Natural Wonders of Bulgaria

Perhaps there are many poetic ways of saying that a country has a lot of something. For example, you can use the cornucopia as a powerful symbolic tool to get across your point, or maybe you can come up with a catchy nickname like "the Land of Plenty" to emphasize the greatness of the place, or something like that. The most effective way, however, is always the straightforward one… so here it is:

Bulgaria has thousands of natural landmarks: nature parks, reserves, rivers, rock formations, lakes, reservoirs, waterfalls, caves, you name it. They are so many and so diverse that it is absolutely impossible to talk about all of them at once. That is why we decided to aim for the quality rather than the quantity and made a list of what we think are some of Bulgaria’s most attractive, important and impressive natural wonders. Please, don’t think it is completely exhaustive, because it isn’t. Just take it for what it is –a pleasant trip through nature.

So what can you expect to come across?

Well, first of all, focus on the nature parks and reserves. The ride starts from the oldest nature park on the Balkans (Vitosha) and continues with the country’s three national parks: Rila, Pirin and Central Balkan. Of course we didn’t fail to include the beautiful Strandzha Park in the itinerary as well as Ropotamo and Kamchia reserves, both located in the Black Sea Region. The UNESCO-protected Srebarna Nature Reserve in Northeastern Bulgaria is the final stop of this first part of the trip.
 
Next come the caves. According to many reliable sources the number of caves in Bulgaria is close to 5500 and they all vary in size, length and degree of accessibility. We decided to present nine of them to you. Read about them here.
 
The rock formations have always been regarded as one of Bulgaria’s main tourist attractions. And there is a good reason for that, too: there are so many of them and they are so diverse that oftentimes you simply cannot grasp their magnitude and greatness.
 
For this part of your trip we selected some of the most popular natural landmarks that fall in this category, such as the Belogradchik Rocks, the Stone Rivers of Vitosha and the Melnik Pyramids and combined them with some of the lesser known but nevertheless impressive rock formations one will find off the beaten track like the Stob Rock Pyramids, the Marvellous Rocks and the Standing Stones near Varna. We also included three beautiful gorges in this route. Here you can find our complete list of rock formations together with more detailed information about every one of them.
 
The last part of this trip through nature is dedicated to the waters of Bulgaria. While on it you will have to take boat rides along the great Danube River and the pleasant and quiet Veleka River in Southeastern Bulgaria and climb Rila Mountain to witness the immaculate perfection of the Seven Rila Lakes and their crystal waters. You will also have to learn how to fish in Batak and Kardzhali Reservoirs. In the end we will take you to a couple of Bulgaria’s nicest waterfalls. Read more here.
 
 
 
Photos by D.Bibishkov, E.Bliznashka,D.Alexov