National Park Rila, Borovets

National Park Rila is situated in the southwest part of the country, in Rila mountain. The park has a total area of 81,046 hectares and is the largest of the three national parks in Bulgaria as well as one of the largest in Europe. It was declared a natural park on 24 February 1992.

The park managers aim to preserve and maintain the biological diversity, to protect the wild nature and provide opportunities for scientific and educational activities, development of tourism and ecological way of the population’s life. The directorate of the National Park consists of a central office and eight local offices, which manage the following administrative park areas: Blagoevgrad, Belitsa, Yakoruda, Belovo, Kostenets, Borovets, Beli Iskar, Govedartsi and Dupnitsa. 

There are more than 100 peaks on the territory of the park, with an attitude of over 2000 meters; the highest peak in the country and on the Balkan Peninsula is among them - the Musala peak (2,925 meters high). The lowest recorded temperature on Musala peak is -31.2 °С, and the highest temperature is + 18.7°С. The temperature remains below zero for nine months during the year; even in summer temperature rarely rises above 15°С.

There are more than 120 permanent and 30 temporary glacial lakes in the high parts of Rila. They are mainly located on deep bottoms of cirques. The spring of some of the deepest and longest rivers on the Balkan Peninsula are here – Iskar, Maritsa and Mesta. The water supplies, which form within the boundaries of National Park Rila are the most important resources of pure drinking water for the nearby municipalities, for the capital Sofia and for people from Greece and Turkey.