The town of Karlovo has a population of 25 000 inhabitants. It is a municipal centre of 28 component settlements. Karlovo lies at a distance of 56 km from the district town. It is situated at the northern part of Plovdiv Municipality at the Karlovo Valley along the Stara Reka River. To the north the valley is surrounded by the Stara Planina Mountains, to the southwest from the Sashtinska Sredna Gora Mountains and to the southeast of Sarnena Sredna Gora Mountains. The average altitude of the town is 450 m. The Karlovo Valley is part of the famous Rose Valley.

At the site of the present-day town different settlements and fortresses have been established and later on destroyed without leaving clear traces of their existence. However, evidence for the existence of two Thracian settlements in the sites of "Sveta Troitza"/Holy Trinity/ and "St. Pantaleymon" has been found. Sanctuaries and remains from medieval monasteries and churches are also preserved in the region. During the Roman Empire a main road connecting Thrace and The Dunabe River has crossed the territory of Karlovo but has lost its significance after the foundation of the Bulgarian state. The fortified town of Kopsa also known as Kopsis has been the centre of the valley. The annals give no other information about the fate of the settlement until the Ottoman invasion. The most likely successor of the ancient town and the centre of the Municipality has been the settlement of Sushitza. At the end of XIV c. it has been conquered by the Ottoman Turks and became a possession of the Kaarlazade lala Ali Bey. Sultan Bayazid rewarded the bey for his merits with the lands around Sushitza and the settlement has been named after its owner Karla ova /the land of Karla/. Karlovo is the home town of the great Bulgarian hero Vasil Levski, the brothers Evlogi and Hristo Georgievi (prominent public figures who has donated for the building of the Sofia University/, the teacher Botyo Petkov, Dr. Ivan Bogorov, the Alpine climber Hristo Prodanv (who has conquered the Everest Peak in 1984) and many others.
The tourist sights of the town are: the Revival period houses with rich mural decorations, the churches "St. Nikola" (1847) and "Sveta Bogoroditza"/Holy Virgin/ (1859), the house-museum of Vasil Levski, the Art gallery, the Karlovo waterfalls of "Suchrum" and "Praskaloto".

Tourist sights

The house-museum of Vasil Levski has been burned down during the Russian-Turkish Liberation War. It has been later on restored and a monument of Vasil Levski's mother-Gina Kuncheva has been erected in its yard. Vasil Levski is the ideologist of the Bulgarian national liberation revolution. He is the founder of a revolutionary organization. The Apostle of Freedom is arrested by the Ottoman police and is sentenced to death by hanging.

The History Museum in Karlovo is situated in the building of the old school from 1871. The museum has two sections - Ethnographic and Bulgarian Revival period.

The "Sveta Bogoroditza"/Holy Virgin/ Church in Karlovo has been built in 1847. There are precious murals painted by Stanislav Dospevski in the church.

The architectural-historic reserve of "Svezhen" at the village of Svezhen in Karlovo Municipality lies at the Sarnena Sredna Gora Mountains at a distance of 34 km from Karlovo. Priceless representations of the Bulgarian architecture are preserved in the village. The ancient houses date back to XVIII and XIX c. and impress with artistic wooden paneling, built-in cupboards, ceilings, window shutters and other decoration elements.