Vitosha: the back story

About Vitosha: the back story

By the ULTIMATE Sofia Editorial Team

Editor-in-Chief: Jai Michael

Few capitals have a real mountain at the end of their main street. Vitosha rises straight above Sofia to Cherni Vrah, 2,290 metres high, and within half an hour of a café on Vitosha Boulevard you can be walking in pine forests or skiing.

The city’s mountain

Vitosha became a nature park in 1934, the first in the Balkans, and for Sofians it is simply “the mountain”: the place for a weekend walk, a picnic, a run or a day on the ski slopes. Its granite dome rises to Cherni Vrah, the Black Peak, at 2,290 metres.

Waterfalls and monasteries

On the lower slopes, the Boyana Waterfall tumbles through the forest above the Boyana district, and the 14th-century Dragalevtsi Monastery hides among the trees above Dragalevtsi, where the revolutionary Vasil Levski once found shelter.

Within half an hour of Vitosha Boulevard, you can be walking in pine forests.

Aleko and the high plateau

At around 1,800 metres, Aleko is the centre of the mountain, with mountain huts, ski slopes in winter and the start of the walk to Cherni Vrah. Above it, the high plateau has wide views over Sofia and the mountains around.

Our advice: take a bus or a taxi up to Aleko in the morning, walk to Cherni Vrah if the weather is clear, and come down for a late lunch in Dragalevtsi or Boyana. Weather on the mountain changes quickly; bring layers, water and good shoes, and check whether the lifts are running.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Vitosha: the back story before you go.