So – I fancy a budget bike adventure somewhere slightly warmer than the UK, and have wanted to explore more of eastern Europe for a while. Direct flights to Sofia from Bristol are affordable and it’s an unexpectedly lovely-looking place.

But what’s the riding like?

Current plan is to head North from Sofia and ride through the Central Balkans for a few days. We’d be on bikepacking/light touring setups so full-on techy madness probably isn’t the order of the day.

Can’t really help you with biking, but have been there snowboarding recently and it is a beautiful country and wonderfully cheap. I was chatting to a friend at the weekend who’s been several times over many years for walking holidays and was equally enamoured with it. I’d love to explore the Pirin mountains on the bike and suspect the Balkans would be great too. Go for it.

If it’s anything like down in Pamporovo,it will be bloody steep.
Watch out on any road sections, the drivers like to press on,usually while overtaking round blind corners. Cheep food and drink, nice people, brutal architecture .It feels like you have gone in back in time, keep an eye out for Joe Cocker.

It’s a beautiful country and the people are extremely friendly too!

I have been biking there twice but only to the bike parks in Borovets and Pamporova with my DH bike. Also rode Vitosha mountain on the outskirts of Sofia, the lifts there are an experience you should try 😯
The first trip was with MTB Bulgaria, they also offer XC trips, maybe get in touch and ask Steve for a few pointers, he also offers minibus transfers so could maybe help with that too.

edit +1 on the driving

Yeah the plan is to stick to dirt as much as possible!

Any idea what conditions are likely to be at the end of March? I’m guessing there could be a fair bit of snow around still.

Yup,the snow can hang around for a while. As niqew suggested,get in touch with Steve at MTB Bulgaria,he was very helpful with riding info when my friend first went out.

A good friend of mine – Warren – moved to Bulgaria a few years ago and does some riding out there as well as having accommodation. He might be able to help.

Hotnitsa Velos on Facebook

Odyssey Gate webpage

Been skiing a few times , smoking is a national sport and they do it everywhere – non stop .

Stilltortoise, I managed to make contact with your friend. Seems like a lovely chap but he couldn’t give me much advice, beyond telling me that they all ride mountain bikes out there because the roads are so bad.

I’ve not managed to find much more about the riding there, but there are a couple of 4×4 routes on Wikiloc that look worth a go.

Great stuff. He and his wife are lovely people and I must confess I was just trying to shove some potential customers his way 🙂 They’re cyclists running holiday accommodation in Bulgaria rather than a cycle guiding firm. I do hope I can get out there myself one day.

Haha. We’re looking to do more of a multi-day tour, and be fairly self-sufficient, but he’s invited us for a beer – can’t sniff at that!