page_title: Pazardzhik Province
section_title: Tourism
hierarchical_section_title: Pazardzhik Province / Economy / Tourism
caption_attribution_description: Български: Новата църква в Батак. English: Batak, Bulgaria - the new church.
context_page_description: Pazardzhik Province is a province in Southern Bulgaria, named after its administrative and industrial centre - the city of Pazardzhik. The territory is 4,456.9 km² that is divided into 12 municipalities with a total population of 275,548 inhabitants, as of February 2011.
context_section_description: The province has considerable opportunities to develop mountain and rural tourism, especially in the southern parts where the Rhodope mountains are located. The slopes are covered with dense deciduous and higher up, coniferous forests, dotted with numerous artificial lakes. The largest one is the Batak Dam, on whose shores are built two resorts: Tsigov Chark and Saint Konstantin as well as many villas and shrines.  Fish is abundant in the dams, including carp, rudd, roach barbel, perch, zander and many others; the mountain streams are rich in trout.  There are spa resorts in Velingrad, Strelcha, Banya, Varvara.  The most famous landmarks are located in Panagyurishte, Pazardzhik, Batak, Velingrad.
  Impressive ruins of an ancient basilica (the Belovo Basilica) rise in the hilly country, close to the town of Belovo. Numerous ruined fortresses are scattered around the province, the most famous of these are Tsepina, and the ramparts near Bata and Strelcha. The medieval Church of St Demetrius in the village of Patalenitsa has frescoes dating to the 12th–13th century.
caption: A church in Batak.
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