Seven Rila Lakes in Bulgaria

When I saw a stunning picture of Seven Rila Lakes in a travel blog, I immediately decided to be there in a few years. Seven Rila lakes are located in the north-western Rila mountains in Bulgaria. Best to be visited during summer, because in the cold months it’s heavily snowing in the mountain and the lakes get completely frozen. The special thing about the 7 Rila Lakes I would say, is the stunning seven lakes in one view at elevation of 2,100-2,600 meters above sea level.
We did a day trip with an expert tour guide, Ivan, for about 5 and half hour hiking course.

Maggie and Ivan, the guide

To get to the top where we can have magnificent 7 rila lakes view, we can 1. hike all the way up on foot. 2. take a lift and go up to about 2400 meters. It goes quite fast, but still takes about 25 minutes, you will enjoy the time unless you have fear of heights.
The lift took us to Yastrebetz Ridge point, there we started hiking. The way up was quite steep that made the route a little tough for a beginners like me. It was warm and cold at the same time. The temperature was getting colder from 35 to 12 degree, but I was sweating from hiking, so I was like jacket-on and jacket-off every 5 minutes. I speeded up anyway because I could not wait to have the view of the lakes.

One of the seven lakes along the way

After the point that 1st lake appeared, it became very much exciting. And the 2nd and 3rd.. when you go up for a while and turn around, another amazing view of lake(s) is waiting for you. That was amazing and I was so happy to see the lakes that have been background photo of my computer and Facebook for a long time.

one is called “Lower”. Next we met “Fish Lake” the shallowest one, and “Trefoil” that has the most irregularly shape.

After a while of hiking up, the “Twin” came in sight. It has its shape like twins(but still connected, so it’s 1 lake.). One of the “twin” was kind of hiding behind a peak, but we could see his brother soon when we went up a bit more.

The twin lakes

On the other side there was the beautiful “Kidney”, it has the steepest shores of the entire group of lake. People say its shape resembles the shape of human kidney. Near “Kidney”, there were small horses that are raised by local people probably residing in Rila. We took a break there, the scene of the tranquil lake and the happy horses almost felt like a dream. I will remember that moment for a long time.
And the famous “Eye”, deepest lake in Bulgaria, with a depth of 37.5 m. The white part that you see is actually snow, very old snow that stayed there for a long time. I could not believe when I heard it from our tour guide, but it’s not strange considering the fact that “Eye” was completely frozen in this year June.

Lastly, the highest one is called “Tear” that has really clear water which allows  visibility in depth. Absolutely stunning!

View from the top. Stunning Bulgaria!

When we reached the point where I could see all those, I was amazed and again amazed. I take pictures, see the incredibly beautiful scenery, through the camera lens and with my eyes.. I was too excited and became a person who forgot all the other words but “Wow“. Taking pictures, seeing the sight in front of me, saying Wow, pictures, seeing, wow… A few minutes like that circle of excitement, then I could become calm and enjoy. What I found interesting was that we see all different colors of each lake because of the reflection of sky, mountains, etc.

I heard it’s forbidden to swim for safety reason. I think the beautiful lakes should better be kept as they are without being disturbed by tourists too much 🙂

One more of the seven lakes across Rila path

It was one of the most gorgeous natural beauties ever seen in my life.

I was lucky to be at Seven Rila Lakes on a sunny day with perfectly pleasant weather.

Maggie and Jin on top of the Seven Rila Lakes

Lucky that I am healthy and young so I could hike without a problem.
I would definitely come back and take different route.