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Entdecken Sie mit uns die Schönheit der Natur!

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    • To Heaven and Back | Central Balkan National Park
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    • Above the rooftops of Sofia | Vitosha Nature Park
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    • Galina Ivanova Mihaylova | Central Balkan National Park Nature Tour Guide
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    • Bogomil Schuschkov | Rila Monastery Nature Park Nature Tour Guide
    • Vasil Yanev | Rila Monastery Nature Park Nature Tour Guide
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MENUMENU
  • Home
    • About our project
  • Nature Parks
    • Belasitsa Nature Park
      • Service: Contact Data and Travel Info
      • Photo Galleries
      • Butterflies and Flowers of Belasitsa
      • Life of the Chestnut
      • Sofia Kostadinova-Ilkova | Nature Tour Guide
    • Central Balkan National Park and Biosphere Reserve
      • Service: Contact Data and Travel Info
      • Photo Galleries
      • The heart of the Balkan – Where the views take your breath away
      • To Heaven and Back
      • Sergey Sergeev Aleksandrov | Nature Tour Guide
      • Stoyan Pavlov Hristov | Nature Tour Guide
      • Tsanko Nikolaev Kiranov | Nature Tour Guide
      • Galina Ivanova Mihaylova | Nature Tour Guide
    • Rila Monastery Nature Park
      • Service: Contact Data and Travel Info
      • Photo Galleries
      • Forest Tales of The Historic Railway
      • Rayna Pashova | Nature Tour Guide
      • Bogomil Schuschkov | Nature Tour Guide
      • Vasil Yanev | Nature Tour Guide
    • Vitosha Nature Park
      • Photo Galleries
      • Above the rooftops of Sofia
      • Silvia Arangelova | Nature Tour Guide
      • Dr. Nikola Doykin | Nature Tour Guide
    • Vrachanski Balkan Nature Park
      • Service: Contact Data and Travel Info
      • Photo Galleries
      • Video Gallery
      • Green way. To keep trace of plant mysteries
      • The secret routes of water: Karst
      • Olya Genova | Nature Tour Guide
      • Krasimir Lakovski | Nature Tour Guide
    • Nature Park Videos
  • Tours
    • Butterflies and Flowers of Belasitsa | Belasitsa Nature Park
    • Life of the Chestnut | Belasitsa Nature Park
    • The heart of the Balkan – Where the views take your breath away | Central Balkan National Park
    • To Heaven and Back | Central Balkan National Park
    • Forest Tales of The Historic Railway | Rila Monastery Nature Park
    • Above the rooftops of Sofia | Vitosha Nature Park
    • Green way. To keep trace of plant mysteries | Vrachanski Balkan Nature Park
    • The secret routes of water: Karst | Vrachanski Balkan Nature Park
  • Tour Guides
    • Sofia Kostadinova-Ilkova | Belasitsa Nature Park Nature Tour Guide
    • Sergey Sergeev Aleksandrov | Central Balkan National Park Nature Tour Guide
    • Stoyan Pavlov Hristov | Central Balkan National Park Nature Tour Guide
    • Tsanko Nikolaev Kiranov | Central Balkan National Park Nature Tour Guide
    • Galina Ivanova Mihaylova | Central Balkan National Park Nature Tour Guide
    • Rayna Pashova | Rila Monastery Nature Park Nature Tour Guide
    • Bogomil Schuschkov | Rila Monastery Nature Park Nature Tour Guide
    • Vasil Yanev | Rila Monastery Nature Park Nature Tour Guide
    • Silvia Arangelova | Vitosha Nature Park Nature Tour Guide
    • Dr. Nikola Doykin | Vitosha Nature Park Nature Tour Guide
    • Olya Genova | Vrachanski Balkan Nature Park Tour Guide
    • Krasimir Lakovski | Vrachanski Balkan Nature Park Tour Guide
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Boyana waterfall - photo: Vitosha Nature Park

Vitosha Nature Park

Vitosha Nature Park – great biodiversity and varied landscape in the immediate vicinity of the Bulgarian capital Sofia

You are here: Home / Nature Parks / Vitosha Nature Park
Landschaft - Foto: Vitosha Naturpark
Boyana-Wasserfall - Foto: Vitosha Naturpark
Lavinata und Rezniovete - Foto: Vitosha Naturpark
Boyana-Fluss - Foto: Vitosha Naturpark
Herbst in Vitosha Foto von Veliko Karachiviev bei Unsplash.com
Landschaft - Foto: Vitosha Naturpark
Winter - Foto: Vitosha Naturpark
Winter - Foto: Vitosha Naturpark
Landschaft im Vitosha Naturpark
Boyana-Wasserfall
lavinata_and_rezniovete-vitosha-nature-park
Boyana-Fluss
veliko-karachiviev-517684-unsplash
Landschaft im Vitosha Naturpark
Winter - Foto: Vitosha Naturpark
Winter - Foto: Vitosha Naturpark
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People who live in Sofia usually look up to the Vitosha mountain rising like a big guardian above the city. A common sight from the city is the two-pointed silhouette of the mountain, which always attracts people’s attention.

Goliam rezen - photo: Vitosha Nature Park
Goliam rezen
Fall in Vitosha Photo by Veliko Karachiviev on Unsplash.com

At first, people visited the mountain on their own, without a guide, just for a walk and mostly at the base. The main visitors used to be people from the villages in Vitosha who took their livestock out to graze on pastures and those who harvested timber. These people began to build sheep-pens for their animals and shelter for themselves.

Winter - photo: Vitosha Nature Park

Over time, interest in the mountain has increased. On August 27th, 1895, many people took part in the first organized mass climbing on the highest peak of Vitosha – Cherni vrah (2,290 m), which has a special place in the history of the Bulgarian Tourist Movement.

Postcard commemorating the first climb - photo: Vitosha Nature Park
Postcard commemorating the first climb

Its climb, organized by the writer Aleko Konstantinov, is considered to be the beginning of organized tourism and the Bulgarian Tourist Union (BTS). Every year on this date hundreds of tourists climb Cherni vrah.

Lominite - photo: Vitosha Nature Park

During this period, groups of people started transporting wood purchased with funds they raised to build the first shelters and chalets. They brought materials up on their backs or used pack animals. Thus first tourist paths were made, some of which later became the main tourist trails of Vitosha.

Winter - photo: Vitosha Nature Park

Along the trails, there are recreation areas and viewpoints. Marked trails were also created – winter and summer ones.

Many of the chalets, such as Aleko, Selimitsa and Edelweiss, have been built by volunteers and with the help of donations. Stone by stone, people built places for a longer stay in the beautiful nature of the mountain.

People who have been inhabiting Vitosha since ancient time have repeatedly changed its appearance. They’ve built dense network of roads, chalets, holiday homes, ski runs and ski lifts. Despite the strong anthropogenic pressure, Vitosha has preserved a surprisingly high level of biodiversity.

Winter - photo: Vitosha Nature Park

To protect this unique nature, Vitosha Nature Park was established. And today, because of the proximity of Vitosha Nature Park to the capital, it is the most visited protected area in Bulgaria. Thanks to this protection status, during your mountain tour you can see rare species of animals, birds and plants.

Spring Jivata voda (Living water) - photo: Vitosha Nature Park
Spring Jivata voda (Living water)

Vitosha represents a complex and very interesting object from a geological, petrographic, plant, animal and tourist point of view. Its great territory and natural diversity of springs, rivers, waterfalls, bogs, seas and forests has always attracted tourists.

Paragliding - photo: Vitosha Nature Park
Paragliding
Winter - photo: Vitosha Nature Park

Text and photos: Vitosha Nature Park and Veliko Karachiviev at Unsplash.com

Boyana waterfall Photo by Veliko Karachiviev on Unsplash.com

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