The best time for winter holidays and skiing in Bulgaria begins early in December and continues to mid-April.In the Pirin, Rila, Stara Planina , Rhodope, Sredna Gora, Ossogovo and Vitosha mountains there are a host of rest homes, hotels, challets, sanatoria and winter sports facilities.The Bulgarian Hiking Union alone has 230 chalets and huts, shelters and dormatories with a total of 17 000 beds.

The Bulgarian mountains are noted for their solubrious climate.The zones between 1000 and 2000 metres above sea level are well suited to hiking and tourism in summer and winter alike, when the ridges and the alpine pastures are covered by thick snow.

The resort of Borovets lies at the northern foot of Mount Moussala in the Rila Mountains, at a height of 1300 m, only 73 km from Sofia /the capital of Bulgaria/. There are four lifts and tows, a ski-jumping track and tracks for cross-country and giant-slalom skiing. A seat lift takes hikers and skiers to the Sitnyakovski Cliff. Borovets is the best place to start from if you want to climb mount Moussala. Some 95 km from the bulgarian capital in a scenic valley, up in the Rila Mountainslies lies the Malyovitsa Alpine Station. Three lifts leed to the ski tracks. There is a school of Mountaineering and Spelunking, where hundreds of young mountain lovers are taught the difficult skills of mountain scaling. Nearby there is a base for tourism, above which rises Malyovitsa Peak /2729 m/.

At 1810 m height on Mount Vitosha near Sofia a resort bearing the same name has been set up.It lies 23 km from Sofia. Lifts and ski-tows take winter tourists up the ski slopes.Every year competitions are held in various ski events. The highest peak Cherni Vruh /2280 m/ is easily accessible.Here is a picture of Mount Vitosha:

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