The official section of the E4 Long Distance European trail through Bulgaria crosses the Vitosha, Verila, Rila, Pirin and Slavyanka mountains. Most of it is in the Rila and Pirin Mountains. Very much an alpine trail, the highest point is at 2914 metres. One of the most scenic parts of the E4 in Europe, with rocky ridges and lakes left from now departed glaciers, the Bulgarian section is well worth hiking as a stand alone two week walk. There are some big climbs and descents involved so a certain degree of fitness is needed. Climbing over rocks and boulders is required. This does not require any special skills, however I was glad I did a scrambling course at Plas-y-Brenin first as it gave me the confidence to tackle some of the sections described as "difficult" on my own.
There are some specific E4 signs but for most of its 260 kilometres the route follows red and white waymarks and associated signs. With a few exceptions (most especially the descent into Predel) I found the waymarks of such a standard that I only occasionally needed to consult my GPS. The paths were also in good condition (again with the exception of the descent into Predel).
I found the Balkans Navitracks map that I loaded onto my GPS more than adequate for use in Bulgaria. The GPS track of the E4 in Bulgaria downloaded from Waymarked trails or Traildino.com was my primary means of finding the route, the Navitracks map allowed for making minor detours and showed the location huts and places of interest that I had not waymarked in my planning. In addition I bought the Domino paper maps of Rila and Pirin, they were nice for seeing the overall route and might have been useful if major changes in my route were necessary due to weather or something. "Tourist Route E4 in Bulgaria" was a better buy. This guidebook split the trip into manageable stages and gave a description of what lay ahead each day. Timings would have been difficult to estimate without the book given the large climbs, descents, boulder fields and other factors.
I found August a pleasant time to walk through the mountains, temperatures were good for walking in a tee shirt and sitting outside huts. It could be cold in the mornings, requiring an extra layer or two. I was fortunate with only a little rain and avoided any thunderstorms, however I would not want to be on a high ridge with high winds or lightening around. I checked various weather forecasts on days when there was access to a mobile signal, especially a local one at vremeto.v.bg (use Peak Mousala for the Rila mountains and Bansko for Pirin), however forecasts were not that reliable. It looked like the weather could be quite localised - some mountains cloaked in black clouds and others in sunshine. Difficult for a weather forecaster! If you are walking on into Greece then August has the disadvantage that it will be very hot (over 30 degrees C) once you hit the Greek plains.
Once in the Rila and Pirin mountains you can sleep and eat in a mountain hut every night. The quality and nature of these huts varies enormously. Some are excellent such as the Predel and Slavyanka huts, others only have "squat" toilets which I dislike (such as Ribni Ezera hut), some only have outside toilets (e.g. Vihren and Lovna huts) which is not so convenient to me these days as I generally need to get up once in the night. In Pirin hut you clean your teeth etc. at the spring. Cold showers are the norm. Standards of cleanliness varied from very good to very poor, with bathroom facilities generally being the weak point. In Pirin and Izvora huts the mattresses were old and stained. Boots should be placed outside the dormitory door to help keep bedrooms clean. Some huts were very busy when I visited (e.g. Sedemte Ezera, Yavorov and Vihren huts), in others there were only a few people (e.g. Predel, Pirin and Izvora huts). This reflected the popularity of the stages, some sections of the E4 were very popular with lots of people out walking, other stretches I had too myself. Two types of people stayed in the huts, walkers like myself who went to bed moderately early, and people using the hut as an opportunity to socialise, who partied until midnight. Some sleep disruption could result.
Food options were pretty standard: meatballs (actually a sort of beefburger); omelette; chicken or pork steak; bean, lentil or chicken soup; shopska salad; coffee, tea and Pirinsko beer; sometimes French fries with cheese, or an oven cooked offering such as moussaka. Within the limitations of language most hut staff tried to be helpful, Macedonia hut being the exception, although in some cases they were so busy that help was somewhat delayed. I am happy to read my kindle in the evenings but if you are more social there was usually someone among the people staying in the huts who spoke some English, and there was a certain camaraderie among the walkers, who you might see for a few days in a row as you followed the classic sections.
I was very glad I paid Bulguides to book the huts and provide support. A few huts are on booking.com but I would have had difficulty booking the others as most hut keepers spoke little or no English. Maybe enough for you to order a beer or food but not enough to make a confident reservation. In some cases a reservation would not have been necessary but in others it was essential, either because a hut was full (as in the case of Sedemte Ezera and Rilski Ezera huts) or because the hut keeper may not otherwise be there or there may be limited or no food for you if they do not know you are coming (e.g. Izvora and Slavyanka huts). Margarita from Bulguides was also needed for translating when gesticulating failed (e.g. to tell me when dinner was or ask when I would like breakfast), as well as providing some helpful weather updates. The time I most appreciated Margarita was at the end of my trip through Bulgaria when some villagers seemed suspicious of my presence. Margarita was able to explain in Bulgarian what this strange, solitary man was doing in their village.
If you do not wish to stay in the huts, camping is allowed at some huts and shelters but wild camping in the Rila and Pirin national parks is not allowed, although it is commonly practiced. If walking from Sofia, camping is necessary the first two nights (at locations outside of the Parks). This means carrying the weight of your camping equipment for the rest of the trip, however if you are walking the E4 as a standalone trip, camping can be avoided if you start from Klisura rather than Sofia, Vitosha can then be climbed as a day trip from Sofia.
I was somewhat worried about being attacked by dogs given my walk to Sofia from Serbia but the dogs in the mountains seem more accustomed to hikers and thankfully less aggressive.
To cross all of Bulgaria and link up with the E4 in Serbia and Greece, some walking through the lowlands is needed. The additional four or so days help to give a broader view of what the country is like, passing through villages and farmland. Not all of Bulgaria consists of high rocky mountains! See the first part of my blog for the section from the Serbian border to Sofia for example.
My trip continues in Greece, see johnpone4greece.blogspot.com. You may also be interested in my blogs of the E4 in Hungary, Serbia and Cyprus, or a possible extension of the E4 from Portugal.
There are some specific E4 signs but for most of its 260 kilometres the route follows red and white waymarks and associated signs. With a few exceptions (most especially the descent into Predel) I found the waymarks of such a standard that I only occasionally needed to consult my GPS. The paths were also in good condition (again with the exception of the descent into Predel).
I found the Balkans Navitracks map that I loaded onto my GPS more than adequate for use in Bulgaria. The GPS track of the E4 in Bulgaria downloaded from Waymarked trails or Traildino.com was my primary means of finding the route, the Navitracks map allowed for making minor detours and showed the location huts and places of interest that I had not waymarked in my planning. In addition I bought the Domino paper maps of Rila and Pirin, they were nice for seeing the overall route and might have been useful if major changes in my route were necessary due to weather or something. "Tourist Route E4 in Bulgaria" was a better buy. This guidebook split the trip into manageable stages and gave a description of what lay ahead each day. Timings would have been difficult to estimate without the book given the large climbs, descents, boulder fields and other factors.
I found August a pleasant time to walk through the mountains, temperatures were good for walking in a tee shirt and sitting outside huts. It could be cold in the mornings, requiring an extra layer or two. I was fortunate with only a little rain and avoided any thunderstorms, however I would not want to be on a high ridge with high winds or lightening around. I checked various weather forecasts on days when there was access to a mobile signal, especially a local one at vremeto.v.bg (use Peak Mousala for the Rila mountains and Bansko for Pirin), however forecasts were not that reliable. It looked like the weather could be quite localised - some mountains cloaked in black clouds and others in sunshine. Difficult for a weather forecaster! If you are walking on into Greece then August has the disadvantage that it will be very hot (over 30 degrees C) once you hit the Greek plains.
Once in the Rila and Pirin mountains you can sleep and eat in a mountain hut every night. The quality and nature of these huts varies enormously. Some are excellent such as the Predel and Slavyanka huts, others only have "squat" toilets which I dislike (such as Ribni Ezera hut), some only have outside toilets (e.g. Vihren and Lovna huts) which is not so convenient to me these days as I generally need to get up once in the night. In Pirin hut you clean your teeth etc. at the spring. Cold showers are the norm. Standards of cleanliness varied from very good to very poor, with bathroom facilities generally being the weak point. In Pirin and Izvora huts the mattresses were old and stained. Boots should be placed outside the dormitory door to help keep bedrooms clean. Some huts were very busy when I visited (e.g. Sedemte Ezera, Yavorov and Vihren huts), in others there were only a few people (e.g. Predel, Pirin and Izvora huts). This reflected the popularity of the stages, some sections of the E4 were very popular with lots of people out walking, other stretches I had too myself. Two types of people stayed in the huts, walkers like myself who went to bed moderately early, and people using the hut as an opportunity to socialise, who partied until midnight. Some sleep disruption could result.
Food options were pretty standard: meatballs (actually a sort of beefburger); omelette; chicken or pork steak; bean, lentil or chicken soup; shopska salad; coffee, tea and Pirinsko beer; sometimes French fries with cheese, or an oven cooked offering such as moussaka. Within the limitations of language most hut staff tried to be helpful, Macedonia hut being the exception, although in some cases they were so busy that help was somewhat delayed. I am happy to read my kindle in the evenings but if you are more social there was usually someone among the people staying in the huts who spoke some English, and there was a certain camaraderie among the walkers, who you might see for a few days in a row as you followed the classic sections.
I was very glad I paid Bulguides to book the huts and provide support. A few huts are on booking.com but I would have had difficulty booking the others as most hut keepers spoke little or no English. Maybe enough for you to order a beer or food but not enough to make a confident reservation. In some cases a reservation would not have been necessary but in others it was essential, either because a hut was full (as in the case of Sedemte Ezera and Rilski Ezera huts) or because the hut keeper may not otherwise be there or there may be limited or no food for you if they do not know you are coming (e.g. Izvora and Slavyanka huts). Margarita from Bulguides was also needed for translating when gesticulating failed (e.g. to tell me when dinner was or ask when I would like breakfast), as well as providing some helpful weather updates. The time I most appreciated Margarita was at the end of my trip through Bulgaria when some villagers seemed suspicious of my presence. Margarita was able to explain in Bulgarian what this strange, solitary man was doing in their village.
If you do not wish to stay in the huts, camping is allowed at some huts and shelters but wild camping in the Rila and Pirin national parks is not allowed, although it is commonly practiced. If walking from Sofia, camping is necessary the first two nights (at locations outside of the Parks). This means carrying the weight of your camping equipment for the rest of the trip, however if you are walking the E4 as a standalone trip, camping can be avoided if you start from Klisura rather than Sofia, Vitosha can then be climbed as a day trip from Sofia.
I was somewhat worried about being attacked by dogs given my walk to Sofia from Serbia but the dogs in the mountains seem more accustomed to hikers and thankfully less aggressive.
To cross all of Bulgaria and link up with the E4 in Serbia and Greece, some walking through the lowlands is needed. The additional four or so days help to give a broader view of what the country is like, passing through villages and farmland. Not all of Bulgaria consists of high rocky mountains! See the first part of my blog for the section from the Serbian border to Sofia for example.
My trip continues in Greece, see johnpone4greece.blogspot.com. You may also be interested in my blogs of the E4 in Hungary, Serbia and Cyprus, or a possible extension of the E4 from Portugal.
Update: Based on my travels on the E4 I have written a book "Six Pairs of Boots: Spain to Cyprus on the E4 Trail" by John Pucknell available from Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com, the Bookdepository.com, lehmanns.de, bookspot.nl, and other good online bookstores.
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| Bulgarian flag on Mount Gotsev on border post between Bulgaria and Greece |
