves Bulgarian dishes like Rabbit with plums and pork with blue cheese, and there is live jazz at weekends, when booking is essential: expect to pay £15 a head, including wine.

Times recommends

• New York's top 10 new hotels
• A Scottish monastery retreat
• Welcome back to Rwanda