1 independent reviews for Rhodope Mountains hiking vacation in Bulgaria
Reviews for Rhodope Mountains hiking vacation in Bulgaria
Ruth Kinsella review 2 Jul 2018
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your vacation?
The totally stunning views, the wild flower meadows and the lovely people. We stayed in some beautiful hotels, only one was a little too corporate for us (Mountain Lake Hotel - we were the only visitors and it was very lonely after all the bustle of the smaller family hotels), - our most favourite ones were the family owned and run hotels that were simply charming and the people could not do enough for us and made us feel really welcome despite the language barrier. Particularly loved the spa in our hotel on the second night, sitting outside in the hot tub looking at the mountains was perfect.2. What tips would you give other travelers booking this vacation?
Try to swap the last two walks around, do the waterfall walk on the final full day and then do the lake walk on the last day. We were slightly underwhelmed by the lakes but completely blown away by the waterfall walk and would have loved to have spent more time completing that work properly. Also, try to learn a few useful Bulgarian words, such as tap water, vegetables, hot water, tea.... there is access to some of the best water in the mountains but we had to keep drinking water from a plastic bottle because I could not get them to understand that tap water would be perfect. Also, although not important, it would have been lovely to experience the local yoghurt for breakfast and that was a little to challenging with the language barrier. Such a shame but in no way was this a spoiler - the whole experience was just perfect. Oh and do download the walks, it makes things so much easier to have the walk on your phone.3. Did you feel that your vacation benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
Yes, I did. Need to do something about the plastic bottles though before it becomes an unfortunate habit or expectation. What a stunningly beautiful country and I just hope that we left a positive footprint while we were there too. A special mention to our driver, Kotse - what a perfect gentleman, great driver, very safe and he made our daily transfers very enjoyable - even getting us to the local shop so we could get our bit for our lunch. We had a couple of little problems on our last day and Alex sorted everything out really quickly and efficiently so a big thank you to Alex too.4. Finally, how would you rate your vacation overall?
Brilliant, on my next visit I would love to make the most of some of the other walks, it all comes with confidence, but with the benefit of hindsight, we could have used the walking app better and maybe been a little more adventurous.Holiday Reviews
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