Climbing & Mountaineering

Bulgaria's mountainous terrain provides good opportunities for climbing, alpinism and mountaineering. The most popular areas with mountaineers and rock-climbers are Mount Malyovitsa in the Rila Mountains; the karst region to the north of Mount Vihren in the Pirin range; the Iskar Gorge, Vratsa and Belogradchik in the Stara Planina; and the Blue Rocks outside Sliven.

In the Pirin mountains you can find the second highest mountain of Bulgaria; that is the mt. Vihren (over 2900 meters). To climb this mountain you don’t need equipment. You can climb the path, although sometimes its though for the path is steep. It can be helpful to have a stick with you. At the mt. Vihren you can even see seniors easily climbing up and down the mountain while wearing sandals on their feeds.

Organized climbing, alpinism and mountaineering trips can be arranged by specialized companies in the areas of Vratsa, Veliko Tarnovo, Trojan, Maliovitza and Roussenski Lom. The steep rocks of the Pirin, Rhodope, Rila and Stara Planina are popular with expert climbers.