The Seven Rila Lakes & Rila Monastery

Excellent tour seeing beautiful sites and scenery - highlight in Sofia. Our guide, Megi, was very helpful! Tour requires moderate hiking ability - we walked around 15k steps, sometimes quite steep.

What an absolutely perfect way to spend the day!. We booked the guided option which I would absolutely recommend. We started at the monastery which is breathtaking. Radi our guide explained its history as well as describing many of the frescoes. The inside of the church is simply breathtaking. We proceeded to the Seven Lakes and had a wonderful hike, again with Radi explaining about the scenery and the lakes. We would highly recommend this tour and opt for the guided option.

The hiking and the monastery were worth it and I do not regret the experience. I am leaving a mix review here, because I paid for the guide and did feel like it was not worth it. She was nice, but I did not feel that this added a lot to my experience and in the end.

Both the Seven Lakes and the monastery were amazing. The views along the hiking trail were unbelievable. Megi, our guide, kept a good and moderate pace throughout and stopped to explain the landscape around us. She was very professional and friendly, answered all our questions, and gave us all the information we needed.

Gorgeous day. The tour went smoothly. Guide spoke good English and communicated clearly. The pace was good and we had enough time for the sights at the Seven Lakes (only had time for 5) and the monastery.

Truly a low-level organization, the places are naturally beautiful but otherwise: 60 euros not justifiable!

Was a good driver + good tour guide magi , they were awesome 10/10 , the tours attractions was way more better than what I thought

Before booking we knew we wanted a combined Rila Lakes Hiking and Monastery tour but we had a hard time deciding over this 5-hour hiking tour or a 6-hour hiking tour from a different operator, as there wasn’t enough info online about the trails themselves. We ended up taking this one with a 5-hour hike after reading the reviews of both tours especially there was a review by one traveler mentioning that in the 6-hour hiking tour he finished his hike more than an hour early and had nothing else to do around the base station but to spend the rest of the time waiting for the entire group to finish their hike. 
 The tour left the meeting point at 6:33am and immediately the guide started verbally unloading the entire schedule of the day with exact time so that we would adhere or risk losing our bus to the monastery. The guide mentioned that we were to return to the cafe near the chairlift base station by 2:00pm but the bus would leave at 2:10pm in case people needed to use the bathroom. 
 We hopped onto the chairlift by 8:39am and arrived at the upper station at 9:06am. So, we just figured if we were able to get back to the upper station by 1:30pm which should be fine because AI said it would take about 4 hours (with stops) to finish the trek. 
 The path to Kidney Lake was decently kept and well defined. We were very good with the time as we hiked up directly to the lake and had a quick picnic enjoying the view. Shortly after we started the descent and arrived at Trefoil Lake by 12:02pm, which is about 3/5 of the way. 
 Then things were starting to go downhill (literally) from there. The descent was steep to get to Fish Lake, and it took longer because frequently the drops between steps were a foot or more. And the path from Fish Lake to the upper station was even worse as there was barely a path at times, or a few partially collapsed wood platforms which showed up here and there to cover slippery stone paths underneath them, as on most of the way we had to trek down over piles of slippery broken stones. In other words, that part of the trail had near-zero maintenance. We constantly needed to re-assess the path, adjust our steps, and make leaps and recalculations so that we didn’t make a bad step and injure ourselves. At one point the stone path was so slippery and awkward that my partner slipped and fell but luckily was not hurt. 
 Exhausted, we made it to the cafe near the base station a little past 2pm in the end but there was no one to be found. We quickly texted the guide at 2:08pm but the guide told us that we weren’t there at 2pm and the bus had left. As a saving grace, the guide did make a suggestion for us to get onto the tour bus of the 6-hour hiking tour which was waiting at the parking lot down from the base station. We paid extra fees to continue on to the monastery with a different company and needless to say it could have been worse when comparing to the alternatives of either having to take a taxi or a public bus back to Sofia. 
 In hindsight, it might have taken less time to complete the loop in the opposite direction (from Lower Lake to Kidney Lake) as ascending the rocky path would be probably less dangerous. However since everyone went from the upper station directly to Kidney Lake, we just followed. If we were to choose again, the 6-hour option would have definitely been more appropriate for us. Since the guide was so keen to keep with the schedule, our suggestion would be to send beforehand the entire itinerary with exact time and info about the trail conditions as part of the tour’s email confirmation so that people can make a more informed decision or alter their plan accordingly.

+2

The Rila lakes are extremely popular, especially on the weekends. The crowds were unimaginable. The chair lift process is a bit disorganized, the line-up took over an hour to clear. Wish the guides had a way to reserve lift tickets in advance. Nevertheless, the views up above by the lakes were totally worth the wait. We took a guide option and perhaps we should have opted out to a self-guided option as it the pace was a bit high. However, the guide was instrumental in reaching the sixth lake (and potentially the seventh) on time and getting back to the bus. The hike took about 3 hours and the length was about 8 km with the elevation gain of 400m. First, you climb a steep incline to the right of the chalet, then it is a walk on a fairly flat surface until you reach the last big incline to the sixth and seventh lakes. Overall, depending on your ambitions, you may want to spend longer up by the lakes depending on your overall fitness (unless you need to be on-time for the return bus!). There are some food and drinks on both sides of the chair lift. The chalet up top has a small restaurant with sitting outside. We got lucky with no rain as the chairs are open but sure do check the forecast so you come on a clear day. The monastery on the way back was a perfect icing on a cake and a relaxing stop after the mountain hike. Overall, this is probably the best tour we took from Sofia. Very long day but totally worth it.

Breathtaking view of the Rila lakes after a peaceful chairlift climb of 25 minutes. Air is fresh and crisp up the mountains. The architecture and painting in Rila Monastery are also beautiful. The guide, Megi, is professional and helpful.