Top Things to do in Rila
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The 6 Best Things to Do in Rila, Bulgaria
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Restaurants in Rila
1. Rila Shuttle
Overall Ratings
5 based on 164 reviews
Daily shuttle from Sofia city to The National Park.
2. Rila National Park
Overall Ratings
5 based on 166 reviews
Reviewed By Rachel_Bellamy
We were staying in Sofia for four nights and thought going the Rila Lakes would make a really great day trip away from the city. Since we're students, we didn't want to take a guided tour, but instead opted for public transport. We spent a long time researching the best way to get to the Rila Lakes chairlift from Sofia, but had quite a hard time working this out, so thought it would be best to write an easy guide about how to do this here.
To the chair lift:
1. Take a bus from Sofia Central Station to Dupnitsa. Trams to the station start running from 5am (approx.). We were staying at the EasyHotel Sofia, and Tram 3 got us to the station in 20 minutes. Once at the station don't go to the central bus station building (this is the mistake we made and we ended up missing the bus we were aiming to get). Instead there are a number of bus bays outside the central train station. There is more than one company that runs buses to Dupnitsa from here (for example, Avtogari and Union Ivkoni), and these are regular. We went to the Union Ivkoni counter in the building behind these bays and easily bought a ticket for the next Dupnitsa bus. Note: the bus timetables in the station are very incomplete - we ended up getting the 7:20am bus and this wasn't shown on the board! The bus costs 6 lev for a single journey, but 9.60 lev for a return and takes approx 2 hours.
2. Once at Dupnitsa, take a bus to Sapareva Banya. These buses are also regular, and we only had to wait 20 minutes. The journey took around 40 minutes and cost 1.60 lev.
3. Here there are two options - either take one bus to Panichishte, then another to the Pionerska Hut. This is what we aimed to do, but found it very hard to find the bus to Panichishte once in Sapareva Banya as it was not clear which bus stop to get off at. Due to this, we ended up walking around lost for over an hour trying to work out where to go but having little luck. Eventually, we found a friendly tourist who gave us the number to a taxi company which could take us directly from Sapareva Banya to the chairlift - the number for this company is +359 89 9363982. I would definitely recommend taking the taxi to the chairlift - this saved us a lot of time (since the journey was direct and took only 40 minutes) and cost 16 lev (which, since there were two of us, is roughly £4 each).
We had 4 hours at the lakes (including the time needed to use the chair lift - i.e. 25 minutes either way), and this gave us plenty of time to see the first 5 lakes. To see all 7 lakes, we would have needed a couple more hours (and probably would have been able to do this if we hadn't got lost!).
Back to Sofia:
1. We decided to save time and potentially getting lost on our way back, to book a taxi (with the same company) straight from the chairlift to Dupnitsa - this cost us 28 lev (£7 each) which may seem a little pricey, but was well worth it as we could enjoy our day without having to worry about the transportation back. However, if you decide to get a bus from Sapareva Banya to Dupnitsa, buses run fairly regularly, with the last bus leaving at 8pm (Monday to Saturday). Note: this is correct at the time of writing (13/09/17). This bus would cost 1.6 lev again.
2. The last bus from Dupnitsa to Sofia leaves at 18.50, with other buses running at 17.50 and 15.50 (correct at time of writing).
I thoroughly enjoyed visiting the Rila Lakes and would recommend this to anyone visiting Bulgaria, especially those in Sofia, who want a beautiful and rewarding day out. Please use what we have learnt from our trip to make yours a lot easier - enjoy!
3. Rila Monastery
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 1 reviews
Founded in the 10th century, this monastery was restored in the 15th and again in the 19th century.
Reviewed By global-traveller48 - London, United Kingdom
This is about a 2 hour drive outside Sofia, and we used the brilliant Rila Shuttle to get there.
The monastery church itself is excellent, and is obviously a working church. Good frescoes. The monastery museum is also good.
We we the with snow, and at other times of the year there are obviously very good walks nearby.
We had a great lunch of local trout at the only restaurant that was open- an excellent (and cheap!) Meal.
Don't miss this as the journey through the countryside is good.
Do combine this with a visit to Bouana Church on either theboitward or homeward journey.
4. Medi Valley Winery
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 10 reviews
MEDI VALLEY WINERY is classical winery complex. It is located in the village of Smochevo at the southwest foot hills of Rila Mountains the picturesque road to the Rila Monastery. From here begins the southwest wine region known as the Struma Valley. It consists of a modern winery and 400 acres of vineyards. The attractive geographic location of the winery, the excellent conditions it has, the exceptional wines it offers which have been honored with prestigious awards at national and international competitions, turn MEDI VALLEY WINERY into the most charming new destination for wine tourism. MEDI VALLEY winery is open every day for visitors. Here the wine lovers can find their favorite wine and become friends with it forever.
Reviewed By Michael W - Saint Paul, Minnesota
We toured the cellars and tasted some wine. The winery is quite new and quite beautiful and located at the base of some snow capped Mountains. Unfortunately the wine left something to be desired but to be fair only their low end wines were available to taste - not very smart marketing.
5. Belmeken Dam
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 3 reviews
Reviewed By bleki1 - Sofia, Bulgaria
Located at 2000 m. above see level, Belmeken dam is one of the most beautiful places in Rila mountain. You can spend a whole day hiking around clean waters. Perfect for picnics, fishing and biking. There are several places to sleep or eat around. Don't miss Yundola resort, around 15 km from the dam.
6. Musala Peak
Overall Ratings
4 based on 1 reviews
Reviewed By Liviu_Gherghescu - Bucharest, Romania
Musala peak is the highest peak in Bulgaria and in Balkan peninsula.
According with Wikipedia : Musala (Bulgarian: Мусала); from Arabic through Ottoman Turkish: from Musalla, "near God" or "place for prayer" is the highest peak in the entire Balkan Peninsula, standing at 2,925 m (9,596 ft). The summit of the Rila mountain range in southwestern Bulgaria, Musala is the highest peak between the Alps and the Caucasus and the highest in Eastern Europe bar the Caucasus. With a prominence of 2473 m, Musala is the 7th most prominent mountain peak in Europe.[3]
Musala is situated within the Rila National Park, which is noted for its rich flora, including species such as Macedonian Pine and Bulgarian Fir in the Forests on its middle slopes, and fauna; it is one of the easiest places in Europe to see the wallcreeper. All major mountain ranges of Bulgaria can be seen from the top; these include Vitosha to the northwest, Sredna Gora towards the northeast, the Balkan Mountains along most of the northern horizon behind Vitosha and Sredna Gora, the Rhodope Mountains to the southeast, Pirin to the south, Osogovo and Ruy Mountain to the west, and of course Rila.
A Cosmic Ray Station was built on the peak in 1960 with cooperation from the Hungarian Academy of Science. The station conducted scientific experiments using a muon telescope. The station was destroyed by an electrical fire on October 29, 1983.[4]
With an average annual temperature of -2.3 °C Musala is the coldest place in Bulgaria and the entire Balkan Peninsula.[citation needed] Temperatures stay below 0 °C for about 8 months each year.[citation needed] Due to this about 45% of the annual precipitation on Musala is snow, and snow cover lasts for about 200 days (more than six months).[citation needed] Three of the main rivers of Bulgaria, the Iskar, Maritsa and Mesta have their sources near Musala.
The next highest peaks in the vicinity of Musala are Little Musala (2,902 m) and Irechek (2,852 m).
We climbed in September 2017. The weather was not so friendly with us : snow, powerful wind and a very deep fog.
We tried to climb on unmarked route following the Dino Peak, Small Musala and Musala peak but because of the fog we abandoned and following next day the normal route - Musala hut - Everest hut - Musala peak
