KOUKERY Art & Festival Travel Bulgaria is a licensed inbound tour operator, a branch of the KOUKERY Company, based in the town of Ruse, Bulgaria (License Nr PK-01-7093).      BG

THE SERVICES

Our company arranges group, individual and self-guided tours to Bulgaria and the neighboring Balkan countries, focusing on local culture and traditions, folklore and music, history and nature. The main concept of KOUKERY is to promote and protect the unique cultural heritage of Bulgaria. We offer a non-traditional form of customized tours, giving travelers freedom to choose the subject and frames of their own trip. The company provides tourist services for several cruise line companies, sailing the Danube, including transportation, guiding, organized day tours, transfers and entertainment. As a tour operator we provide our customers with all kinds of travel services, but here is what we do best:

    • Trips, including group and individual participation in local festivals, carnivals, meetings for authentic folklore
    • Folklore seminars, lectures on Balkan ethnography, dance school
    • Day trips from Ruse
    • Nature activities, hiking
    • Luxury SPA vacations at Bulgaria’s best mineral resorts, including balneological procedures and mineral water therapy
    • Trips, focusing on archeology and ancient civilizations
    • Tours, revealing the secrets of wine producing in Bulgaria
    • Culinary trips- Balkan cuisine
    • Local rites with your participation (Bulgarian folklore wedding, etc.)
    • CAMPING

We create a vacation of rich cultural focus for our travelers and give them the unique chance to observe and become part of mystic pagan rituals and colorful carnivals, to sense the magic of Bulgarian song and dance, to discover the wealth of our nature and walk the steps of Orpheus and Spartacus…

Our name stands for an excellent organization of your trip to Bulgaria, accommodation of quality and comfort, tour directors and licensed guides with highly professional presentation and attitude to the customer, safe and comfortable transportation. The manager of the team, Mrs. Katerina Koleva, is a professional travel operator and tour guide, with over 20 years of experience in the tourist industry, some of which as a bilingual tour director for leading international tourist companies.

THE COMPANY

KOUKERY is a Bulgarian company, based in the town of Ruse. The main activities of the company at present are  KOUKERY DANCE SCHOOL, which was established in 2001 and is now one of the largest and most popular in Bulgaria, and the professional FOLK GROUP, founded in 1982 by its producer and choreographer Mr Tsetsko Kolev. The group is still active with its dancers, musicians and singers, and participates in numerous folklore festivals and multicultural events all over the world.  >> VIDEO

Among the current activities of KOUKERY is the new Campsite, located in the beautiful Rusenski Lom Nature Park.

THE NAME

The name of the company is derived from the Bulgarian folklore- Koukery is a local tradition, dating back to the times of the Thracians. The celebrations of this rite take place in the winter, around New Year, and are believed to bring health and fertility. The Koukery are masked men, who perform ritual dances around the villages and chase the evil spirits away. They are usually dressed in furs, wear scary masks and huge bells around their waists, which make incredible noise. The tradition of the Koukery dances nowadays is well preserved and can be seen every year at the end of the winter during the spectacular Koukery festivals in several Bulgarian towns (read more on Festivals).