About this Guidebook
This guidebook focuses on walking in the Rila, Pirin and Central Balkan national parks. Each of these regions has its own section, which begins with a detailed overview of its geography, climate, flora and fauna. There then follow detailed descriptions of the walks themselves, including background information and trail notes, as well as a summary of walking time, distance, ascent, descent and the highest point of the day. Be aware that the walking times given in this book refer to ‘pure’ walking times, without pauses for rest, meals, or to enjoy the views and abundant wildlife.
For clarity and convenience each walk is broken down into separate daily stages, each stage finishing at either a mountain hut (hizha), or some other suitable source of accommodation. I have also set out to provide clear and concise details of how best to reach, and indeed leave, the mountains at the start and end of every walk.
The walks in this book are challenging, and aimed at fit, experienced mountain walkers. Trails are often physically demanding, with long steep ascents and descents, often over rocks and boulders. Furthermore, most of the ridge walks require a good head for heights – especially the exposed scramble along the Koncheto crest (Walk 12). Be sure to read the route description carefully before setting out.
Key Facts and Figures
| Country name | Republic of Bulgaria |
| Capital | Sofia |
| Surface area | 110,993.6km2 |
| Population (2007) | 7,640,238 |
| Ethnicity (2001) | Bulgarian 83.9%, Turkish 9.4%, Roma 4.7%, other 2% |
| Religion (2001) | Bulgarian Orthodox 82.6%, Muslim 12.2%, other 5.2% |
| Language | Bulgarian 84.5%, other 15.5% |
| Alphabet | Cyrillic |
| Currency | lev |
| Time Zone | GMT + 2hrs |
| National day | 3 March (Liberation from the Ottoman Turks) |
| International Dialing Code | +359 |
| Mountain Rescue Telephone | 02-9632000 |
PART 1
THE CENTRAL BALKAN NATIONAL PARK
Cascade in valley of Kostina Reka along trail to Hizha Benkovski (Walk 1)
INTRODUCTION
With stern and frowning brow, behind a cloak of cloud, The Balkan Range arises in the distance, high and proud…
Pencho Slaveykov, The Song of Blood (1913)
Topography
Stretching right across Bulgaria for about 520km, from the Serbian border in the west to Cape Emine on the Black Sea coast in the east, the Stara Planina (meaning ‘old mountains’), or Balkan Mountains as they are often known, form the backbone of Bulgaria, both physically as well as in the nation’s psyche. The range as a whole covers an area of some 11,600km2, about one-tenth of Bulgaria’s total land mass, and has 29 peaks that top 2000m.
The Stara Planina comprises many individual massifs, which geographers group into three distinct sections. The Western Stara Planina extends for 190km between the Belogradchik pass and Zlatitsa pass and includes four peaks over 2000m, of which Midzhar (2168m) is the highest. Beyond the Zlatitsa pass begins the Central Stara Planina. This stretches for a distance of 185km, as far as the Vratnik pass, and boasts 25 peaks over 2000m, including Botev (2376m), the highest summit of the entire range. The final section is the Eastern Stara Planina, which runs for 155km between the Vratnik pass and Cape Emine. This is the lowest section of the range, scarcely topping 1000m. Its highest top is Balgarka (1181m).
On the main ridge of the Stara Planina at the edge of the Tsarichina Reserve (Walk 1, Day 2)
Founded in 1991, the Central Balkan national park, as its name suggests, is located in heart of the Central Stara Planina, covering an 85km stretch of the main ridge. It is the second largest protected territory in Bulgaria, with a total area of 71,670ha, and encompasses the three highest and wildest massifs of the range, the Zlatishko-Tetevenska Planina, Troyanska Planina and Kaloferska Planina, including 20 of the Stara Planina’s 2000m peaks. About 60 per cent of the national park is covered in forest, while the rest comprises a patchwork of high-mountain meadows, pastures and rock outcrops.
There are nine nature reserves within the boundaries of the national park, accounting for about 30 per cent of its total area. These are the Boatin, Tsarichina, Kozya Stena, Steneto, Stara Reka, Dzhendema, Severen Dzhendem, Peeshtite Skali and Sokolna reserves. In 2003 the Central Balkan national park became the fourth national park in Europe to be awarded the prestigious title PAN park, recognising it as the best of Europe’s wilderness. A PAN park offers real wilderness with outstanding nature and high-quality tourism facilities, well balanced with wilderness protection and sustainable local development. See www.panparks.org.
Geology
The name Stara Planina – ‘old mountains’ – is something of a misnomer, as this is in fact the youngest mountain range in the country, one of the so-called ‘new fold-mountains’ that were uplifted at the same time as the Alps and Himalayas as a result of tectonic pressures from the south. As a whole, the Central Balkan national park has a complex geological history and structure, and this helps to give the region its charm, and an ever-changing succession of landscapes. In places the main ridge is narrow, bristling with rugged peaks, its flanks lined with cliffs and pierced by deeply cut valleys. Elsewhere it is broad and mellow, with gently domed summits separated by shallow grassy saddles, the slopes swathed by pastures and ancient forests
Granites and crystalline schist are the dominant types of rock, most apparent in the highest parts of the range, where they burst to the surface along the backbone of the ridge like an array of jagged vertebrae. However, there are also sandstones, gneiss and marls, as well as a small but striking area of karst limestone. This forms the heart of the Steneto Reserve, where the river Cherni Osam has carved out a dramatic gorge flanked by cave-studded cliffs and precipices. Here is Raychova Dupka, which at 377m is the deepest cave in Bulgaria.
Hydrology
Running right across Bulgaria from west to east, the Stara Planina forms part of one of the most important watersheds on the Balkan Peninsula, dividing rivers between the Black Sea and Aegean basins. Rivers running down north from the mountains flow towards the Danube, and hence into the Black Sea, while those that drop south feed into the Maritsa and eventually out into the Aegean Sea. The main rivers of the Black Sea basin originating in the Central Balkan national park are the Vit, Osam, Vidima and Rositsa, while the most important rivers of the Aegean basin are the Topolnitsa, Stryama and Tundzha.
The Central Balkan national park has only one small lake, Saragyol (‘the yellow pool’), which lies tucked in at the southern foot of the peaks Malak Kupen and Golyam Kupen in the Kaloferska Planina. However, the