What other European capital boasts a prominent mountain at its back door? Like all mountains in Bulgaria, Vitosha offers a wide variety of recreations: hiking, rock climbing, vast caves systems, waterfalls, extreme mountain climbing and, of course, skiing.

Skiing conditions in Vitosha are excellent, with an extensive network of ski runs and lifts. Sadly, their development has come at the cost of the demolition of whole areas of forestry. A cluster of four new high-class hotels offer comfort and entertainment to visitors. The hotels are on the forestry fringe, near natural ski slopes, ski runs and lifts. Restaurants, bars and night clubs, a tavern, a ski bar and tea shops are also available to entertain and reinvigorate the weary skier. The upper class Sofia suburbs of Boyana, Simenovo and Dragalevtzi offer proximity to “the city” while you’re actually in the mountain.

One way of reaching the resort is with a car, from Dragalevtsi, taking the mountain road which snakes its way up the mountain for 15.5km until you reach the upper most gondola station.

Another way is to reach Hladilnika (a major industrial district in the southeaster part of Sofia accessible by many bus lines, and then you may get bus no. 66 which will take you up to Shtastliveca for four leva, single way.

The third and most popular way of reaching the resort is via the gondola lift which starts from the suburb of Simenovo, located in southeastern Sofia, at the base of the mountain, some 20 to 30 minutes drive from Krassno Selo, Boyana, Kniajevo or Borovo – the southern borough of Sofia located near the mountain, or about 40 minutes drive from Sofia city centre, depending on traffic.

Vitosha is further north than Rila, Pirin and the Rhodopes and has snow from early December. Skiing can last well into May. Snow cover averages 1.5m but in places it can be well above three metres and there are sections of the mountain (as in all other Bulgarian mountains) prone to avalanches. The average temperature on Vitosha during winter is about -10C, with occasional extremes of below -30C.

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