Tag: Kumata

Posted on in Vitosha

Ofeliite – Zvezditsa – Konyarnika – Kumata – Ofeliite

Starting Coordinates: 42.59839, 23.23572

Distance: 7.5 km

Elevation Gain: 265 m

Time: 3¼ hours

Difficulty: moderate

Transport: by car, or by bus no. 63 to Zlatni Mostove

  • The T-junction at Ofeliite. The walk begins by going right here.
  • After 380 metres, a path leaves the road on the left.
  • In twenty-five minutes, you will come to the hut Edelweiss on your right.
  • Continue uphill until you come to the hut Zvezditsa.
  • Go through the garden here and take the wooden walkway on your left into the forest.
  • You will pass a small moraine field.
  • And cross numerous streams.
  • Once in the open, some rocks appear on the left.
  • These offer wonderful views north-west.
  • And back towards the summit.
  • The abandoned huts at Konyarnika.
  • The path from Konyarnika to Kumata becomes a sort of road.
  • The hut Kumata.
  • Vladaya River where it meets the path to Vladaya via Ofeliite.
  • The Vetrovala ski slope.

This is a lovely walk that forms an almost perfect circuit and takes you within striking distance of the summit (see the last walk in this section, Kumata). The starting point is Ofeliite, three kilometres after Zlatni Mostove, on the road that goes up the mountain from Boyana. The bus, no. 63, only goes as far as Zlatni Mostove, so if travelling by public transport you need to factor in this extra distance.

When you reach Zlatni Mostove, where the bus turns around, ignore the turning on the left and continue on the main road, which is partly cobbled, partly tarmacked. After three kilometres, you will reach Ofeliite, a kind of T-junction, with the road continuing on the left to Planinarska Pesen and with a turning on the right to Zvezditsa. There is a small car park on the left, a mountain hut opposite, and a children’s ski slope on the right. The walk takes us along the turning on the right and brings us back along the road on the left.

Take the turning on the right (signposted for Trendafila, Zvezditsa, Edelweiss and Advokati). Continue along this road for 380 metres until you reach a path on the left which leads directly up the mountain. Take this path. After ten minutes, it comes close to the road again, which is meandering along next to it. Keep going. In another fifteen minutes, you will come to the hut Edelweiss on your right. This is a popular place to have lunch, and there is also an excellent drinking fountain on the far side of the hut, which is worth a short detour. From here, a path goes left to the hut Kumata. You can shorten this walk by taking this path and rejoining the route at Kumata. It is very picturesque, but it doesn’t take you to within sight of the summit at Konyarnika.

So we will continue uphill, ignoring the paths left to Kumata and right to Edelweiss, and in ten minutes we will come to another hut, Zvezditsa, which is where the road from Ofeliite ends. This is another popular destination for lunch. There is a garden out the back with activities for children. Go straight through this garden and take the wooden walkway that appears immediately on the left, signposted for Konyarnika and Cherni Vrah.

This walkway takes you into a forest. Follow the path through the forest for about twenty minutes. You will cross numerous streams coming down the mountain and pass a moraine field on the right. On leaving the forest, there are rocks on your left, and then a wonderful view towards the summit, Cherni Vrah, opens up on your right. I suggest leaving the path at this point, once you are out in the open, and climbing one of the rocks on the left. People stop here to have a picnic and to enjoy the amazing views north-west from here. You cannot see Sofia (that is hidden by the mountain), but you can just make out the TV tower at Kopitoto.

Rejoin the path you were on, and in five minutes you will come to the main path between Kumata and Cherni Vrah. This is Konyarnika. There are several picnic tables, a disused chair lift, some abandoned huts on the left and Sredets Peak directly in front of you. I have had surprisingly warms days in November, sitting here, enjoying the view. Where the path you were on joins this new path, there is a black and yellow post with the number 180 on it. Go right here, and the path will take you to the summit (see the walk Kumata), but we are going to go left. To get to Kumata, follow this path, ignore the black and yellow posts that cut across the grass on your right and keep going. The path gradually becomes a sort of road. The posts rejoin the road further on. At post 194, leave the road and veer left. After post 196, you will come to a bridge over Vladaya River, a truly magnificent river that features in the walk Tihiya Kat, but here is much smaller. In fact, it has only just formed in the peat reserve between you and Cherni Vrah.

Cross the river and rejoin the road at post 204. Turn left. Continue along the road for 50 metres, then take the path on the right (post 206). This path will take you straight to the hut Kumata (post 218). Go past the hut on your left, cross the road in front of you and take the path directly opposite, signposted for Zlatni Mostove. (The shorter route from Edelweiss arrives here from the left, at the far end of the car park.) In less than ten minutes, you will come to the road between Ofeliite and Planinarska Pesen. Go straight across and take the path diagonally opposite. This path heads down to Zlatni Mostove. In three minutes you will pass a fountain on your right, where there is a sort of crossroads. The path ahead and the path on the right feature in the walk Zlatni Mostove, but we are going to take the path on the left, signposted for Vladaya via Ofeliite. This lovely path takes you over a stream, then over Vladaya River, which is already gaining in confidence, past the Vetrovala ski slope on your right, which has wonderful views off into the distance. In twenty minutes, you will again come to the road between Ofeliite and Planinarska Pesen. Go straight across, walk down the path opposite and rejoin the road no more than a minute later. Now turn left and follow the road back to Ofeliite.

Posted on in Vitosha

Zlatni Mostove – Planinarska Pesen – Bor – Septemvri – Zlatni Mostove

Starting coordinates: 42.6097479, 23.2361762

Distance: 7.8 km

Elevation Gain: 360 m

Time: 3¼ hours

Difficulty: Moderate

Transport: by car, or by bus no. 63 to Zlatni Mostove

  • At Zlatni Mostove, the main road continues right past the bus stop, while a side road on the left leads to the beginning of this walk.
  • The beginning of the path that goes to Planinarska Pesen and Kumata.
  • The moraine river.
  • The path crosses two streams.
  • And then divides. Take the left fork.
  • The path through the forest.
  • Towards the top, before reaching the main road, head left.
  • The path doubles back on itself before joining the main road at the top.
  • Planinarska Pesen (“Mountain Song”) with metal notes.
  • A view from the path below Planinarska Pesen.
  • Large rocks dot this path.
  • The path goes downhill to Septemvri, but take the higher path on the right.
  • Wooden walkways replace the path where the ground is wet.
  • Another westerly view.
  • After thirty minutes, you come to a clearing. Bor hut is visible ahead of you.
  • At the far side of the clearing, take the path that doubles back on your left.
  • Elitsa hotel marks the intersection where you coincide again with the path from Planinarska Pesen.
  • Continue straight until you reach the road at the bottom.
  • Turn left and take the path along the meadow.
  • The path rejoins the road. Continue on this road.
  • A stall selling honey and jam.
  • A view in Zlatni Mostove.
  • The road you are on takes you back to the no. 63 bus stop, the place where you started.

This is a classic Vitosha walk which has as its starting and end point an important location on the mountain: Zlatni Mostove (“Golden Bridges” in Bulgarian). Zlatni Mostove is memorable because of the river of moraines, large boulders, that tumbles down the mountainside and also because of the beautiful open meadow a little to the north, Beli Bryag. It is also where bus no. 63 turns around and goes back down the mountain, so there is no need to worry about where to get off!

You again go through the district/village of Boyana and continue up the mountain, going past the Dendrarium on your right and the turning to Kopitoto on your left, until you get to an open area on the road with a large bus stop. This is Zlatni Mostove. It is fourteen kilometres from the ring road that goes around Sofia. Park the car somewhere nearby. The main road continues up the mountain and soon becomes cobbled, but for Zlatni Mostove itself you want to take a side road on your left. Continue up this road for three minutes and, as the road veers to the left, with the river of moraines on your left, you will see two paths departing from the road. One heads to Artistite and Selimitsa, it sort of doubles back. The path you want is the left of the two, signposted for Planinarska Pesen and Kumata. You climb some steps with the moraine river on your left. After fifteen minutes, you come to a stream (actually, two streams with small bridges over both of them). A short distance after the streams, the path divides. Continue left.

The path now heads straight up the mountain for about twenty-five minutes. Towards the top, you come to an intersection. If you continue up the mountain, you will cross the main road and the path will take you to Kumata. If you go right, you will come to Ofeliite. But you want to go left. Follow this path for about ten minutes. It doubles back and climbs to the main road. At the main road, go left (the smaller road opposite leads to Kumata). You will come to three mountain huts located close together: Boeritsa on your left; ahead of you, then on your right, Borova Gora; and finally Planinarska Pesen, which means “Mountain Song” and fittingly has a few metal notes affixed to the wall. Just before this last hut, there is a path descending on your left, signposted for Zlatni Mostove and Bor. Take this path.

The path descends abruptly and then levels out with some wonderful views in a westerly direction. It winds through the forest, past large rocks, across minor streams. After about twenty minutes, the path begins to descend. It is signposted for Septemvri. But a new path begins on the right, signposted for Bor and Momina Skala. You want to go right in order to maintain your elevation, not to go down the mountain yet.

You continue along this new path, again with wonderful views in a westerly direction, for about thirty minutes. There are some wooden walkways where the ground is wet. After thirty minutes, you come to a clearing. This is the same clearing that features in the walk from Planinets. Directly ahead of you is Boyana River and Bor mountain hut, but when you reach the far side of the clearing, there is a path that doubles back on your left. It is signposted for Septemvri and Zlatni Mostove. Take this path and follow it all the way down the mountain. Again, there are some wooden walkways where the ground is wet. After twenty minutes on this path, there is a turning right to Septemvri. You can ignore this. In a few more minutes, you reach an intersection with the hotel Elitsa on your right. The path coming down the mountain on your left is the path you joined at Planinarska Pesen, but then left in order to join a new path on the right. None of this matters. You continue straight and in less than ten minutes you come to the road that connects Zlatni Mostove and Momina Skala.

At the road, turn left and take the path that goes past an open meadow called Beli Bryag. The view here always reminds me of Switzerland, I don’t know why. It is a lovely open area with benches where people like to picnic and have barbecues in summer. The path skirts the meadow and rejoins the road further down. At the road, continue left and follow the road for ten minutes. It will lead you directly back to the main road with the no. 63 bus stop.

This route up, across and down the mountain, which affords some wonderful views and has the added attraction of the moraines or large boulders, is shaped like an upside-down triangle. You go up one side, across the top and back down the other side until you return to the same point. The route can be shortened by following the path to Septemvri and turning left at the bottom (with Elitsa hotel in front of you). This new path will take you to the road, with the meadow, Beli Bryag, on your left.

No visitor can consider themselves acquainted with the mountain until they have come to Zlatni Mostove. On the final stretch, between the meadow and the bus stop, there are several stalls selling corn and jam and a couple of restaurants where you can get bean soup or meatballs (kyufteta).