5 Great Hikes For Adventurous Digital Nomads Near Bansko
Recommendations by: Kyle Pearce
If you’re a digital nomad who loves nature, hiking and adventures then it’s hard to beat the town of Bansko in Bulgaria.
I had a chance to stay for a couple months at Four Leaf Clover Coliving in the summer of 2022 and each weekend I’d go on a different hiking adventure in the nearby Pirin, Rila and Rhodope Mountains.
Here are my 5 favorite hikes from my time staying in Bansko along with some aerial drone videos I filmed on each adventure:
1. Bezbog Hut To Popovo Lake:
This is a great hike in nearby Pirin National Park that starts with an old Soviet-era chairlift ride up to the alpine to the Bezbog Hut at 7336 ft (2236 m). From the Bezbog Hut, there is some spectacular mountain scenery on the 3 hour hike to Popovo Lake.
2. Rila Lakes National Park:
I’ve been told this is the most popular hike in Bulgaria. From the base area, we took a chairlift up to the alpine and from there we were able to hike to 7 picture-perfect lakes in a day. There are a number of alpine huts in Rila National Park that you can stay in and do extended multi-day hiking adventures.
3. Pirin National Park:
To get to the Vihren Hut in the mountains above Bansko at 6398 ft (1950 m) there is a convenient shuttle bus that runs 4 times a day from a stop a 5 minute walk from the Four Leaf Clover Coliving. From the Vihren Hut we hiked to 5 beautiful alpine lakes in a day and along the way we saw mountain goats and all kinds of beautiful birds and wildflower meadows.
4. The Abandoned Hotel:
I heard about an abandoned hotel near the mid-station of Ski Bansko and so we set off to find this hotel. It ended up being an easy 45-minute hike from the gondola station and the building was straight out of the Shining. We hiked this trail in late August and mushroom season was in full swing so we found about 10 species of mushrooms along the way.
5. Sitan Kale Fortress:
On a small mountain just north of the town of Bansko is a 1000-year old ruin of a fortress that once defended the Razlog valley around Bansko from foreign invaders until it eventually fell to the Ottoman Turks. This was an easy hike up the Glazne river from Bansko and there were a number of EU-funded billboards that explained the fascinating history of this medieval fortress.
Bonus: The Ancient Temple of Perperikon:
Petia who runs Four Leaf Clover Coliving got me excited about an 8,000 year old mountain top temples of Perperikon, which called the “Machu Picchu” of Bulgaria.
She was kind enough to help me organize a road trip in August with other digital nomads staying at the FLC Coliving and she joined us for the adventure providing fascinating commentary on the history, culture and food of Bulgaria.
If you’re a digital nomad and nature lover,
it’s hard to beat the low cost of living and high alpine adventures accessible from the town of Bansko.
I had a great time staying at FLC Coliving and I hope to return in the future because there’s quite a few hikes I still need to do…
About Kyle:
Kyle Pearce runs a brainwave training platform called DIY Genius that helps knowledge workers train their ability to focus, create and relax using meditation, flow state psychology and brainwave entrainment protocols. You can follow him on Facebook.
Want to know More?
– Visit our “Life in Bansko” Blog
– Learn about our Digital Nomad coworking & community
– Check out our Apartments
– Have a look at Four Leaf Clover’s Facilities
– Find out how to get to Bansko from Sofia or Plovdiv
– Contact us via our contact page, or through social media: