Musala peak at 2952m is the highest of the Balkan and actually not the hardest to climb. Starting of in a lush forest, continuing to open pastures and then some beautiful lake views. Wether you do this in 1, 2 or 3 days, this hike will not dissapoint!
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Details of the Hike to Musala Peak
Distance: The total distance for this hike is 26,49 kilometers (out-and-back hike)
Elevation gain: The total incline was 1569 meter
Moving time: According to Strava my moving time was 6 hours and 58 minutes (total time was 10 hours 55 minutes)
Difficulty: I would rate this as an intermediate/hard hike.
Address start: Musala Trail Head
Price: Free (unless you want to use the chairlifts to shorten the hike)
Use the pinned location below so you can navigate straight to where the hike starts. Parking is very limited but there’s plenty of space next to the streets in the area. There’s also parking not too far away at Tsarska Bistritsa which is another tourist attraction that you could visit.
How to get to the starting point?
As this is very long hike I decided to stay in the ski resort town Borovets. You could walk to the trailhead, which adds about 2 kilometers or 4 kilometers in total. If you want to save some energy and time you can park right at the trail head, that’s what I did.
Coming from Sofia the best way is to drive with a (rental) car, it would take about 1 hour and 30 minutes to get there.
If you’re staying in Sofia this hike could be interesting as well: HIKE TO BLACK PEAK, THE HIGHEST IN VITOSHA NATURE PARK
Hiking map and GPX-File
Generally speaking for all hikes, the easiest way is to download a GPX file that you can view on a gps device, a smartphone or smartwatch. It will tell you step-by-step how to walk. It also includes an elevation profile of the hike which can help you to decide if this hike is for you or not.
Click through to Strava to see all the details:
Download the GPX file right here: Musala-peak-Bulgaria.gpx
Rila National Park
Rila National Park has been declared as such in February 1992 in order to preserve and protect this 107,92 ha sized area. It has a total of 120 glacial lakes and the park’s altitude varies from around 800 m to 2925 meter at Musala peak which is the highest peak in Bulgaria and of the whole Balkan Peninsula.
One of the main tourist attractions in the park is the hike to the Seven Rila Lakes, read all about it here: Hike 7 Rila Lakes in Rila National Park
Borovets
Originally established at the end of the 19th century as a hunting place for Bulgarian kings, Borovets (1350m) is now mainly a ski resort town in winter with over 58 kilometer of ski slopes. There are plans to extend this further in the future as part of the super Borovets project.
When I was there in June the town was pretty calm with lots of bars and shops still closed. The Summer visitors consist mostly of hikers and other Summer mountain sports enthousiasts.
Musala Hut
At the foot of Musala peak, right before the actual climb starts you can find Musala hut at an altitude of 2389m. The hut is completely new since 2020 with over 130 places to sleep. Rooms of 2 and 4 beds with different bathroom situations. Prices range from 70 BGN for a double room to 30 BGN if you share the room with five, six, eight or nine people. There’s even a possibility to book a helicopter ride. For all latest info consult the official Musala hut website.
1, 2 or 3 days to trek to Musala Peak?
If you’re not comfortable hiking this distance in 1 day or you just want to enjoy a night up in the mountains you could easily do so by staying a night at Musala hut or using your own camping gear. This means you could hike on day 1 in the afternoon to Musala Hut, sleep 1 night and go to the Musala Peak on day 2 and then hike back to Borovets. You could even stay 2 nights and hike back on day 3 to Borovets. It’s all up to you!
When is the best time to climb Musala Peak?
I would recommend to do this during the summer. Ideally between mid-June and mid-September, this both to have enough daylight hours and to avoid snow in the higher regions. I did this hike on the 15th of June and there were still a few patches of snow.
When planning for this hike I knew it would be tough to do it in one day but also not impossible if I left early enough. My estimate would be that the hike would take maximum 12h so during summer there was plenty of daylight.
To get a better visual idea of this hike I would recommend that you check the video I recorded from that day:
Why should you hike to Musala Peak?
The Musala peak hike came pretty close to what I call a perfect hike. It has all aspects of what I like about a good hike. Dense forests for the first few kilometers while a wild river (Bistritsa) running next to the trails. A small waterfall once in a while. Admitedly some larger waterfalls would make this even better. When reaching higher altitudes the landscapes transform into large green pastures. And then when going above 2300 meters it changes to glacial lakes and rocky terrain with some snow patches (depending when you go). To make it a complete experience a nice beautiful not super hard summit to climb.
If this didn’t convince you, I don’t know what will?
Shorter alternative of the hike to Musala Peak
During the peak summer months you could take the gondola to Yastrebets peak. This gondola leaves right in front of the Samokov hotel in Borovets. Keep in mind that the gondoloa is only open during peak season. Check opening times here. If you choose to use the gondola it will definitely make this hike to Musala peak easier and shorter. My calculated estimate is that it would shorten the total hike with about 10 kilometers. So about 15 instead of 25 kilometers.
My experience hiking to Musala Peak
The hike starts off at an altitude of around 1400 m in a dense forest with for the first few kilometers the wild Bistritsa river running next to the trail. I always love when a mountain hike has some foresty trails as well. Hiking in the open space where there’s no shade whatsoever isn’t my favorite. Until the Markudjik II chairlifts station the trail is more like a dirt road where 4×4 cars can drive.
Before I forget, just before reaching Markudjik II there was a broken bridge which made traversing the river very tricky but not impossible. I would guess this bridge should be fixed by now (Summer 2022).
After passing the chairlifts the trail became super wet when I was there in mid-June. This was of course because of all the melting snow. There was water and mud everywhere. At the same time the view became more open and landscapes changed drastically to open green pastures.
At about 8 kilometers into this hike the 1st out of 6 lakes called the Lower Lake and next to it the Musala hut becomes visible. This could be a nice lunch spot but I always try to hike more than half of the way before eating lunch. So I continued hiking.
Leaving Musala hut behind the real climbing starts. The trails become rocky and it might be necessary to use your hands here and there. After only a few hundred meters you reach the Ferdinandovo Lake and about a kilometer further the Alekovo Lake. This is where I had my lunch which you can see in my Youtube video.
After Alekovo lake I had about 3 kilometer to go with an incline of about 400m. Pretty steep but with an exceptional snow patch here and there, the trail was in pretty good condition. We pass 2 more lakes on the way up which are the Upper Lake and the Icy Lake. I could definitely see why they called it the Icy lake.
The final push to the peak after the Icy lake was probably the hardest part of this whole route, also a tiny bit scary at times. Luckily the snow was cleared on some steep paths so you could walk through this tunnel of snow.
Congratulations, you’re at an altitude of 2952 meter above sealevel which means you have reached Musala Peak. The highest peak of Bulgaria and also of the whole Balkan Peninsula.
Time to take some selfies and you can actually send them straight to your friends and family because there is cellphone connection up there!
I’m not going to describe the whole way back as it’s pretty much the same except for the part right before Alekovo Lake. There I took another trail down to Musala hut. You will notice this when using the GPX-file I provided.
Let me know in the comments or through my Instagram if you enjoyed this hike!
