Pirin National Park

I drove from Sofia because public transport (a bus which doesn’t run regularly and will only take you to nearby Bansko) seemed a bit complicated and I was tight for time. I parked somewhere near the Vihren hut and hiked up from the hut for about 3-4 hours. In hindsight, and of course if I had more time, staying in Bansko would have been a decent option as it looked like a nice albeit probably quite touristy place.

There are colour coded maps all over the park. I seem to remember taking the red coloured path from the hut and came across a lot of the big lakes. Quite a few people (I think a decent amount were locals too) seem to use these areas by the lakes as picnic spots, and even more people were going on long hikes, which was quite surprising as I expected it to be pretty quiet. But it seems that lots of people go to this park!

I was really surprised how beautiful this place is given the somewhat low average review. The lakes are really the highlight and make the sometimes strenuous hiking really worth the while. The view of the surrounding mountains, especially the big mountain Vihren, is also pretty cool. Perhaps it is just a lot nicer during the summer than the winter when the ski resort is in full swing. Who knows, but I really liked this place. Didn’t see any brown bears or snakes though, which I’m …

I visited this WHS in 2023 using Bansko as my base for 2 nights. From there we woke up early and drove straight to the Vihren Hut, stopping en route to see the impressive Baikushev's Pine, Bulgaria's oldest tree. It was really great to appreciate the changing scenery with the first bright rays of sunlight, from meadows in low altitude, to woodlands full of different kinds of coniferous trees in mid-high altitude, to low coniferous trees, streams, rock and some ice at high altitude. Knowing that the Vihren Hut parking (free) would likely be crowded throughout the day, we parked a couple of metres away along one of the few wider sides of the mountain road to avoid getting blocked by double parking. This worked out well in the summer months but I wouldn't doing this in the winter months unless you have full insurance (snow might still be an issue in May-June so you can imagine what it is like in winter; also keep in mind, if you happen to visit on a rainy day, that Vihren was known as Eltepe (peak of storms) and it was also called Buren (stormy) and Malnienosets (lightning-bringer) for a reason!).

The Vihren Hut or Chalet is already at 1,950 metres and it has all the basic requirements you could ask for including beds, toilets, electricity, tap water, a restaurant/bar/cafeteria, wifi, and information about the trails. From the hut, the Vihren summit (2,914 m) is reachable in around 3-4hrs via the slightly …

Selective Background

Despite being declared a national park in 1962 and an UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983, this biodiverse hotspot was under attack by its own government in 2017. The Bulgarian government planned to open up 66% and 48% of Pirin National Park's area to construction (for example, ski resorts) and logging respectively. The Association of Parks in Bulgaria and other environmental organizations sued the government, and the Bulgaria's Supreme Administrative Court suspended the constructions and logging in 2020.

How I got to Pirin

After spending a night at the incredible Rila Monastery (1983 UNESCO World Heritage Site), I took a small bus from the monastery to a small town of Kocherinovo. Along with some elderly men in the town centre, I waited for another small bus to take me to a larger town of Blagoevgrad. In Blagoevgrad, there are approximately eight daily buses to Bansko.

Bankso has a clean inoffensive old town that I understand is quieter in the summer than in the winter (I visited in July 2023). The town itself does not have any significant sights (Sveta Troitsa Church probably being the best among the few sights), but it did have a very helpful tourist information centre, which gave me details about buses to Pirin and about possible hikes there. Buses to Pirin, specifically to Vihren Hut, ran three times a day in the summer and picked up passengers from various locations, e.g., train station, the community centre, and various larger …

I stayed in Bansko for a week in an apartment at the start of October 2022. I took the fast train from Sofia to Septembri and changed there to the narrow gauge train to Bansko. This is a pretty, enjoyable ride but it takes all day to get to Bansko.

The gondola did not work at this time of the year except for one ride at 8.00h on weekdays but I preferred to hike up. I chose the side valley one day towards Demianitsa hut which is nicer as there is no ski slope in this valley. My plan was to cross the pass to Vihren hut but just below the pass it started to rain and I decided to turn back. I found the lakes and the old trees really beautiful and unspoilt. Though in the lower areas there are also clear signs of human presence, garbage and signs of small scale logging which I assume is illegal.

After a few rainy days I hiked up to Vihren hut and now the mountain tops were covered by a light powder snow. I walked on to the lakes and it was rather busy on this sunny Saturday. But by 16.00h I was alone in the mountains. I took a path back which turned out to be rather challenging but very beautiful with views of a lake down below and a waterfall next to me. I was happy to return unscathed at Vihren hut before dusk. For the way …

With a 2.63 score, Pirin National Park only comes sixth among Bulgaria’s ten WHS, which in itself already aren’t known for receiving high praise (except for the excellent Rila monastery). Most of the reviewers agreed on it being “unremarkable”, wondered about a ski resort in the buffer zone and contemplated that they could see this scenery everywhere in the Alps. All seem to have explored Pirin from the town of Bansko and its nearby Vihren hut. For my visit in late June 2021, I tried another location to see whether this would improve the experience. I choose to start at Bezbog hut, with access to Bezbog Lake and the trail to Popovo Lake.

For Bezbog, you have to take the chairlift from Gotse Delchev hut (be warned that there is also a town called Gotse Delchev, but that lies 30km away). The hut is reached via a paved mountain road some 10km outside of Dobrinishte, the neighbour town of Bansko. The chairlift is operational 365 days a year from 8.30 am to 4 pm. A return ticket costs 20 Lev (10 EUR). To reach Bezbog hut at 2227m altitude, you have to change to another chairlift halfway. The journey takes half an hour in total and you climb 742m. Leaving the chairlift at the two higher stations requires a small jump, but fortunately, they employ strong Bulgarian men who catch the clumsy tourists and beforehand explain with hand signals what you have to do. I don’t think females work …

“Bulgaria? Why do you go to Bulgaria to hike in a region that looks exactly like the Alps here in Austria?” This was the question my Austrian friends asked me when I showed them my photos of Pirin National Park. Of course, the answer is clear, at least for members of this community: it is a World Heritage Site. But in fact, the similarities are undeniable.
Pirin National Park encompasses the northern part of the Pirin Mountains. Most of the inscribed area is above an altitude of 2000 metres, including Vihren, the highest peak at 2914 metres. The national park is best accessed at the town of Bansko on the north-eastern side. And it is here that you can see the biggest threat to the WHS and the national park, the ski area. A large, wedge-shaped area of the WHS has been cleared for ski slopes and more than a dozen ski lifts. In 2010, this area (and a smaller one a little further south) was removed from the core zone and declared a buffer zone. A ski area as the buffer zone? Strange idea. When you drive from Bansko to the Banderitsa Hut, you will pass this area. In summer, it looks really desolate and bare. Surprisingly, the WHC accepted this boundary modification, especially in view of the discussion with Vienna or Liverpool, to name just two examples. But since then, there have been several requests from the WHC not to expand the ski area and its facilities.

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Who could have known that a skiing region would still be snow covered in Mid-April? Apparently everyone but me and two Spaniards, because we were the only ones hiking in Pirin National Park that day.

The trails were covered by snow and hard to find. It was quite a strenuous effort just getting to Vihren hut which normally would be the start pointing for a proper exploration of the park. And it took me 30min just figuring out where the trail actually started. On the upside it was a pleasure hiking in the snow covered landscape for myself.

I get Solivagant’s comment about the OUV of the site. If this is inscribed, every second mountain valley in Switzerland should be on the list. But well, it was a nice contrast to the sunny coast in Greece.

Getting There

Bansko is well connected by bus. As stated in my Philippi review you can also travel onwards to Kavala in Greece. The train connection sounds fantastic, but is very time consuming. Also the schedule didn’t work out for me. Bansko in general is fairly pleasurable as skiing resort towns go.

Getting In

To get into the National Park from Bansko you can take the cable car. It seems it also operates during summer months for hikers. You will be in the park, but in the ominous buffer zone due to the area being developed for skiing. From there you can hike on to the huts. Banderitsa …

Although I initially visited Pirin National Park WHS in summer 2010, I went back there for skiing at the Bansko ski resort, located within the Pirin NP, in January.

Both times I took the narrow gorge train from Septemvri to Bansko and took bus back to Sofia. The scenery from the train was quite pleasant both in summer and in winter.

As it turns out, the ski resort is located within the buffer zone of the WHS; however, if you look at the map of the WHS, you see that the buffer zone is almost surrounded by the core zone, which means that it appears as if the ski resort is oddly protected by the core zone of the WHS.

This photo shows part of the pistes in the buffer zone to the left and the core zone to the right.

If you are visiting Pirin, I doubt that any of the readers of this blog is interested in the 300 species of mosses and algae from this site.

Instead of just driving around, an alternative is to visit Baikousheva Mura, the oldest or second oldest tree in Bulgaria, dating to over 1300 years old. This also makes it one of the older trees in Europe. It was named after the forest ranger that found it and its a Bosnian pine tree. You can Google to get images of this giant.

To get there, you first get to Banska, a huge ski resort that detracts from this WHS. Then you need a car rental or taxi and head up the road up the mountain. I suspect there is only one road up. The destination is Banderitsa Chalet which is 16km up the mountain and its an apres ski tavern. Banska is at about 900m ASL and Banderitsa is above 1900m ASL. I was there in early May and by 1500m, there was still a lot of snow on the ground. Fortunately, the roads were clear all the way until Banderitsa.

Once you get there, the path to the tree is behind the chalet and its supposed to only be a ten minute hike up the hill. Unfortunately the snow was still deep and we only had street shoes. Having come all this way, we made our way up sometimes knee deep. It took twenty minutes and destroyed our shoes!

Once you …

This is a site where the journey reaching it is more exciting than the destination. I travelled from Septemvri to Bansko on the slow narrow gauge railway that winds its way into the Pirin Mountains. The secenery and views visible from the train were well worth the 4 hour journey.

Bansko is essentially a ski resort, but in summer hosts a few hikers. From the top of the cable car there a number of trails up to viewpoints in the mountains.

Gotse Delchev is more laid back, and hikes to the Yulen Reserve begin in the town.

Buses link Gotse Delchev and Bansko with Blagoevgrad and Sofia.

“Natural WHS” seem to me occur in 2 categories – sites with a visible “Wow factor” in the form of some (near) “world unique” geological or wildlife sight which makes them worth undergoing a long journey to see (eg Grand Canyon or Bwindi), and those which, for reasons of remoteness, government action or luck have largely escaped the depredations of man and remain in a reasonably pristine state to demonstrate what some particular ecological niche or climatic zone once looked like. Usually in these latter cases the botanists or zoologists are still able to conjure up some relatively unknown species which is endemic to the area in order to back its “unique importance” (or am I guilty of “speciesism” in regarding a site containing “Gorilla gorilla” as more justifying WHS inscription than one containing “Pinus heldreichii”!!). In my opinion such sites are really only worth picking up if you are in the area and just want to experience some interesting countryside. If Pirin’s inscription has a justification it is of this second category!

It contains attractive, if unremarkable, mountain scenery which will provide a pleasant escape from civilisation and interesting hiking opportunities. As such it is clearly worth preserving. But there are already means of recognising and protecting such sites- The UNESCO Biosphere Reserve program is one and many of the “Natural” WHS are also listed under that scheme. Pirin is one of those on both lists – but only the “heart” of its WHS site is a …