Karlovo (Bulgarian: Карлово [ˈkarɫovo]) is a historically important town in central Bulgaria located in a fertile valley along the river Stryama at the southern foot of the Balkan Mountains.

It is administratively part of Plovdiv Province and has a population of about 19,373 (as of 2021[update]), the mayor being Dr. Emil Kabaivanov.Karlovo is famous for the worldwide-known rose oil, which is grown there and used in producing perfume.

In addition to this, Karlovo is the birthplace of Vasil Levski, the most distinguished Bulgarian to start preparing the national liberation from the Ottoman rule in the late 19th century.

Karlovo is a successor of the medieval fortress of Kopsis (Копсис in Bulgarian, Kωψίς or Κόψη in Byzantine Greek), a feudal possession of Smilets of Bulgaria in the 13th-14th century and the likely capital of his brother despotēs Voysil's short-lived realm.

Matters came to a head in 1633, when Sultan Murad IV had to personally issue a firman (imperial decree) and dispatched officials from Eski Zağra (Stara Zagora) and Istanbul to determine the borders between the two towns.

[4][5] In the following year, by virtue of the Treaty of Berlin (1878), Karlıova was incorporated into the newly-established autonomous province of Eastern Rumelia and renamed Karlovo after five centuries of Ottoman rule.

The climate of the region is temperate continental, with mild and warm summers, refreshed by the wind coming down the Balkan Mountain, and snowy winters.

It includes the following 27 towns and villages (towns in bold): It is located right below the Karlovo water-power station, on the left tributary of Stryama River - Stara Reka, taking its sources from the two tributaries – the Malkata Reka springing South of the peaks of Ambaritsa and Malak Kupen and Golyamata River – springing South below the peak of Zhultets.

With its number of rapids, small pools and chutes above Karlovo, Stara Reka descends from 15 metres (49 feet) in a waterfall.