Rhodope Mountains Tours & Trips

Tour offered a wide range of experiences. Preliminary walking tour introduced major landmarks and buildings in Sofia and gave an outline of the nations history...from Roman times through mediaeval regime changes to modern political history. Tour visited the famous Rilla Monestery and a modern spiritual site then char Melnik village in the wine growing region. Next seen were the Pirin Mountain ranges of and the township of Bankso which was a base for hiking and skiing. A short ride on the narrow guage railway thrpugh the Rodope Mountain showed forest and river valleys. Nrxt conytast was the ancient city of Plovdiv which perservrs an old townming Mrlnick villthr eine growing region and travelled over mountsin passes eith brsutiful forrdt and included an ovetnoght stay in Bsnkso ehich is the site for srasonsl hiking and sking. A short journey of the narrow gauge railway through Rodope Mountsins showed mountsins and river ravines. Next thete wre opportunities to view archeytrcture and arts and crafts as wrll as

Great tour for a quick introduction to the country.

The tour covered very impressive country side and most of the roads were great for cycling. My guide Ivan was excellent; he was well informed on history and all aspects of the regions we explored. Overall, he was great company (and his English was excellent). The only problems I encountered were related to the information given prior to the trip. First, the pick up at Sofia airport: my information was that an OK taxi would provide pick up and delivery to hotel. I expected to be met by an OK taxi person at the airport; however, it turned out that I had to find the OK taxi booth myself and ask for taxi - you should make that clear. Second, the information on what to bring was very confusing. A whole list of things that were irrelevant for a vehicle supported cycling tour was provided. For example, it was advised to bring bike panniers, but given the vehicle support that was clearly unnecessary. Someone who was less experienced in these sorts of trips may have gone out and bought expensive panniers unnecessarily - that would have been a total waste of money.