Rhodope Mountains

Mist, copper forests and folk songs lost between ridges. The mythic south.

Best inSpringSummerAutumnWinter

Quick facts

Length: 240km
Highest: Golyam Perelik 2,191m
Caves: 550+
Best: Sep - Oct

Scroll to explore - 11 sections

01 - Overview

Where Orpheus is said to have walked. The Rhodopes are softer than Rila but stranger - bear forests, sinkhole gorges, villages still singing in voices Unesco has tried to preserve, and roads that vanish into cloud. Drive slowly. There is no other way.

Road TripsRelax

02 - Things to do

The reasons to come.

Hikes, viewpoints, meals and small adventures. Hover any card for the practical detail.

Hike

Trigrad Gorge

Vertical walls and the Devil's Throat cave.

Duration: 3h
Level: Moderate
Season: Apr - Oct

Village

Shiroka Laka

An open-air museum of bagpipes and stone houses.

Duration: Half day
Level: Easy
Season: All year

Viewpoint

Eagle Eye platform

Glass platform over the Buynovo Gorge.

Duration: 1h
Level: Easy
Season: May - Oct

Attraction

Wonderful Bridges

Natural marble arches carved by an ancient river.

Duration: 2h
Level: Easy
Season: All year

Activity

Bagpipe school

Watch (or learn) the kaba gaida in Shiroka Laka.

Duration: 2h
Level: Easy
Season: All year

Activity

Yagodina Cave

A 10km cave system, only 1km open to visitors.

Duration: 1.5h
Level: Easy
Season: All year

03 - Hidden spots

Places the guides forgot.

Hidden - 01
Kovachevitsa
A stone village frozen in 1850.

Hidden - 02
Devin hot springs
Bath under a waterfall in a forgotten spa town.

Hidden - 03
Belintash plateau
A Thracian altar carved into a sandstone cliff.

04 - Best seasons

Four different countries.

Spring

Wildflowers, swollen rivers, the snow retreats slowly.

Summer

Cool refuge from the plains, 25°C at altitude.

Autumn

Beech and oak turn copper, the best month to come.

Winter

Pamporovo skiing, deep silence in the villages.

05 - Where to stay

From mountain huts to design hotels.

01
Manastir Eco-Village
Eco-lodge
Off-grid cabins above the Devin valley.
€€
02
Smolyan Spa Resort
Resort
Mineral pools facing the three lakes.
€€
03
Kovachevitsa Guesthouses
Village stay
Wood-beam rooms in 19th-century houses.
€

06 - Food & restaurants

Tables worth the detour.

Cheverme Smolyan

Traditional

Whole spit-roasted lamb, a Rhodope ritual.

Pateshki katmi

Street

Crepes filled with mountain cheese and honey.

Rodopski klin

Traditional

A coiled rice and yoghurt pie, baked in clay.

07 - Interactive map

Rhodope Mountains in detail.

Attraction · 2Viewpoint · 1Hike · 1Route · 1

Explore

5 points of interest

Switch to the topographic base or drop the hiking-trails overlay to see the real terrain around Rhodope Mountains. The points below appear in the atlas at the same coordinates.