Summer in Pamporovo (Bulgaria) (Pamparovo)

Member Name: LIZR315

Product:	Pamparovo
Date:	06/09/09 (42 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap and quiet

Disadvantages: Need to be an independent traveller

Pamporovo - In Summer!!

Most people visit this resort in winter for the skiing and snowboarding. However we like to be different so we went in August to see what the area had to offer. It's a great place to go as prices are cheap and it's outside of the Euro zone.

Friends had bought an apartment in the next village of Stoykite which is close to the new ski lift and offer us the use whenever we fancied it.
Flights into to Sofia (via Easyjet) late at night saw us and our 17 month old decide to spend the night in a Sofia airport hotel. Next morning we collected our hire car and set off after lunch.

Roads
For a summer trip car hire is essential. Public transport around the area is poor. Bulgarian roads are not for the faint hearted and speed limits only seem to apply to us. You need your wits about you. It took us about 4 hours to drive up into the Rhodope Mountains. The route goes via Plovdiv and Bachkovo monastery (where we explored on the way back).

Pamporovo in summer
.... Is closed! While the major hotels are open and some of the restaurants are the town appeared to be sleeping. It's best of avoid it and stick to the other areas of the mountains.

Highlights of the Area

We went with our toddler so maybe looking for different things. We enjoyed
1. Shiroka Laka - a traditional Bulgarian village
2. The food - really good and cheap
3. The beer - as above
4. Smolyan - a traditional mountain town
5. Walking in the mountains - lots of walks along well laid out tracks
6. Picnics by the rivers and streams
7. A walks up the Devin gorge
8. The Trigrad Gorge (We didn't go in the caves)
9. Beautiful views
10. The chair lift up to the TV tower

Anybody who has been on a summer holiday to Austria or Switzerland will have some idea of what to expect. While it's not as high and you have to be prepared to be more independent in terms of making your own itinerary it's worth taking a look at.

Summary: Mainly a ski resort - go to mountains and stay elsewhere