Day 1 Arrival in Bulgaria

We will meet you at the Sofia Airport and there will be a two-hour transfer to the city of Plovdiv.

After a pleasant walk around Plovdiv's old quarter, we will have a welcome dinner at our hotel - a restored national Revival house from the 19th century.

Plovdiv is the second largest city in Bulgaria, situated on the Maritsa River. Its unique location on ancient crossroads has stimulated strong cultural and political influences from East and West civilizations, and yet maintained its unique cultural identity. Being older than Rome, Athens and Constantinople, an almost contemporary of Troy, Plovdiv is a town built upon layers of towns and a culture developed upon layers of cultures.

Day 2 Plovdiv City Tour

After breakfast we start our tour of Plovdiv's attractions. We will walk along the cobbled streets of the Old Town, visit the famous Roman Theatre and admire Roman mosaics from the second century. One of the highlights of the day are the fully preserved traditional Bulgarian houses from the period of the Bulgarian revival. The Old town of Plovdiv is a protected UNESCO site.

In the afternoon we will leave the city to enter the Rhodope mountains. Our destination is the village of Orekhovo (from "orekh" - walnut) where we will stay overnight at the charming "Paradise" family guest house.

Day 3 Wonderful Bridges Natural Phenomenon

Today is the start of our trek. The first goal is the mountain refuge Persenk at 1850 m. From there we enter a virgin pine forest and will follow an ancient Roman cobbled road. We reach a saddle point where there is an option to climb the Persenk peak (2074 m) offering a magnificent panorama of the Rhodopes. From here we descend to the Wonderful Bridges area.

The "bridges" were formed by the erosive activity of a once high-water river. It transformed the marble clefts into a deep water cave, the ceiling of which whittled up through time and collapsed, allegedly during an earthquake. As a result, the two bridge-shaped boulders remained.

After 45min drive we will get to the city of Smolyan where we'll stay at a cozy family hotel.

Day 4 The Canyon of the Waterfalls

Today's trek is both stunningly beautiful and challenging. We will gain more than 1000m in elevation but it will be worth every single drop of sweat. We follow a recently constructed eco-trail along a wild and jumping mountain creek with more than 30 waterfalls.

We will call the day off at the mountain refuge Perelik situated above tree level at nearly 2000 m, highest refuge in the Rhodopes.

Day 5 On Top of the Rhodopes

Today we hop along Rhodopes' highest ridge Perelik enjoying breathtaking vistas in each direction. We will climb its second highest peak Karlak (2105m.).Then we will descend to the village of Mugla where we will stay at a family guest house and enjoy a home-style cooked dinner.

Day 6 Caves and Gorges

After two strenuous day of hiking, today's path is a pleasant roller-coaster through spruce forests and across open meadows. By noon, we reach the village of Trigrad - home of the the Trigrad Gorge and the Devil's Throat Cave, where you can see the highest underground waterfall on the Balkan Peninsula.

According to an ancient legend this is the entrance to the underworld of the Greek god Hades. Orpheus descended through this cave to find his beloved Euridice.

Our home for the night is the Trigrad Cliffs Mountain Refuge.

Day 7 Shiroka Laka village and Bachkovo Monastery

Shiroka Laka is famous for its authentic Rhodopean houses set in tiers on both banks of the local river. The old houses were designed in the characteristic architectural style of the Rhodopes by the noted local building masters.

After passing through Pamporovo ski resort we will reach the Bachkovo Monastery. There's so much to say about this sacred Bulgarian area that we'd rather point to these excellent resources:

BulgarianMonastery.com
Wikipedia Article on Bachkovo Monastery

After visiting the monastery we will stay at the Bachkovo Eco hotel.

Day 8 Sofia

We bid farewell to the mountains and head back to Sofia. It will be a 2 1/2 hour drive.

Flight schedule permitting, we will show you around our capital. You can read more about the city tour here.