Bobov Dol lies near the geographic centre of the Balkan Peninsula and is known for its coal mines and thermal power plant.

The third-largest town in the province (after Kyustendil and Dupnitsa), it is the administrative centre of Bobov Dol municipality.

[1] To the east is the other town part of Bobov Dol, the newer Minyor neighbourhood in the Bankovitsa area which dates to 1954 and mostly consists of tower blocks.

Although in the 1830s the geologist Ami Boué visited the region and studied the local coal deposits, it was not until after the Liberation of Bulgaria that extraction began, namely in 1891.

The Bobov Dol Thermal Power Plant was built between 1973 and 1975, 10 kilometres from the town, at the village of Golemo Selo.