Borovets
Borovets ( Bulgarian Боровец ) is a resort in the Rila Mountains in Bulgaria . It is the largest and oldest mountain resort in Bulgaria.
Until the middle of the 20th century, Borovets was known under the name of Tscham korija (bulg. Чам кория ).
Borovets is a vacation resort, sometimes also referred to as a resort , winter sports resort, ski complex, winter vacation resort or mountain health resort. “Bor” is the Bulgarian word for “pine”. In Bulgarian, Borovets is referred to as a "health resort" (bulg. Курорт). However, this cannot be translated literally into German, as it is not a classic health resort in which medical therapies are carried out as part of a cure (bath or drinking cure).
In 1896, Prince Ferdinand I had his summer residence Zarska Bistriza built there by the architect Georgi Fingow . That was the beginning of the story of Borovets, the oldest resort in Bulgaria. Borovets was the starting point for hunting parties of the Bulgarian kings. It became the hunting ground and summer residence of the Bulgarian aristocracy. Among other things, golf was also played. Winter sports were almost unknown at the time and only came on later. The former tsar's palace in the Rila Mountains was nationalized after 1944 and was unofficially known as the residence of the communist head of state Todor Zhivkov until 1989 .
Until the middle of the 20th century Borovets was called "Tscham korija" (Bulgarian Чам кория). There was no town there before. To date, no town has developed there. It has remained a pure hotel complex, as for example the resorts of Sunny Beach and Golden Sands on the Black Sea . There is some accommodation for hotel employees, shops and a post office, but no real resident population.
In Borovets there are 26 hotels of various categories and holiday villages with 4200 beds, as well as a mountain hut. Borovets is one of the winter resorts in Bulgaria with the most developed nightlife system. During the communist period there were also many company rest homes and rest homes run by ministries and authorities.
Today Borovets is the largest and most famous winter sports resort in Bulgaria. Other well-known winter sports resorts are Pamporowo (in the Rhodope Mountains ), Bansko (in the Pirin ), Schtastliweza (in the Vitosha ) and Usana (in the Balkan Mountains ).
Borovets is located on the northern slopes of the Rila Mountains, 1350 m above sea level. Immediately above Borovets lies an extensive alpine mountain range with the 2925 m high Musala summit, the highest mountain on the Balkan Peninsula.
The Bulgarian capital Sofia is 73 km further north. Plovdiv is 127 km to the east. The main road from Borovets leads to Samokov , the next town. Samokow is located 10 km northwest of Borovets, at an altitude of 950 m. Borovets belongs to the Samokow municipality. The village of Mariza is 12 km away.
The dialing code for Borovets is 0750.
Ski areas
In Borovets there are a large number of lifts and a developed network of trails and ski slopes of various degrees of difficulty. The 58 km of slopes and trails are spread over three different ski areas. The ski lifts on the slopes can serve approximately 155,000 tourists per hour.
In the village there is also the Musala-Schanze , a ski jumping facility built in 1967 that is no longer in operation today.
Sitnyakovo
The first ski area consists of the slopes of Sitnjakowo and Martinowi Baraki with a total length of 19 km, degrees of difficulty "blue", "red" and "black", and comprises 8 slopes.
Jastrebez
The second ski area is the Jastrebez (German: Habicht) area, which includes 3 slopes. International ski races are also held there. The Pist Jastrebez has the highest class and is suitable for national competitions. The highest slope is the Markudschik slope at an altitude of 2560 m. Many ski slopes lead down to Borovets. The longest slope is 12 km long.
The development of the Jastrebez ski area began in 1981 with the construction of a 5 km long cabin lift that was very modern for Bulgarian standards at the time. The upper station of the lift extends to the Jastrebez mountain hut , which previously could only be reached in 4 hours from Borowets. Before the lift was built, the hut, which had no power connection, and the whole area was very remote, in the middle of untouched nature. From the Jastrebez mountain hut you can get to the Musala mountain hut in 1.5 hours , both mountain huts are almost at the same height and the path between the two is almost flat. From the Musala mountain hut, which stands at the foot of Mount Musala , it takes 3 hours to get to the summit.
Markujika
The third ski area is Markudschika with 4 slopes. It drops from a height of 2550 meters to a height of 2145 meters. These slopes are very demanding. The runs are used to host giant slalom competitions.
There is also a floodlight system that allows skiing in the dark. The snowpack lasts from mid-November to mid-April, with its strongest in March.
In 1981 and 1984 the races for the Alpine Ski World Cup were held in Borovets and the Biathlon World Championships in 1993 .
Ski slopes
| Ski slope | difficulty | Length (in m) | Height difference (in m) |
| Sitnyakovo ski slope | green | 6000 | 0 |
| Sitnyakovo 1a | blue | 5800 | 400 |
| Martinowi Baraki 5 | green | 5000 | 0 |
| Sitnyakovo 1b | red | 4000 | 230 |
| Sitnyakovo 2 | red | 4000 | 250 |
| Jastrebez 1 | black | 2300 | 860 |
| Jastrebez 2 | red | 3000 | 650 |
| Jastrebez 3 | red | 2350 | 617 |
| Markujik 2A | red | 1300 | 280 |
| Martinowi Baraki 3 | red | 1260 | 320 |
| Markujik 3 | red | 1240 | 390 |
| Martinowi Baraki 4 | black | 1240 | 302 |
| Markujik 1 | red | 1220 | 220 |
| Martinowi Baraki 1 | black | 1160 | 340 |
| Martinowi Baraki 2 | red | 1160 | 280 |
| Sitnyakovo 3 | red | 1000 | 220 |
| Lawinata | black | 830 | 0 |
| Jastrebez | black | 800 | 0 |
| Markujik | green | 600 | 0 |
| Borovets | Cross-country skiing | 0 | 0 |
Ski lifts
| Ski lift / ski slope | Type | Length (in m) | Height difference (in m) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Borovets - Yastrebez 1 | Gondola | 4827 | 1046 |
| Borovets - Yastrebez | 4-seater | 2050 | 609 |
| Borovets - Sitnyakovo 1a | 4-seater | 1902 | 516 |
| Borovets - Martinowi Baraki 1 | 4-seater | 1209 | 313 |
| Markujik 2A | T-bar lift | 1086 | 308 |
| Markujik 3 | T-bar lift | 1031 | 366 |
| Markujik 1 | T-bar lift | 903 | 223 |
| Markujik 0 (beginner slope) | T-bar lift | 500 | 42 |
| Martinowi Baraki 3 | T-bar lift | 200 | 50 |
| Martinowi Baraki 2 | T-bar lift | 180 | 33 |
Super Borovets
The project "Samokow - Borowez - Beli Iskar" (Bulgar. Проект- "Самоков-Боровец-Бели Искър"), also called "Super Borowez" (Bulgar. Супер Боровец) is the largest and has an investment volume of 350 billion euros most expensive investment and construction project in Bulgaria. Borovets will be enlarged to include the neighboring cities of Samokov and Beli Iskar . A total of 100 km of ski slopes are to be created and lifts with a total daily capacity of 30,000 to 35,000 tourists are to be built. The main contractor is the company Glawbolgarstroj (Bulgarian Главболгарстрой).
The construction project concerns Borovets (1100 m above sea level), Banderata (1460 m above sea level), Gwardejska poljana (1620 m above sea level) and Bjale poljana (1310 m above sea level) .). In addition, the 80 km long “Rila” motorway between Dupnitsa , Wakarel , Samokow and Vitinja is to be built as part of the project . It will connect the “ Hemus ”, “ Trakija ” and “ Struma ” motorways.
The project will include three areas:
The first area, or "Lower Borovets" (1100 m above sea level), will be a new building area just outside of Samokow and Paschanitsa. This area will offer cheaper tourist accommodation and will have good transport links to Borovets and the ski slopes in Borovets. 6,000 to 7,000 beds are planned. Hotels for 2,000 to 3,000 beds are to be built in Beli Iskar and Sokolez.
The second area, or Borovets proper, will consist of the existing Borovets, which will be further expanded. There will be around 10,000 hotel rooms there, which is roughly as many as Borovets is already making available.
The third area, or “Upper Borovets”, will consist of 5-star hotels with 2,500 beds and be located in the Gwardejska polyana (Bulgarian Гвардейска поляна) and Mecha glawa (Bulgarian Меча глава) areas.
The construction project started in 2004. It was originally planned to be completed by 2009, but there were various delays.
Among other things, the murder of the banker Emil Kjulew (Bulgarian Емил Кюлев) in October 2005 delayed the mega-project. In his place, foreign banks then stepped in with the financing. Kjulew was the majority shareholder of the investment company "Rila Samokow 2004", which was founded especially for the planning, financing and execution of the mega-project. Kjulew held 51% of "Rila Samokow 2004" through his company "Kontrakt 99". the remaining shares in "Rila Samokow 2004" are held by the municipality of Samokow (25%; by making land available), Glawbolgarstroj (16%) and "Energokomplekt" (8%; a company of "Rej Holding").
The groundbreaking ceremony took place on October 8, 2007. The project is now to be implemented in two stages in the period 2007–2012. A total of 623,500 m 2 is to be built on with hotels and residential property. Super Borovets should cover a total of 2380 hectares.
The number of slopes is planned to be increased by 19, so that there will then be a total of 90 km of slopes. Accordingly, 12 additional ski lifts are to be built. One of the ski lifts will be 9 km long and will connect Borovets with Samokov, the "Lower Borovets" and have several intermediate stations. Likewise, at least one of the new ski slopes should lead to the “Lower Borovets”.
Simeon Sakskoburggotski has inherited from the Bulgarian Tsar Boris III. received from the Bulgarian state 1700 ha of forest in the area of the construction project. The Sultan of Oman is also involved in the project.
This project has been heavily criticized by nature conservationists because the planned objects are located in the Rila National Park . Large areas of forest are being cut down for the project. Proponents of the project claim that it is not in the Rila Natural Park, even if it concerns protected natural areas.
The company "Sofprojekt" is to prepare Sofia's candidacy for the 2014 Winter Olympics. In addition to the main venues in Sofia and in the neighboring Vitosha Mountains , competitions are also to be held in Super-Borovets, which can be reached in less than an hour from the center of Sofia via the new "Rila" motorway, which will then be completed (80 km away) .
Hiking routes
Borovets is not only known as a winter sports resort. In summer there are also numerous opportunities for recreation, as the place is the starting point for many hiking routes into the Rila Mountains. The average temperature in July is around 15 ° C.
Borovets is the starting point for numerous hiking routes in the Rila Mountains:
- to Mount Sokolez - 3 hours walk, 6 km, 400 m difference in altitude
- to the Black Rock (Bulgarian черна скала; transcription: Tscherna skala) - 3 hours walk, 5 km, 300 m difference in altitude, the hiking route leads along the Maritsa river to the Sokolets area
- to the summit of Musala (at 2925 m the highest mountain in Bulgaria) - the first stretch can be covered by the mountain cable car, 6 hours walk from the upper station of the cable car at Jastrebez; from Borovets to Musala it is 10 km as the crow flies
- to Maljowiza (2729 m) and on to the Rila monastery . It is preferred to take the bus to the Maljowiza region, so that only the route to the Rila monastery (7–8 hours) is walked. The return trip by bus to Borovets takes place from the Rila monastery. (There are also other possible routes),
- to the Seven Rila Lakes (2300 m)
- to the Sitnyakovo Palace - 1.5 hours
- to the Mariza mountain hut - 4.5 hours
In the Rila Mountains there are also multi-day hikes, as there is an extensive network of mountain huts with overnight accommodations available, even if the dormitories offer no comfort.
Web links
Coordinates: 42 ° 15 ′ 52 ″ N , 23 ° 36 ′ 25 ″ E