Rhodope Mountains Guide: Bulgaria's Karst Heart

The Rhodopes lie mostly in southern Bulgaria, with the rest reaching into Greece, and are the country's largest mountain range by area. They run about 240 km long and 100-120 km wide, averaging 785 m, with Golyam Perelik the highest peak at 2,191 m. Geomorphologically they belong to the Rila-Rhodope massif, considered the oldest landmass on the Balkan Peninsula. The name is of Thracian origin. The most visited part is the Western Rhodopes, with their deep gorges and caves. The seasonal state, hours or fees of any given route are not stated without sourced verification; where we do not know, we plainly say I don't know.

Devil's Throat Cave (Dyavolsko Garlo) lies in the Western Rhodopes, branching from the Trigrad Gorge near the village of Gyovren. Inside, a waterfall drops about 42 m, often cited as the tallest underground waterfall in the Balkans, into a large cavern called the Hall of Thunder. That nothing the river carries in ever emerges has fed legends; Orpheus is said to have descended here to Hades. In 1970 the divers Siana Ljutzkanova and Evstati Jovchev vanished in the sump. The cave is one of Bulgaria's 100 National Tourist Sites. Current entry hours and guide arrangements are not given without sourced verification; where unknown, we say I don't know.

The Rhodopes are known for deep river gorges, large caves and distinctive karst forms, of which the Trigrad Gorge is the best known. In the same karst belt, the Buynovo (Buynovsko) Gorge, cut by the Buynovska river with its steep limestone walls and caves, is walked as one of the region's longest gorges. This underworld also belongs to Bulgaria's hydropower resources, concentrated in the Western Rhodopes, and to the Maritsa basin, into which about 80 percent of the mountain's waters drain. Trail conditions, seasonal closures and cave access arrangements change fast; we do not write them without sourced verification, and where something is missing we say I don't know.

Bachkovo Monastery is a major Orthodox monastery on the right bank of the Chepelare river, 10 km south of Asenovgrad. It was founded in 1083 by Gregory Pakourianos, a Georgian statesman and commander in Byzantine service, and is known for uniting Georgian, Byzantine and Bulgarian culture in a shared faith. The Church of Mary, still standing today, was finished in 1604 and the refectory rebuilt in 1601. The Panorama mural on its outer wall is regarded as the largest scenic mural on the Balkans, attributed to Alexi Atanasov and completed on 22 July 1846. The monastery is the final resting place of Patriarchs Euthymius and Cyril. Service times and visiting arrangements are not given without sourced verification; where unknown, we say I don't know.

Smolyan is a town and provincial centre in the narrow valley of the Cherna and Byala rivers at the foot of Golyam Perelik; its population was 30,689 in June 2022. The present town was formed in 1960 by merging the villages of Ustovo, Raykovo and Ezerovo; southern Bulgaria's largest church, the Cathedral of Saint Vissarion, opened in 2006. Of the nearby Smolyan Lakes, once nearly twenty, seven remain today, the 'emerald eyes of the Rhodope'. Shiroka Laka, 23 km northwest at 1,206 m, is an architectural and folklore reserve; its Church of the Holy Mother of God dates from 1834 and the old school from 1835, and it is famed for the kaba gaida bagpipe. Current times and event dates are not written without sourced verification; where missing, we say I don't know.