Who could have known that a skiing region would still be snow covered in Mid-April? Apparently everyone but me and two Spaniards, because we were the only ones hiking in Pirin National Park that day.

The trails were covered by snow and hard to find. It was quite a strenuous effort just getting to Vihren hut which normally would be the start pointing for a proper exploration of the park. And it took me 30min just figuring out where the trail actually started. On the upside it was a pleasure hiking in the snow covered landscape for myself.

I get Solivagant’s comment about the OUV of the site. If this is inscribed, every second mountain valley in Switzerland should be on the list. But well, it was a nice contrast to the sunny coast in Greece.

Getting There

Bansko is well connected by bus. As stated in my Philippi review you can also travel onwards to Kavala in Greece. The train connection sounds fantastic, but is very time consuming. Also the schedule didn’t work out for me. Bansko in general is fairly pleasurable as skiing resort towns go.

Getting In

To get into the National Park from Bansko you can take the cable car. It seems it also operates during summer months for hikers. You will be in the park, but in the ominous buffer zone due to the area being developed for skiing. From there you can hike on to the huts. Banderitsa is the first hut and Vihren the next one. Both are in the core zone as far as I could tell. From Vihren you have multiple options to hike on. Unless you arrive during snow season.

When to Go

If you want to hike, April is still too early. I would wait till May or June. Solivagant seems to imply that even June is too early.