Tag: E4 path

Posted on in Vitosha

Aleko – Cherni Vrah – Goli Vrah – Aleko

Starting Coordinates: 42.5822, 23.2922

Distance: 9.0 km

Elevation Gain: 470 m

Time: 3¾ hours

Difficulty: hard

Transport: by car, by gondola lift, or by bus no. 66 to the last stop

  • Approaching Aleko on the road from Dragalevtsi, with Malak Rezen peak clearly visible.
  • The top of the gondola lift that goes to Aleko from the district of Simeonovo.
  • Aleko hut.
  • The fountain on the south side of Aleko hut, where the path to Cherni Vrah begins.
  • The path as it zigzags up the mountain.
  • The path higher up.
  • A view back to Aleko, with Sofia in the distance.
  • The path where it joins the slip road from Goli Vrah (an easier, but longer route).
  • After 450 metres, a path leaves this slip road (at post 39) and heads directly to the summit.
  • The peat reserve on the right, with a large moraine field spilling into it.
  • The hut at the summit.
  • With the large bell.
  • A view further south, with Rila mountain in the distance.
  • The path heading back to the slip road, with Sofia in the distance.
  • The slip road to Goli Vrah.

Aleko is named after the Bulgarian writer Aleko Konstantinov, creator of the fictional character Bay Ganyo, who encouraged tourism in Bulgaria. It is one of the most popular destinations on Vitosha – because it takes you within striking distance (3.2 km) of the summit, because it boasts several ski slopes, because it is at the top of the gondola lift from Simeonovo, and because it is about as high as you can get on the mountain with a normal vehicle. It is the first place I visited as a tourist, before I started walking on the mountain as a hiker.

There are three ways to reach Aleko. By car, you take the road that climbs the mountain from Dragalevtsi and continue to where the road ends, a distance of just over 15 kilometres. By public transport, you take bus no. 66 and continue to the last stop, opposite a hotel called Moreni, and then walk the final 700 metres before coming to the end of the road, after passing a large moraine field on your right. Or there is a gondola lift that climbs the mountain from Simeonovo, though this lift normally only works at weekends.

Once at Aleko, you have a choice of walking to the summit, or you can take a chair lift (run by the same company that runs the Simeonovo gondola lift). This chair lift used to depart directly opposite Aleko hut and climb the peak in front of you, Malak Rezen, but it is no longer operative, so you must now take the path that heads east in the direction of Bistritsa village and, on reaching the ski slope Vitoshko Lale (where there is a chair lift), take a path on your right that climbs to the middle station. This lift also only works at weekends, but it is relatively inexpensive. It is just under a kilometre from Aleko hut to the lift.

To walk to the summit, look for the fountain on the south side of Aleko hut. To the left of this fountain, there is a path that climbs the mountain. This is the path you want. It skirts the disused chair lift on your left, with Malak Rezen peak also on your left. You have a choice of choosing a more direct route, or zigzagging slightly (following the red markers), which makes the ascent easier. From Aleko hut to where the path joins the slip road from Goli Vrah is an elevation gain of 260 metres and takes approximately forty minutes. The views back to Sofia, of Malak Rezen peak to the south, Ushite and the peat reserve to the north (see the walk Ushite), are wonderful and well worth the effort.

When you get to the top, you join the slip road coming from Goli Vrah. Many people choose to access the summit by means of this slip road, which is a dirt track and leaves the main road from Dragalevtsi 900 metres before the road ends at Aleko (200 metres before the last bus stop), taking a more circuitous route. When you join the slip road, turn left. Follow the road for 450 metres until you reach a black and yellow post with the number 39 on it. Here, the road continues to the radar station on your left, while a path leads directly to the summit in front of you. It takes half an hour on this path to reach the summit, where there is a hut with a bunch of antennae on top of it. You can see the radar station (a white golf ball) on your left and the valuable peat reserve on your right.

When you reach the hut at the summit, there is a large bell inside an iron structure. It was the tradition, when I first came here, to ring the bell, but even if that is no longer possible, you can still touch the bell with your wedding ring (if you have one) and it will issue a small sound in recognition of your achievement. After all, it’s not every day you make it to the summit of a mountain. The weather can be windy up here, so it’s good to pack something warm. The hut serves food. Beyond the hut is a large grassy area and stunning views of the other side. You can see Rila mountain in the distance on a clear day. You may want to linger here for a while, enjoying the views. It’s also worth walking south-east for half an hour, in the direction of Skoparnika peak. There are unusual rock formations which look suspiciously like Picasso paintings.

When you’ve had enough, follow the black and yellow posts back down towards the slip road, rejoin the slip road for 450 metres, and then you can either descend directly towards Aleko the way you came up (at post 60), or you can continue on the slip road, a longer but easier route which will take you alongside the peat reserve all the way back to the main road, where you will have to turn right in order to complete the last few hundred metres. The route via Goli Vrah is about twice as long as the more direct route to Aleko.

This is a hard walk – it’s not so easy to climb a summit – but the views at the top in all directions are stunning. This is also where the magnificent Struma River has its source (this river flows into the Aegean in northern Greece, next to the ancient settlement of Amphipolis; if you drive to Greece on the motorway from Sofia, you follow the course of this mythical river). Please note: Struma River begins on Vitosha (not on Rila or Pirin, as might be expected). It is not the only river to do this.

The following map shows where we parked the car (the green circle). We then walked south to Aleko hut, took a detour to see the chair lift on Vitoshko Lake, returned to the hut, zigzagged up the mountain to Cherni Vrah; on our return, we decided to take the slip road back to Goli Vrah, where we rejoined the main road, turned right and walked back to the car. Please bear in mind that Aleko can be busy at weekends.

Posted on in Vitosha

Bay Krastyo – Goli Vrah – Kominite – Bay Krastyo

Starting Coordinates: 42.60455, 23.30066

Distance: 7.7 km

Elevation Gain: 450 m

Time: 3½ hours

Difficulty: moderate-hard

Transport: by car, or by bus no. 66 to the stop for Bay Krastyo

  • The penultimate stop of the 66 bus route with the hut in the bend of the road.
  • The path to Kominite. This is the path you will come back on.
  • The path (E4) to Aleko and Cherni Vrah. Take this path to the top of the chair lift (Goli Vrah).
  • Climb the log steps.
  • The path through the forest, having left the chair lift behind.
  • The small fountain.
  • The top of the chair lift, Goli Vrah.
  • The beginning of the path across the peat reserve in the direction of Ushite (visible in front of you).
  • The peat reserve with Ushite behind.
  • A description of the peat reserve.
  • After turning right to go to Kominite, look back to see the summit.
  • The picnic area next to the path from the peat reserve to Kominite.
  • There are wonderful views of Sofia.
  • Kominite, a well-known rock climbing area.
  • Dragalevtsi River, with Sofia in the background.

This is one of the higher routes on Vitosha, taking you to the peat reserve between Goli Vrah, the top of the Dragalevtsi chair lift, and Ushite, meaning “The Ears”, which is the part of the mountain most easily seen from Sofia. It is good to do it in reasonably fair weather. I have marked it “moderate-hard” because of the steep descent past the rock climbing area known as Kominite (“The Chimneys”), but the distance is comparable with other walks.

The starting point is the same as for the walk from Bay Krastyo to Kikish. You take the road that goes up the mountain from Dragalevtsi or bus no. 66. From the cobbled square of Dragalevtsi, you take the road in the far corner and carry on driving up the mountain for 9 km, ignoring the turning on the left for “Vodenitsata” restaurant. Stop at the slip road for Bay Krastyo, the middle station on the currently defunct Dragalevtsi chair lift, or get off at the penultimate stop of the 66 bus route.

Instead of walking down the slip road towards the station, however, you need to continue up the main road. After 80 metres, you will see a path signposted for Kominite. This is the path you will come back on. Continue around the corner for another 80 metres, and  you will come to a second path on your right, the E4, signposted for Aleko and Cherni Vrah. This is the path you want, which begins on the other side of a hut inside the bend of the road with large heaps of what looks like cement.

This path will take you to the top of the chair lift, Goli Vrah. It is a little confusing to begin with because on the left there is a bike trail. Some steps have been built with logs. It’s a good idea to follow these steps, and at the top turn right to continue up the mountain. In ten minutes, you will pass under the chair lift, but then the path will double back on itself, forming a zigzag and taking you back under the chair lift. It does this a second time. On returning under the chair lift for a second time, continue straight. Then, confusingly, the path again zigzags twice, not as far as the chair lift this time (the chair lift should end up on your right), before finally deciding to climb the mountain and leave the chair lift behind. If you are in any doubt, simply follow the red and black markers.

After fifteen minutes, you will see the bike trail on your left, which crosses the path you are on. Continue straight. The path gradually narrows and becomes wet. Logs have been placed where the ground is wettest and there is running water. In another five minutes, you will come to a fountain on your right. In another twenty minutes, you will pass a generator behind a wire fence on your left and become aware of the main road behind it. The path crosses a slip road, climbs some steps, and then crosses a second slip road (going to Salzitsa hut). Continue straight, ignoring the main road on your left and the slip road on your right. A stiff climb brings you in ten minutes to a third slip road. You want to join this slip road, which goes from the main road behind you all the way to the top of the mountain (the main road does not go to the summit of the mountain, it stops short, at Aleko).

Turn right along this slip road and in five minutes you will pass the top of the Dragalevtsi chair lift, Goli Vrah, on your right. Continue along the slip road, and in another five minutes take the turning right signposted for the shelter (“zaslon”) Ushite. This turning is very clearly marked by black and yellow posts, starting with the number 30. You are now in a very precious part of the mountain, the peat reserve, designated as such in 1935 and covering an area of 783 hectares. You will immediately notice that you have a spring in your step. Walking suddenly becomes easy because of the ground you are stepping on. Follow this path in the direction of Ushite directly in front of you, with Chernata Skala, “Black Rock”, to the left of it.

After ten minutes (post number 50), a path doubles back to Goli Vrah on your right. Keep going straight. Another ten minutes (post number 64), and a path diverges on the right. Keep going straight until after another ten minutes you get to post number 89. Here take the turning on your right, signposted for the Kominite Climbing Area and Kikish. Were you to continue in the direction of Ushite, the path would eventually take you to Bor mountain hut, which features in the walks Planinets and Zlatni Mostove. See the walk Ushite.

As you start along the turning on the right, look back the way you came and you will get a wonderful view of the summit, Cherni Vrah, on the right with the radar station (aka a golf ball) in the middle. Continue along this path. You are now heading in an easterly direction. After five minutes, there is a convenient picnic area on your right, where you can sit and admire the view towards Bistritsa and Pancharevo, with the mountains behind. Sometimes there are hang-gliders. Now the path begins to descend, with excellent views of Sofia to the north-east. After five minutes, a path heads left to Kikish. Keep right. The path becomes quite overgrown. In another fifteen minutes, you will reach Kominite, the rocks in front of you. The path veers right here (to avoid the rocks). The path then divides, but both branches lead in the same direction (the left branch is steeper, the right branch more roundabout). They will both take you past the climbing area on your left. This part of the walk can be tiring, you need to watch your step as the descent is quite steep. In twenty minutes, you will reach Dragalevtsi River. This river features in two other walks, Bay Krastyo and Simeonovo Lakes, but you are now higher upstream. Cross the river and follow the path across a small moraine field and back under the chair lift. In twenty-five minutes, you will be back at the main road where you started.

We have often done this walk in reverse, going from the main road (Bay Krastyo) only as far as Kominite and climbing the rocks there to have lunch. It’s not ideal for small children or pets, since the rocks are steep, but it’s a wonderful place to have a picnic. Shortly after crossing the river, at the bottom of the rock faces where people can be seen climbing, you leave the path you are on, walk along the bottom of the rock faces, and continue for another ten minutes. You pass a small shelter and come to a secluded area with large rocks you can sit on. It’s safe so long as you stay away from the edge.

Posted on in Vitosha

Bay Krastyo – Kikish – Dragalevtsi Monastery – Bay Krastyo

Starting Coordinates: 42.60447, 23.30224

Distance: 7.3 km

Elevation Gain: 430 m

Time: 3¼ hours

Difficulty: Moderate

Transport: by car, or by bus no. 66 to the stop for Bay Krastyo

  • The slip road to Bay Krastyo, the midway station on the Dragalevtsi chair lift.
  • Bay Krastyo station.
  • Next to the station is a picnic table under a tree and a sign for the E4 path.
  • After going under the chair lift, the path enters beautiful beech forest.
  • In ten minutes, it crosses Dragalevtsi River.
  • Dragalevtsi River.
  • The first, smaller moraine field.
  • The second, larger moraine field.
  • This moraine field offers wonderful views of Sofia and the Balkan behind.
  • The path to Kikish re-enters the forest.
  • Kikish mountain hut, a good place to stop for refreshment.
  • From Kikish, a path heads east to Dragalevtsi Monastery.
  • The path through the forest.
  • Cross the road in front of you.
  • You soon join a much wider path, with Dragalevtsi Monastery on the left.
  • Our route takes us back uphill.
  • Back over Dragalevtsi River.
  • The two paths run parallel, then separate.
  • At the chair lift, return to the road on the right and take the path to Bay Krastyo, Aleko and Cherni Vrah.
  • This path goes under the chair lift.
  • Soon you are at the slip road, which takes you back to the main road.

This is a truly wonderful walk that takes you to one of the biggest moraine fields on Vitosha and offers superb views of Sofia. It also throws in two wonderful glimpses of Dragalevtsi River. You must access the mountain via the village of Dragalevtsi. You leave the central square by the cobbled road in the far corner and drive up the mountain. After 1.5 km, ignore the turning on the left for the “Vodenitsata” restaurant. Continue straight. The road does a big curve and after another 3 km you come to the bus stop for Dragalevtsi Monastery, the starting point for two walks: Boyana Lake and Simeonovo Lakes. Continue uphill and after another 3 km you pass under the Dragalevtsi chair lift. In another 1.5 km, there is a slip road on the right that takes you to what was the midway station on the Dragalevtsi chair lift, Bay Krastyo. You can park under the trees here. This is also the penultimate stop on the 66 bus route.

Walk down the slip road on your right. You will pass a bike trail and a low building on the right, then a restaurant on the left. Immediately after the restaurant is the beginning of a path to Dragalevtsi Monastery on the right. You will come back on this path. But for now continue straight. In front of you is the midway station on the chair lift, now sadly disused. I still remember carrying my young child on this lift and jumping off at the station. It is such a shame that the lift no longer works.

With the station in front of you, there are some steps on your left, a picnic table under a tree, and a sign for the E4 European long-distance path and Cherni Vrah. Climb the steps and take this path, with the station now on your right. It goes around the station, under the chair lift, and immediately enters forest. There is then a sign for Kikish and Kamen Del mountain huts, which you can visit on the walk Kopitoto. A path joins from the left. Keep going straight. When you reach some moraines (large glacial boulders) with a view of Sofia, the path veers left and in about ten minutes you reach a bridge over Dragalevtsi River, your first view of the river. You will see it again further down on the way back.

The advantage of this walk is that for the most part you are in forest, so the path is shaded and cool even on a hot summer’s day. In a couple of minutes, you reach the first moraine field, which continues for a few minutes. Walking across these fields is a little tiresome, especially for our four-legged friends. After the first moraine field, there is a lookout over Sofia on the right. Keep going and in another ten minutes you come to the big moraine field, which is in the open and offers wonderful views of Sofia. It takes several minutes to cross. This and Zlatni Mostove are the best places to see the moraines up close.

At the end of the moraine field, the path dives back into the forest and the shade once more. In three minutes, there is a path on your right signposted for Dragalevtsi Monastery. This is a more direct route, but we will continue to Kikish mountain hut, the furthest point on the walk Kopitoto, so that we can say we have covered the whole of the front of the mountain. The path begins to climb, in ten minutes it reaches a kind of summit, with a path on the left and right, and then it descends to the mountain hut, which is fifteen minutes after the earlier path to Dragalevtsi Monastery.

Kikish is a good place to rest and have some refreshment. There is a small pond and a stream, with chairs and tables. If you continue on the path you were on, you will repeat the second half of the walk Kopitoto, which is not necessary. So now you want to head east on a second path to Dragalevtsi Monastery that starts next to the stream, on the opposite side of the pond to the hut. It takes just over half an hour to reach Dragalevtsi Monastery from here. The path is a little steep in places, but again shaded. In 25 minutes, you will see the road on your right. Ignore this, continue down for another couple of minutes, cross the road in front of you, continue on the path on the other side, and in another five minutes you will come to a much wider path with Dragalevtsi Monastery on your left.

However, unless you want to visit the monastery, now turn right and go uphill. The path is very lovely because it is wide. In ten minutes, the first path to Dragalevtsi Monastery we ignored earlier joins this path from the right. Keep straight. In another ten minutes, you reach a second bridge over Dragalevtsi River. Five minutes after the bridge, you must leave the path and take a higher path on the right that is signposted for Bay Krastyo and Aleko. The two paths run parallel for a while, but then separate, as all paths do. Continue to climb, and in a couple of minutes you will be back at the chair lift with the road on your right.

You now have a fifteen-minute walk uphill to get back to the midway station, Bay Krastyo. Two or three paths all complete this ascent, intersecting and dividing as they go. It doesn’t really matter which path you take. At the chair lift, you can take the larger path uphill to the road. Then go right for fifty metres until you come to some steps on the left signposted for Bay Krastyo, Aleko and Cherni Vrah. Take this path, which goes uphill, then left, uphill, then left under the chair lift, uphill (the midway station now visible in front of you, the chair lift on your right) until it joins the slip road where we saw it earlier. At the slip road, turn left and in five minutes you will be back at the main road.