The town of Svilengrad (population: 19 416; 55 m above sea-level) is situated on the banks of the Maritsa River, in the immediate proximity to the touching point of three state boundaries, namely Bulgarian-Greek, Bulgarian-Turkish and Greek-Turkish. It is about 70 km, 150 km, and 300 km south-east of Haskovo, Plovdiv and Sofia respectively, 2 km north of the boundary with Greece, and 14 km north-west to the boundary with Turkey, 30 km and 265 km north-west of Odrin (Edirne) and Istanbul, respectively. One of the gates to Bulgaria.
