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THE RODOPES
WALKING IN THE MOUNTAINS OF ORPHEUS

Holiday Profile

Holiday Highlights

  • Walk in the land of Orpheus through stunning mountain landscapes with deep gorges, ancient forests and flowery meadows.
  • Find and photograph unique plants including many orchids and endemic species including the so-called "Flower of Orpheus"
  • Enjoy great birdwatching, including a large variety of birds of prey, as well as the elusive wallcreeper.
  • Explore the stunning caves of Uhlovitsa, Yagodina and Dyavolsko Gurlo, the latter connected to the myth of Orpheus
  • See picturesque traditional architecture in remote rural mountain settlements.
  • Experience, participate in and contribute to daily life in a traditional Bulgarian mountain villages.
  • Enjoy great hospitality and delicious home-produced local cuisine.

This walking holiday in the land of Orpheus, provides the opportunity to combine great walking with a discovery of the amazingly rich natural and cultural heritage of the Rodopes. Here the local people maintain a traditional rural existence, working the fields by hand and tending their livestock on the surrounding meadows and pastures. The Rodopes are also a paradise for lovers of nature, the region's biodiversity internationally recognised as amongst the most varied and valuable in Europe. Due to its remoteness and the extensive range of habitats, the Rodopes boast an amazing number of endemic plants, large stable populations of wolves, bears and other rare mammals, as well as an outstanding mix of birds that includes 37 species of raptor.

Thankfully, great efforts are now being made to preserve this priceless biodiversity as well as the traditional way of life of the Rodopes, and this holiday offers a unique chance to experience and help in this process. Basing ourselves in small family-run hotels in the traditional mountain villages of Arda and Yagodina, we are making a direct contribution to the economy of local community, as well as supporting the development of eco-tourism in this region of the Rodopes and the preservation of its habitats, flora and fauna.

Balkan Trek is at the forefront of responsible tourism in Bulgaria, and recognised as one of Bulgaria's leading mountain adventure and eco-tourism operators. We are specialists in small group walking holidays, trekking holidays, snowshoeing treks, cultural tours, monastery tours, village holidays, wildlife holidays, natural history trips, birdwatching holidays, botanic tours and flower photography holidays. We operate trips in Bulgaria's Rodopi (Rhodope) Mountains, Rila Mountains, Pirin Mountains, Stara Planina (Balkan Mountains), Strandzha Mountains, Sredna Gora Mountains, Vitosha Mountains, as well as at Bulgaria's Black Sea coast.