The monastery, founded in the 10th century by St Ivan of Rila and a UNESCO World Heritage site, is famous for its striped arcades and its church covered in colourful frescoes. Behind its high outer walls, several storeys of wooden galleries surround a wide cobbled courtyard, where the main church stands beside the stone Hrelyo's Tower, the oldest surviving building of the complex. Take time to look up: the porches and domes are painted with saints and biblical scenes.
Higher up, the Seven Rila Lakes lie one above the other in glacial cirques and are reached by chairlift and marked trails. Each lake has its own name, such as the Kidney, the Eye and the Tear, and the path between them opens up wide views over the bare ridges of the range. Experienced hikers can also climb Musala, usually starting from the mountain resort of Borovets.
Rila is part of our East Balkans: Albania to Romania in 14 Days tour, which visits the Seven Rila Lakes on the same day as the capital, Sofia. It also makes a rewarding detour for travellers who want to add mountain scenery and one of the Balkans' most important monasteries to a city break.
Rila can be visited as a long day trip from Sofia; bring warm layers, as the mountain air is cool even in summer. The high trails to the lakes are usually free of snow only from early summer to early autumn, while the monastery can be visited all year. Modest clothing is expected inside the monastery church.
Gallery photos: Pudelek (Marcin Szala) (CC BY-SA 3.0), Mark Ahsmann (CC BY-SA 4.0), Pudelek (Marcin Szala) (CC BY-SA 3.0), Sepitropova (CC BY-SA 4.0), Tsvetomira Zaharieva (CC BY-SA 4.0), Randona.bg (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Wikimedia Commons
