The town of Vratza is the centre of the district and has a population of 65 000 inhabitants. It lies at a distance of 112 km from Sofia. The town is situated at an altitude of 370 m in the western part of the Stara Planina Mountains at its northern foot. Vratza is the municipal centre of 21 settlements.

Active life has existed on the territory of the district since ancient times. There are findings from the time of the old Paleolith at the caves of Pech (the village of Staro selo), Samuilitza (the village of Kunino); Neolith settlements by the villages of Gradeshnitza, Dobrusha, Banitza; settlements from the Halcolith at the villages of Galatin, Lesura and Malorad. In V-IV c. B.C. the region around Vratza is populated by the Thracian tribes of Tribals. In 339 the Thracian tribe of Tribals wage a war with the troops of Philip the Macedonian in the Iskar Defile and are victorious. Philip the Macedonian himself is seriously wounded in this battle. In 335 they wage against his son Alexander the Macedonian and sign an alliance agreement. From this period are discovered two significant treasures - the Mogilan and the Rogozen treasures.

The end of the Thracian hegemony in the district is put by the Roman proconsul Mark Licinius Kras in 28 A.D. For almost 400 years Vratza and the district have been part of the Roman Empire. The district later enters the limits of the Thrace Province and it is in this period when the settlement is turned into a town of a typical Roman outlook. The population of the town is mainly Thracians, war veterans, Helens and Maloasians brought by the Romans. In V-VI c. the town of Vratza is a territory of a new empire - the Byzantine. The Byzantine Prokopius Kesariyski is the first to mention the Valve fortress. In Latin "valve" means gate and this is the old name of the town. The town has had a natural defense of steep rocks and where there were no rocks it has had fortified walls. In VII c. the population consisted manly of Slavs and had the name of Vratitza. In 681 the Bulgarian State is founded and the town of Vratza becomes its western border. In XIV c. the town is part of the Ottoman Empire. The town is liberated in 1878 after the end of the Russian-Turkish Liberation War.

Vratza is the birth place of the sculptor Andrey Nikolov (1878-1959). He is a student of the Academy of Fine Arts in Paris.

The tourist sights of the town are: the history museum, the art gallery, the ethnographic-Revival complex, the two medieval tower-fortresses - the Kurtapashova and the Meshchiite, the Vratitza Gorge and others.

On the territory of Vratza District are located the following cultural-historic landmarks: remains of the ancient fortress Augusta, the Bulgarian fortress by the village of Oryahovo from the period of the Second Bulgarian State, the Cherpishki, Strupetzki, Bistrishki and Gradeshki monasteries.

The natural landmarks of the region are: the "Vratza Balkan" natural park, the Vratza eco-path and the rocky phenomena "Ritlite".

The most popular wineries of the region are Krivodol, Vratza, Roman and Oryahovo.

Tourist sights

The History Museum in Vratza houses objects from the Neolith culture, gold Thracian treasures and examples of the Vratza goldsmith's school from the Revival period.

The Moglan's mound in Vratza is one of the most unique findings. It is situated in Vratza and is discovered in 1965. The burial in the tomb has been performed around 380-359 B.C. The tomb is 11 m long and 4 m wide and has a rectangular shape. In the tomb have been discovered two silver jugs, four phials, an iron sward and other gifts.

The ancient fortress Augusta lies at a distance of 3 km from the village of Harletz in Montana District. The name of the town is mentioned in two Roman guidebooks. In the ancient Christian annals the name of the town has several suffixes - Augustes, Augustas, Augustis. Augusta is situated on a low plateau of the old basin of the Ogosta River. To the south the town has been surrounded by the high banks of the Ogosta River and to the east and north by an impassable swamp. The town has been accessible only from the west. In order to protect this side there has been built a wall with a deep pit in front of it which can be seen till present days. The walls have been precisely built following the symmetry and the beauty of the fortress.

The rocky complex in the village of Tzarevetz consists of 40 natural and artificially formed niches and caves in the steep rocky wreaths along the bank of the Iskar River. About 30 inscriptions from different periods and hundreds of paintings of animals, people, hunting scenes and cult signs have been discovered in them. The paleographic and language characteristics of the inscriptions date them to the period of XVI -XVIII c. and the paintings to the VII-XI c. The archaic style of some of the paintings dates them to an earlier epoch. The complex has been populated for more than a century and has been an important cult centre.

The Cherepishki Monastery lies at a distance of 13 km southwest of the town near the village of Lyutibrod. The monastery is situated in the valley of the Iskar River. It has been one of the important spiritual centres during the Ottoman yoke. The monastery is founded in XIV c. and is restored in XVII c. The single-nave monastery church has precious icons and a beautiful iconostasis.

The Strupetzki Monastery by the town of Mezdra has been built in XVI-XVII c. The murals of the monastery are precious examples of the Bulgarian landscape painting. The housing buildings in the monastery have been finished in 1857 and are by far among the most representative ones of the Revival period architecture.

The Bistritza Monastery "St. Yoan Bogoslov" lies at a distance of 6 km west of Vratza hidden in the mountainous slopes. In the rocks above the monastery there is a big aperture with a natural vault of 30m height. In the southern part of this vault there are mural paintings. The preserved inscription below them tells about the renovation of the monastery in 1540 by Dimiter Dubov. From the old monastery complex the most well-preserved is the church from the XVI c.