Walking, trekking guide to Bulgaria's National Parks, Europe

• Location
• Description
• Contents
• Introduction
• Sample Route
• Maps
• Reviews
• Further Reading

Blessed with a favourable climate, a wonderful variety of landscapes, a uniquely rich flora and fauna and a wealth of hiking trails, the choice of where to walk in Bulgaria is pretty much limitless. For the author of a guidebook such as this, it also makes the choice of what to include and what to leave out very difficult. In the end, I decided to limit the focus to Bulgaria’s three national parks, Rila, Pirin and Central Balkan. These national parks not only occupy the highest and wildest mountains in the country, but they are also threaded with a network of well-marked hiking trails. These paths typically lead through spectacular scenery and offer an unrivalled opportunity to encounter some of Europe’s rarest plants and animals.

As well as providing detailed route descriptions for many of the most outstanding walks offered by these three national parks, I have also included a great deal of background information about the history and geography of places passed along the trails, as well as comprehensive details of the wildlife likely to be seen. Mountain walking in Bulgaria’s national parks provides more than simply a physical challenge – it is a unique opportunity to experience wilderness and to glimpse the rare flora and fauna that still manages to find a safe refuge there.

Geography

Bulgaria lies in the southeastern corner of Europe, and has the rough outline of a large irregular rectangle some 520km from west to east and 330km from north to south. The country makes up about one-fifth of the Balkan Peninsula, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, and Greece and Turkey to the south. Its eastern boundary is formed by a 378km stretch of the Black Sea’s western shore.

Bulgaria has 37 distinct mountain ranges, of which 14 can be classed as ‘high mountains’ over 1600m. These include eight mountain ranges which reach altitudes of over 2000m – Rila (2925m), Pirin (2914m), Stara Planina (2376m), Vitosha (2290m), Osogovo (2254m), Slavyanka (2212m), Rodopi (2191m) and Belasitsa (2029m).

Climate

Because of its geographical location, Bulgaria lies on the boundary between continental and Mediterranean climatic zones. The significance of these competing climatic influences is, however, greatly controlled and modified by the country’s mountains. Most significant is the Stara Planina range, which runs west to east right across Bulgaria, helping to hinder cooler and wetter continental air masses as they move in from the north. Likewise, the Rodopi Mountains, which occupy a large part of southern Bulgaria, tend to hold up any Mediterranean weather systems coming in from the south. This means that the central part of the country, between these two major mountain ranges, represents a transitional climatic zone. Surprisingly, the influence of the Black Sea on Bulgaria’s overall climate is very limited, and really only has an impact on a narrow coastal strip.

In northern parts of Bulgaria, where a moderate continental climate predominates, the wettest months are May and June, and the driest is February, while in the south, the Mediterranean influence means maximum precipitation tends to be in November and December, and minimum in August and September.

In the lowlands of northern Bulgaria, precipitation regularly falls as snow between December and March, while along the Black Sea coast and the lowlands of southern Bulgaria this tends to be limited to just January and February. However, snowfall in these lowland regions normally only results in intermittent cover, due to frequent rises in temperature above zero. In the mountains, of course, the situation is very different, and above 2000m snow can last between four to nine months depending on altitude.

The average annual temperature in Bulgaria is between 10ºC and 14ºC. In the lowlands, January tends to be the coldest month with an average temperature in northern Bulgaria of -1.4ºC to -2ºC, and in the south between 0ºC to 2ºC. In the mountains it varies from -2ºC to -10ºC depending on altitude. Highest average temperatures are in July or August, reaching 21ºC to 24ºC degrees in the lowlands, but dropping from 16ºC to 5ºC in the mountains as the altitude increases. Interestingly, however, the lowest temperatures ever recorded in Bulgaria have not been high up in the mountains, but actually in lower-lying basins, which in winter frequently experience dramatic temperature inversions.

In general, from the point of view of walkers, Bulgaria’s climatic peculiarities make weather conditions in the mountains very pleasant during summer. Temperatures rarely rise too high to become uncomfortable for walking, and rain, when it falls, tends to be in the form of a short sharp downpour, which often quickly gives away to another prolonged spell of fine dry weather.

In the high mountains, June and July are wonderfully fresh and green, with the alpine flowers at their best, though you may find late-lying snow patches a hindrance on some of the highest peaks and passes, particularly their shaded northern flanks. August and September offer long days and stable sunny weather, ideal for major hikes, while October tends to be great for photography, the air crisp and clear, the deciduous forests turning gold, and perhaps a dusting of early snow on the highest tops to add some extra contrast.

Biodiversity

Located as it is, in the far southeastern corner of Europe, Bulgaria straddles the boundaries between the Central European forest, Eurasian steppe and Mediterranean bio-geographic zones, and is thus one of the most important countries on the continent in terms of its biodiversity.

Bulgaria is blessed with a unique natural heritage and an amazing variety of landscapes and eco-systems. To the east lies the Black Sea, with its rocky capes, sandy beaches and sheltered bays, while to the north is the Danube, fringed by lakes and marshes, and bordered by an ever alternating succession of low hills, elevated plateaus and broad steppe-like plains. But it is the majestic mountains that dominate Bulgaria, forming the physical heartland of the country. There you will find rugged alpine peaks and ridges with deep caves and precipitous gorges, surrounded by an extensive cloak of sub-alpine pastures, scrubs and peat-bogs. These then give way to ancient coniferous and beech forests, and lower still a zone of oak and hornbeam, as well as lush flower-filled meadows that surround small rural settlements where the local people still live a traditional pastoral life.

Because of its location, varied climate, relief and geological structure, Bulgaria has an outstandingly rich flora, with more than 3900 species of higher plants, made up of Central European, Carpathian, Mediterranean and Pontic species, as well as many unique Balkan and Bulgarian endemics which constitute about 8% of Bulgaria’s flora. There are also some 52 species of ferns, 4000 species of algae, 670 species of moss and 600 species of lichen.

The fauna too is extremely interesting and diverse, a meeting place for European and Asiatic species, including 100 of mammal, of which 33 are bats, 421 of bird, 207 of fish, some 37 of reptile, 18 of amphibian, and an estimated 27,000 species of invertebrate, which includes over 200 species of butterfly and 68 species of dragonfly.

Protected Territories

Bulgaria has a long tradition of nature conservation. Its first protected area, the Silkosiya Reserve was established in the Strandzha Mountains in 1931. Three years later, in 1934, a People’s Park was established on the Vitosha Mountains, becoming the first such ‘national nature park’ to be established on the Balkan Peninsula. Today, Bulgaria’s protected areas encompass approximately 4.3% of the country’s territory, and include 90 nature reserves, 10 nature parks and three national parks. It is these three national parks – Pirin, Rila and Central Balkan – that are the focus of this guidebook, for they not only represent some of the finest wilderness regions in Europe, they are also conveniently accessible, being crisscrossed with a well-marked and well-maintained network of hiking trails.