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    • The secret routes of water: Karst | Vrachanski Balkan 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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    • Dr. Nikola Doykin | Vitosha 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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The central wall of Vratsata pass - photo: Vrachanski Balkan Nature Park

Vrachanski Balkan Nature Park

Karst landscapes and habitats with more than 600 caves – beautiful orchids and waterfalls in spring and colouring of the leaves and forest fruits in autumn

You are here: Home / Nature Parks / Vrachanski Balkan Nature Park
Limestone rocks in Monastery gorge - photo: Vrachanski Balkan Nature Park
The cave of the dragon - photo: Vrachanski Balkan Nature Park
Panorama view of Vrachanski Balkan Nature Park- photo: Vrachanski Balkan Nature Park
Panorama view of Vrachanski Balkan Nature Park- photo: Vrachanski Balkan Nature Park
Ramsons/Wild garlic/Bear's garlic (Allium ursinum) - photo: Vrachanski Balkan Nature Park
Meadow along the way to the summit ov Vola - photo: Vrachanski Balkan Nature Park
The Black River - photo: Vrachanski Balkan Nature Park
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Protection of karst landscapes and habitats

The Nature Park “Vrachanski Balkan” is the second largest nature park in Bulgaria with an area of 28,804 hectares. In 1989 it was declared a protected area to protect the karst landscapes and habitats.

Monastery Gorge - photo: Vrachanski Balkan Nature Park
Monastery Gorge

The Nature Park covers the whole mountain range, which offers a wide variety of spectacular views in every season.

At the mountaintop- photo: Vrachanski Balkan Nature Park
At the mountaintop

Large areas of the park are occupied by surface karst forms like hollows, pools and caverns surrounded by beech forests. The thickness of the limestone is about 1,200 m.

The black holes near Bistrets village - photo: Vrachanski Balkan Nature Park
The black holes near Bistrets village
Autumn beeches below the ridge of Mare walls - Panorama view of Vrachanski Balkan Nature Park- photo: Vrachanski Balkan Nature Park/Krasimir Lakovski

More than 600 caves and chasms

The entrance of Razhishkata cave - photo: Vrachanski Balkan Nature Park
The entrance of Razhishkata cave

Within the boundaries of the park there are fascinating caves and chasms, whose total number exceeds 600.

The cave of the dragon - photo: Vrachanski Balkan Nature Park
The cave of the dragon

The Vratsata gorge and the Lakatnik rocks are two of the oldest and the most famous areas for rock climbing and alpinism.

Natural fortress Vratsata pass - photo: Vrachanski Balkan Nature Park
Natural fortress Vratsata pass
Meadows with orchids - Panorama view of Vrachanski Balkan Nature Park- photo: Vrachanski Balkan Nature Park/Krasimir Lakovski

Flora and fauna

The steep limestone rocks are ideal for nesting of different species of birds of prey. The biggest one is the griffon vulture with a wingspan of more than 2.70 m.

Panorama view of Vrachanski Balkan Nature Park - photo: Vrachanski Balkan Nature Park
Panorama view of Vrachanski Balkan Nature Park

The fauna includes 120 species of nesting birds, 30 of the 35 European bat species and a lot of unique troglobiontes (cave invertebrates).

The Nature Park “Vrachanski Balkan” is one of the most important areas for butterflies in Bulgaria.

The road towards the summit of Vola - photo: Vrachanski Balkan Nature Park
The road towards the summit of Vola

The flora of the Park is characterised by more than 1,100 different species of plants typical for the karst areas.

Autumn crocus/Meadow saffron (Colchicum autumnale) - photo: Vrachanski Balkan Nature Park

The best seasons: Spring and autumn

Spring is the time of orchids and other rare and protected flowers, herbs and mushrooms.

Ophrys cornuta - photo: Vrachanski Balkan Nature Park
Ophrys cornuta

Although there are no big rivers in the park area, during spring time tourists can enjoy the view of several big waterfalls. One of them – Skaklya waterfall – is the highest waterfall in the Balkan Peninsula – 141 m high. There are four other waterfalls with a height of more than 40 m in the park area.

Small waterfall at the Borov kama trail - photo: Vrachanski Balkan Nature Park
Small waterfall at the Borov kama trail

Another good season to visit the Park is the autumn.

The colorful leaves of the forest paint unforgettable pictures on the slopes of the mountains.

Borov kamak trail- photo: Vrachanski Balkan Nature Park
Borov kamak trail

Forest fruits can be found everywhere along the trails.

Horn of plenty (Craterellus cornucopioides) - photo: Vrachanski Balkan Nature Park
Horn of plenty (Craterellus cornucopioides)

Both seasons are suitable for hiking, botanical tours, nature photography, rock climbing and relaxing.

What else can visitors do in Vrachanski Balkan Nature Park?

Map of Vrachanski Balkan Nature Park
Map of Vrachanski Balkan Nature Park
  • Skiing: In the area of Purshevitsa hut there is a ski slopes and ski rope-line. The only ski slope is with medium difficulty. It is open from January to March.
  • Rafting and fishing: Iskar river gives possibilities for rafting and fishing (every fishing shop sells fishing permits for the period of 1st of June to 14th April the next year. A photography and ID card/passport is required.
  • Cherepish monastery: The Cherepish Monastery “God’s mother Assumption” lies in the gorgeous Iskar defile on the banks of the Iskur River. The monastery is located near the village of Ljutibrod, 10 km away from the town of Mezdra and 25 km to the south of Vratsa.
  • Ledenika cave: It is one of the most beautiful and most visited caves in Bulgaria, situated in Vrachanski Balkan Nature park and 16 km from the town of Vratsa. Information for the tickets, opening hours, etc. can be found at http://www.parkledenika.org/en/home/
  • Birdwatching: Birdwatching of vultures in Dolno Ozirovo village. Contact person: Georgi Stoyanov, Phone: +359 878573111.
  • Thematic trails: “Karst and Biodiversity”, “Mountaineering for beginners”, “Trail of fairy-tales” and “Trail for health”. All of them are loop routes situated up in the mountain.
  • Mountain biking: There are several bike trails with various difficulty. The hotels/guest houses don’t offer mountain bikes for rent.
The fairy tales thematic trail - photo: Vrachanski Balkan Nature Park
The fairy tales thematic trail

Goatmilk Festival in May

GOATMILK Festival of memories is an independent, non-commercial cultural festival, a meeting point for people to discuss personal and collective memories.

It attracts local people, artists, journalists, researchers from all over the world. People who love the mountain, the freshly cooked local food, the music, the simple things…

The festival is taking place in Bela Rechka village every year around 24th May and attracts a lot of people from all over Europe.

The slow food movement is another important inspiration for the people who organise the festival. So they carry out many concomitant workshops and events in the summer and autumn.

More info: novakultura.org/en/goatmilk-about/.

Text and photos courtesy of Vrachanski Balkan Nature Park/Krasimir Lakovski

The village of Chelopek - photo: Vrachanski Balkan Nature Park

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