BANSKO IN THE SUMMER
Surrounded by three majestic mountains Bansko is a special picturesque place for summer and winter tourism.
At an altitude of 950 m, the summer is cool and green with a constant fresh breeze from the mountains and Predela, and the winter is sunny and quiet with heavy snow from December to April.
Throughout the city and on the renovated Gotse Delchev Street there are fountains with delicious water, constantly flowing cool streams and ancient rollers. Bansko is dotted with many playgrounds, tennis courts and sports fields for games and cycling.
During the summer season Bansko is a top outdoor destination.
Nestled at the foot of Pirin, under majestic magnetic peaks, Bansko is a wonderful place for both living and tourism throughout the year.
Here the guest will find a unique combination of nature, preserved traditions and original folklore, old Bulgarian architecture, authentic Bansko cuisine, rich history with many great educators and heroes, interesting legends, archeological excavations.
Bansko is a festival town all year round. In the old part in front of the tourist center and the church every Friday and Saturday night the local traditions, the amateur singing and dancing groups from the municipality, the preserved crafts, exhibitions of the Bansko artists, woodcarvers and artists are organized.
Starting from Hotel Evelina Palace on the wooden bridge over the river Glazne 5 - 10 minutes walk you will find the charm of old Bansko with its narrow stone streets, authentic preserved architecture and many interesting museums housed in old houses with high walls.
Museums and cultural monuments in Bansko
- The museum complex Nikola Vaptsarov, with the original old house of the poet and a new part with a permanent exhibition hall;
- The convent which houses the iconic exhibition of the prominent icon painters, the Molerov brothers;
- Velyanov's house made by master Velyan with a lot of love for his wife;
- The house-museum of Neofit Rilski - a great encyclopedist, educator and writer;
- Spiritual - the historical center of Paisii Hilendarski, in which his cell was recreated from the monastery in Mount Athos;
- The ethnographic museum Radonova house.
The Holy Trinity Church, built during the Turkish yoke, is a remarkable monument of Christianity and spirituality in Bansko.
It was built entirely with the money of the local people and a list of all donor families is kept in the archives. At its main entrance, near each other, you can see a Christian cross and a Turkish crescent - a symbol of tolerance between the two religions.
The incredible concert of the bells, which is heard in the morning next to the Evelina Palace Hotel on holidays, invites the tourist to the old part of the city. Do not miss the festive liturgy, which is always announced with the magical chants of the church choir.
The second largest temple in the Balkans has an incredible gilded iconostasis. The 30-meter clock tower with the bell tower is a symbol of the city, which has a great view of the surroundings and the mountains.
In Bansko, life revolves around the mountains
Staying at Evelina Palace Hotel in the summer, you have a unique opportunity for walks in Bansko and in the three mountains around - Pirin, Rila and Rhodope.
In Pirin mountain there are two possible starting points for walking tours through the gondola lift to Banderishka Polyana and through the chairlift to Bezbog hut. The 16-kilometer asphalt road to Vihren hut is in very good condition, and you can use minibuses three times a day, and from there you have the opportunity to make tours of varying difficulty with a guide and without a guide.
Be sure to climb the Baikusheva fir, the millennial tree more than 1300 years old with a circumference of about 8 meters and a height of over 25 meters, which will charge you with energy to go around the mountain.
On both sides of Bansko to the east you can go to Krinets dam and to the west to Belizmata dam with magnificent views of the peaks, fishing and horseback riding and a path to the monastery of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin - Paligoden.
The ski road in summer is suitable for hiking and cycling. Walking along it you will pass the old rolling pin, past the Information Center of Pirin Park where you will get acquainted with all the flora and fauna of Pirin and the reserves in it Bayuvi Dupki and Djindjiritsa.
Continuing on the ski road you will reach the area of the Caves where there is an opportunity for rock climbing and where you can eat delicious food outdoors in the restaurant of the same name. On the outskirts of the town of Bansko you will find countless eco trails to Rolbana, Damyanishka River tells the interesting archaeological excavations of St. Nicholas, the medieval fortress Sitan Kale, and the area Shipotsko.
Day trips
You can visit the mineral baths and beaches in Dobrinishte and Banya and in both villages the churches are interesting. The narrow-gauge railway Dobrinishte - Septemvri passes through picturesque places and from Bansko it is used as an attraction by Bulgarians and foreigners.
In the vicinity of Bansko you will make day trips to:
- Horse bases around the village of Bachevo to go horseback riding on the meadows breathing thyme, lavender and mountain herbs 9 km from Bansko.
- The park of dancing bears near Belitsa, 30 km. and Rila Fun Park.
- Dobarsko, 17 km. with the church of St. St. Theodore Tyrone and Theodore Stratilat with the mysterious preserved frescoes, the waterfall of the river. On your return trip, be sure to visit Deshka Guest House, where you will cook, sing and dance dressed in authentic local costumes.
- Near Ognyanovo with the hot mineral springs you will visit Kovachevitsa and Leshten 56 km., Preserved and restored villages in the Rhodopes, as well as Eco village Omaya 70 km.
- Above Gotse Delchev the exotic but lively village of Delchevo, about 60 km. from Bansko.
- Hadjidimovski Monastery St. Martyr George the Victorious with an interesting authentic icon and a mini zoo at the monastery - 1 hour from Bansko.
- Rozhen Monastery and Melnik combination of wine with history, architecture and sand pyramids - 104 km.
- The rupees of the temple of Vanga and the archeological complex of Heraclea Sintica in the valley of middle Struma - 100 km.
- Rila Monastery St. Ivan Rilski, the world's largest monastery, one of the hundred national sites and on the UNESCO list - 94 km. The two prominent writers from Bansko, Paisii Hilendarski and Neofit Rilski, worked there. Be sure to visit the museum and the ossuary of the monastery.
