Banya Palace, Royal summer residence in Banya, Bulgaria.

Banya Palace is a white mansion with a large veranda supported by five oak columns and decorated with Italian terracotta details on its exterior. The building sits within landscaped grounds that include a mix of native and imported plant species.

Boris III first visited Banya in 1925, after unsuccessful treatment for rheumatism in Hisarya, and stayed at the villa of his friend, the industrialist Velizar Bagarov. He then decided to build his own summer villa near the Karlovo baths. The villa was completed in 1929 to a design by architects Ivan Vasilyov and Dimitar Tsolov, and it was the only private house Boris III ever built.

The villa's name, Banya Palace, is a nod to its setting in the town of Banya, known for its mineral springs. Its design by Ivan Vasilyov and Dimitar Tsolov draws on 19th-century Bulgarian National Revival architecture, with a large veranda covered in Italian terracotta and five oak columns. The interior keeps authentic oriental furniture and paintings by Bulgarian artists such as Konstantin Shtarkelov and Boris Denev.

The villa is privately owned and not open to the public, so visits are limited to viewing the high stone wall and two oak gates from the street. The estate lies on the northern edge of Banya, within easy reach of the town's mineral springs. The park and interior can only be seen by arrangement with the owner.

The park's 7,000 m² were laid out by Boris III himself, an amateur botanist. A small stream once ran through the grounds, watering plants that today include swamp cypress, wild chestnut and magnolia. The estate also sits on rich hot mineral springs, and a curative mineral spring rises within the park.