Nature is all around us

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In my 'Bulgaria section' you can find many more places to travel to!

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Sofia lies in a large valley, at an average altitude of 550 metres. There are no large rivers in the capital, however, it is surrounded by mountains. Vitosha mountain, with the Black Peak (Cherni Vrah) at 2.290 metres, is the highest mountain nearby. The mountain Vitosha has nine other peaks that reach over 2.000 metres. In prehistoric times, it was an active volcano.

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North of Sofia stretches the Balkan mountain range (Stara Planina). It stretches all the way east into the country and west into Serbia as well. Without going into too much detail; it's clear that nature in Bulgaria is everywhere. We should be thankful that we have it as our backyard. This is a true wealth. Nature can heal us and we need it more often than we think. It's where we come from and the city life, although enjoyable, is only doing us good upto a certain point. Personally, I often suddenly find my battery drained and feel I have to recharge. This is best done in nature and, for me, alone. It's strange how little we have our feet on sand or in grass. We walk on concrete and pavements and just walk through some parks. There's a moment of connectivity when you walk through the forest and feel your feet sink in the sand or kick up autumn leaves. If you're present in the moment, nature can offer so much. Just observing objects from closeby, such as a pretty flower or a dense forest, can trigger all your senses. The smell of a fresh flower in spring or a pine forest where it just rained. These smells are what bring us back to childhood and make us think back to carefree days. It might make you about as enthusiastic as when you walked through a hotel with your parents and suddenly smelled chlorine in the hallways: "Hey, there's a swimming pool!".

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We reconnect too little in our current time. Nature starts in our backyard or in the garden right in front of the apartment block. But how often do we look at a pinecone from closeby? When is the last time we looked at bees circling around a flower? We do it rarely, even though we can right now. These things can be found in the city, even. Still, we choose to ignore them in our busy lives. We look at screens and scroll through social media feeds, looking at pictures of people whom travel and post pictures of nature. The same nature we choose to ignore, even though it's all around us.

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There's no need to travel far to find nature. In this post, I will show several itineraries that I truly enjoyed. They are near Sofia and easy to reach. Still, as most paths are not marked, it's good to have some means of navigation. Google Maps, maps.me, a compass (possibly your phone but batteries run flat) and a map are a must. If you prefer a marked trail, Vitosha mountain offers many of these.

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Bistritsa - Pancharevo

This is the first itinerary, also mentioned in the article Enjoying Sofia in winter.

If it happens to be a weekday, have a coffee at Arhivite. This is the National Archive and an interesting place to see. You'll have to let the guard write down your ID card's details at the entrance. It's on Moskovska Street no. 5 and opened from 9:00 until 17:30 Monday to Friday only. Metro station Serdica or Sofia University. Tea House, (12:00 - 21:00 - Monday to Friday only) is a lovely place as well. Then, if you have your transport ticket for a day (4 leva), you can take the metro to James Bourchier station. You can have a drink at The Corner Bar as well. It's opened from 11:00. Take bus 98 south to Bistritsa village. Get off there and visit pastry shop Foreste. You can then hike along the path towards Pancharevo Lake (Pateka Pancharevo - Bistritsa). To find that path, you should really download the free application Citymaps2Go and download the Sofia Province map. Then, you can swim year-round in the outdoor hot mineral water bath Korali (09:00 - 19:00) and take bus 1,3 or 4 back north into the city.

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Novi Iskar - Katinskite Piramidi

In the Iskar gorge, which stretches north of Sofia, many villages are yours to discover. The landscape turns hilly right north of Sofia, where you have the village Novi Iskar. Its train station is called Kurilo. You can get there from Sofia in about 25 minutes by train. From there on, you can walk northwest and head right into the forest. There are several paths you may take, it's nicest to just explore it yourself. Downloading an offline area of Google Maps will definitely help you find some (unmarked) paths. The pine forests will continue on to the settlement Laska and then to the Katinskite Piramidi, the stone pyramids near the village Katina. These places are all easily found in Google Maps. You could then walk on to the village Katina and take bus 27 to metro station Lavov Most (Lion's Bridge). A nice route that you do not need much time for, I did it myself in about three hours. It's perfect for a quiet afternoon. You'll have some places from which you can see Sofia so there's plenty of opportunities to take pictures. East of Novi Iskar are some paths as well, however it's then better to continue by train to the next stop, Vlado Trichkov village. This area has more forests.

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Thompsan - Vlado Trichkov

Should you find yourself in Thompsan or Vlado Trichkov, both conveniently located along the railway line, you can walk from one village to the other. The road connecting them is not suitable for hiking, as there's no pavement. It's safer and far prettier to take the hills. I started in Thompsan myself and walked to Vlado Trichkov, however either direction is possible. This is not a marked trail, I walked it just by using a map. I recorded my walk with Viewranger, an excellent app. I downloaded an offline map of the area and just walked using a paper map. Viewranger does not show each path in this area, whereas the map does.

The route is posted here for your reference, you may download it and follow the trail yourself. I really found this to be one of my best hikes. It's a diverse and hilly terrain. You should be very careful as this is not a path that's frequented by hikers. There are several sings warning you for hunters so do not head off the paths. Make yourself clearly visible. Be especially careful if you take a dog that goes off into the bushes. Should you want complete certainty, don't take this route. The area is popular for hunters and they can be on any unmarked trail. There's plenty of marked trails as well, such as near Lakatnik and Gara Bov.

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Thompsan - Tseretsel - Chibaovtsi - Svidnya

A hike of at least 25 kilometres. From Svidnya, you can take a bus back to Svoge or to Iskrets to spend the night there. It's best to take the route this way because it fits perfectly. Take the 11:20 train from Sofia to Thompsan, do the hike, take the 18:45 bus from Svidnya to Svoge, have dinner at Soleil and take the fast train back to Sofia at 20:35. Fast trains do not stop at Thompsan so your last train to Sofia from there would be around 18:00. On the other hand, if you end at Svoge, you have more time and can take a late train back. Fast trains do stop here. I found this to be the most beautiful hike of all the ones listed. Besides, it's easily accessable it's just the distance that you'd need to be trained for. The greenery was stunning, green mountains all around and it's a varied trail as well. You pass through settlements, past vacation homes and abandoned houses. I must say that exactly because there are some occupied homes along this route, you should beware of dogs. Because rarely anyone passes by, owners let their dogs roam free sometimes and you'll likely have to pass by them. This is not an issue but be prepared to stand your ground and throw a stone near them, not on them, if they come close and especially if there's more dogs.

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Lukovo - Novi Iskar

On a Sunday morning, I decided to take a train to Lukovo. I hadn't gotten off the train there before so I was curious what it would be like. It's a small village with a shop and houses against the mountain. The railway line separates the village in two halves. I just had my phone and a map with hiking trails with me. No other equipment, I was wearing the Nike shoes I always wear. As long as it's dry, they do their job just fine. I found a small store, bought some water and decided to record my trip from that point on. I had some trouble finding the path east. I decided I wanted to see the mountain Turska Mogila (843m.). I asked two ladies, whom had just returned from a hike. Still I took a wrong path, but it did end up at a nice viewpoint from where I could see the village Vlado Trichkov. The path eventually led to dense bushes and I returned. I came back to the initial path and took the other turn, which led me to the mountain Turska Mogila. So, should you follow my route on ViewRanger, you can disregard that part and continue where I turned right initially. Also, please note that I paused the application at some points to have a break. I then forgot to switch it back on and when I did, the itinerary was drawn as a straight line. So, follow the path and the direction of the app. This explains the straight lines on the map. Admittedly, the Turska Mogila mountain was quite steep and hard to climb with my Nike shoes. Should it have been wet, I would have had to return.

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The path literally passes the summit of Turska Mogila mountain. There's no view from the top of the mountain, as it's a dense forest. Yet, from that point on, beautiful views all over. On your left, far down into the valley, is the village Thompsan and its train station. Then, you come past a small, abandoned settlement. There's a lot of decaying asbestos roof sheeting so best not to get too close. Definitely do not to touch it under any circumstance. Then, as you follow the map, you come past some places to have a rest. There's some benches and wooden tables. You continue through the forest and will most likely meet nobody else, possibly some guys driving cross motorbikes. You'll pass several houses, most of which are abandoned. I did pass one family home, judging from their garden, completely self-sufficient. They even generated wind power. There's wide views over Sofia. The landscape also really changes, from bushes to tall pine trees. Some parts are valleys where it's humid and other parts are on sunny hillsides, which are a lot greener. You truly feel far from anything on this path; you'll find absolutely nothing but nature. Eventually, you have the choice to turn to Vlado Trichkov. There's a train station there. Looking at the map, I saw you'd end up on the south side of that village and would have to walk on the main road for a while to get to the station. I assumed there's no pavement so chose to continue to Novi Iskar village instead. The landscape turned from mountainous to hilly. It was gentle and pretty. Eventually, I descended into Novi Iskar and had some nice views of the village and Sofia from afar. As you keep walking, you'll get to a main street of Novi Iskar. There's buses that go to Sofia's Han Kubrat and Obelya metro stations. Alternatively, continue to Novi Iskar train station and get back to Sofia that way. The station of Novi Iskar is called Kurilo.

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Gara Bov - Ivan Vazov's Eco Trail

Provivided that the weather is suitable and you have good walking shoes, the Eco Trail in Gara Bov is definitely a good choice. Trains from Sofia/Svoge to Gara Bov leave regulary. Get a ticket, hop on and exit at Bov station. From Svoge, you arrive in Gara Bov in approximately 13 minutes. Leave the station towards the bridge crossing the Iskar river, the main road being right in front of you. Make a right turn, walk until you see a sign with 'Touristic Road Vazov's Path' pointing left. After fifteen minutes uphill, the road turns into a gravel path. After thirty minutes of hiking, the waterfall is in full sight. From this point, it takes another fifteen minutes to stand right where the water hits the rocks. Standing in front of the clattering waterfall on a hot summer day is fantastic. If you'd like to see more of the area: the trail continues upwards to the village Zasele, located right above the waterfall. The climb is steep but offers nice views of the Iskar gorge once you make it up. From there, you can retrace your steps or make a two hour detour via another gravel road, starting on the other side of Zasele. This route is shown on Google Maps.

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Gara Bov - Pod Kamiko Waterfall Trail

The second trail goes northeast of the village Bov. By following this trail, you get to see a waterfall as well. This trail, the Green Route, starts from behind the 'stadium' of Gara Bov, which is just a large soccer field. You reach this field by walking straight ahead coming from the train station. If you exit the train coming from Sofia, it's on your right. So you don't cross the Iskar river on your left hand. Right before you go uphill as well as on top, there is a map of Gara Bov and the trail you are about to take. In about three hours, the path takes you by the waterfall, through dense woods, along steep hills and past abandoned houses. In the end, you have the chance to visit the 'Vazova Kushta', where Bulgaria's famous poet and writer Ivan Vazov spent some time writing. The trail ends at the same place where you started. It is an easy hike through lovely scenery and therefore it is absolutely perfect for a day trip from Sofia.

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Zhelen village

Eight kilometers from Svoge is the community Zhelen. In case you'd like to go on foot; the road ascends gradually, making the walk easy. To find the road to Zhelen; head right from Svoge's train station, passing a small park alongside the railway. The descending road then makes a curve right up until the junction with 'Iskar Boulevard' - turn left and cross the short bridge. The green building on your right is Hotel Collosos offering rooms from 15 Euros a night, excluding breakfast. Provided no wedding party is hosted and you don't mind noise of trains passing, you can have a good night of sleep here. To continue to Zhelen, pass under the railway brige and keep walking on. The village border starts three kilometers before the actual village center. There is a small store but you can never be sure it's open. The scenery and panoramas make this hike absolutely worth it. With some luck, an infrequent bus heads back down to Svoge - it's best to ask what time it leaves, provided it does.

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(By turning right from Svoge's train station, I mean your back should be towards the front of the station. Right in front of you is the large, foursquare shaped town hall.)

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Iskrets village

About a hundred metres right of Svoge's train station is a small square where buses leave to villages nearby. You can venture out and take any bus - natural beauty guaranteed. One example: Iskrets is a village that is frequented with one bus each hour, covering the nine kilometer distance. On the way, you pass a chocolate factory, producing the well-known Svoge chocolate. In Iskrets, you can simply hike through the village and stumble upon some classic, seemingly abandoned cars. Alternatively, take the long but scenic, winding road up to Breze village. I walked around Breze village through the hills, there are several paths leading up. Some in the open, some through the forest. The surroundings are great. I walked all the way back from Breze to Iskrets. The road is paved and quiet, excellent to walk on. Buses back to Svoge leave from the same place where you got off. Good to know - departure times from both Svoge and Iskrets are listed at Svoge's bus station.

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Iskrets - Dobarchin - Mecha polyana - Tserovo

In Iskrets is the Tsar Ferdinand sanatorium, for lung patients. Walk through the gates, past the small monastery and up to Dobarchin village. Then, get to Mecha polyana, which is one of the most beautifully located settlements in Bulgaria. Walk there from Iskrets or Tserovo, read more and see pictures here!

Read more about Svoge, an ideal basis for all your hikes. Lakatnik and Tserovo, perfect places for similar hikes, deserve their own articles. Let me know should there be any questions!

In my 'Bulgaria section' you can find many more places to travel to!

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Gara Lakatnik - Selo Lakatnik

This route is excellent for a day trip as well. It's part of the Kom-Emine route. The longest and oldest trail of Bulgaria, which passes about a hundred mountains. Many Sofians know Lakatnik, it's a place popular for hiking, mostly because of the tall cliffs. However, there's more than just these cliffs. Lakatnik has a separate article, which is about these cliffs. Here, I share with you a hike that's a bit more 'off the beaten path'. If you travel through the Iskar gorge a few times, you'll notice that there are villages that have similar names. Such as in this case, there's the actual, old village Lakatnik. It's high up in the mountains. When the railroad through the gorge was made, these villages were still far from the railroad. Obviously, the railroad lies next to the river and does not go high up into the mountains. So, the village's station was down in the valley. Then, when the railway line was used more often, the stations became places of commerce and trade. Eventually, shops and houses were built around these stations, on the hillsides. Because the station was called Lakatnik, it would be strange to have a village around the station having another name. Therefore, the village was called 'Gara Lakatnik' (Station Lakatnik). The village up in the mountains, the original Lakatnik, then turned into 'Selo Lakatnik' (Village Lakatnik). The same is the case with 'Gara Bov' and 'Selo Bov'.

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So, this hike is from Gara Lakatnik to Selo Lakatnik. And back. The advantage is that you can choose which way to go. There's the paved road in-between the villages. There's not too many cars on it, yet you should be careful around the curves. All in all a pleasant hike uphill. Good option if it rained and you don't like muddy shoes. There's several small paths branching off from the road, leading to beautiful fields with flowers and, often, views on the Lakatnik cliffs. Stunning views all around. If you get to the Selo Lakatnik, there's about two small stores where you can buy refreshments. Don't expect much, also there's a chance they're closed. Apart from that, there's a small post office, the most beautifully situated I have seen. A church and a library. Not much more, just a quiet village. Yet, the backdrop of the mountains is so pretty. You can look around a bit and then walk back to Gara Lakatnik. There's buses to Gara Lakatnik as well, yet there's no schedule at the bus stops and there's probably few. 

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So, on a sunny day, what's better than walking back? You can take another path, however. It's through the forest, so I recorded it for your reference. A nice, shady path, excellent for a hot day. Not so good after rain, the sun doesn't dry the path because it's so shielded by trees. I really enjoyed this hike. If you don't want to return and prefer to end the day at another place, continue towards Selo Bov. You can sleep in mountain hut Trastenaya. Find it in Google Maps by just searching 'Trastenaya'. Next morning, it's about 12 kilometres to Gara Bov, where there's a train station on the line Sofia - Mezdra.

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Gara Lakatnik - Goubislav

The trail mentioned above is part of the Kom-Emine trail. It goes east from Lakatnik. If you want to go west of Lakatnik instead, you can follow the Kom-Emine trail in that direction as well. As this page is quite full with hikes around Lakatnik now, there's the Lakatnik page itself and then the Lakatnik - Goubislav page which describes the Kom-Emine trail west of Lakatnik.

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Eliseyna - Zverino

At 71 kilometres from Sofia, past Lakatnik, is Eliseyna. Then, about 5 kilometres east, is the village Zverino. Both have train stations so you can walk in either direction. There's the slower 'personal' trains to Eliseyna. Intercity trains stop at Zverino too. Directly behind the station of Eliseyna is a road right uphill. Then, you cross the main road and go left at the first side road. Then, you can follow the route on Google Maps. Alternatively, I recorded the trip with Viewranger. It's an easy hike, however the grass is quite tall in some parts. Better to have your legs covered because of ticks. I also saw two snakes. The views are very pretty, with the landscape starting out green and hilly. Near Zverino, the landscape turns rocky and dry. I haven't seen a store around the station of Eliseyna but at Zverino, which is larger, there are a few.