Читать книгу Walking in Bulgaria's National Parks. Pirin, Rila and Central Balkans National Parks онлайн

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The current tariff for genuine OK Supertrans taxis is 0.59 leva/km (6am to 10pm) and 0.70 leva/km (10pm to 6am), so the ride to the bus or train stations shouldn’t cost more than 20 leva (€10). The drive normally takes about 30 minutes, but it is good to allow yourself an hour for your connection.

Details of how to reach the relevant trailheads by public transport are given at the start of each walk. The following distances and timings should give you a rough idea of how long it’s going to get to each place from Sofia.

Walk start Time from Sofia Distance from Sofia Divchovoto (Walk 1) 3hrs 30mins 130km Mazaneto (Walk 2) 4hrs 215km Kalofer (Walk 3) 2hrs 30mins 165km Lagat (Walk 4) 4hrs 210km Rila Monastery (Walk 5) 2hrs 30mins 155km Malyovitsa (Walk 6) 2hrs 30mins 100km Borovets (Walk 7) 1hr 30mins 80km Kostenets (Walk 8) 1hr 30mins 68km Bansko (Walks 9, 10, 11 and 12) 3hrs 30mins 200km

Walking in Bulgaria

The origins of recreational hiking in Bulgaria can be traced back to the end of the 19th century and one man, Aleko Konstantinov, the founding father of the Bulgarian hiking movement. An author and journalist with an intense love of the mountains, he decided to awaken his compatriots’ appreciation of the natural beauties that lay hitherto unnoticed around them. To do so, he organised a mass excursion on the Vitosha Mountains in the summer of 1895, exhorting the citizens of Sofia to leave behind the smoke and dust of the city and experience for themselves the peace and pleasure of the countryside. More than 400 people responded to an advertisement he placed in a newspaper, and on 28 August they set off from Dragalevtsi to climb Cherni Vrah (2290m), the highest peak in the range.