The Seven Rila Lakes

LakesRila,Bulgaria

Seven lakes in Bulgaria's Rila mountains named for their shapes — a Tear, an Eye, a Kidney — stepping down one cirque and seen together from above.

September·Edge of season

Sep–Oct

September and early October bring crisp, stable air and the first autumn tints across the meadows as the day-hikers thin out. The lift closes for about two weeks of maintenance in October, and the season ends as the snow returns.

Year-round Seven glacial lakes step down a single granite bowl carved by ice, between 2,095 and 2,535 m. They freeze and vanish under snow through winter, and lie mirror-still on calm summer days. The Panichishte chairlift climbs toward them year-round, weather permitting.

The seven lakes that step down one bowl in the Rila mountains of southwest Bulgaria are each named for a shape. The Tear is the highest and the clearest, then come the Eye, the Kidney, the Twin, the Trefoil, the Fish and the Lower Lake, in a bowl the ice scooped out between about 2,100 and 2,500 metres. None of them shows until you have finished the climb. The steep path toward Haramiyata peak keeps the basin hidden until you crest the ridge, and then all seven stand one above the next. From up there they read as a puzzle drawn on the mountain: the round Eye, the bent Kidney, the paired Twin, the clover-lobed Trefoil. Picking each one out by its shape is half of what you climbed for. Between the lakes the valley floor opens into gentle alpine meadow, grazed in places and laced with purple, yellow and white flowers in high summer. The soft linking paths down there are the easy half of the day. Above them the walls of Haramiyata close the basin, loose grey scree and old snow gullies rising straight off the green shelves the lakes sit on. At any shoreline the water hardly seems to be there: every stone and ledge shows, down and down, until the deeper part goes cold dark blue. Each August the basin fills up with people for a different reason. Thousands camp by the Kidney and form circles on the grass in white clothes at sunrise. The dance is the Paneurhythmy, a slow round set to music by the Bulgarian teacher Peter Deunov in 1929 and meant to bring the dancers into step with the mountain. One of the seven breaks the pattern. The Fish Lake is the shallowest, barely two and a half metres, and it is named not for its shape but for the trout you watch cruising its floor. Fishing is banned across the basin, so nothing has bothered them for a long time.

Worth knowing

Good to know

Come between late June and early October — outside that window the ridge trail holds snow and needs winter gear, though the Panichishte chairlift keeps running through the winter.
Ride the first chairlift up in July and August — midday queues at Panichishte can run over an hour, and the ridge fills with day-hikers by late morning.
Mountain weather turns in hours at this altitude — carry layers, rain gear and sun protection, allow a full day for the loop, and start early to beat afternoon storms.
The lift shuts for maintenance — Panichishte closes on the last Monday of every month and for a longer spell in spring, so check the operator's calendar before you build a walk around it.
Fishing is banned across all seven lakes — they sit inside the national park, so stay on the marked trails and leave the fragile alpine shorelines untouched.

Things to do

1
Climb the ridge for all seven at once
The lakes stay out of sight until you haul up the steep path toward Haramiyata peak and crest the ridge. Then the whole basin drops away beneath you and all seven appear together, stepped down the mountain from the Tear to the Lower Lake. From here they read like a puzzle drawn on the rock: the round Eye, the curving Kidney, the paired Twin, the clover-lobed Trefoil. Picking each one out by its shape is half the reward of the climb.
2
Trace the bottom through the clear water
Kneel at a shoreline where the tarns run so clear the water barely seems to be there. In the shallows you can follow every stone and ledge down into the depths, the glacial melt tinting the deeper water a cold, dark blue.
3
Walk beneath the Haramiyata crags
Follow the trail under the sharp rock walls of Haramiyata and the peaks ringing the basin. Up close the cirque shows its scale — loose grey scree and old snow gullies rising straight from the green shelves where the lakes lie.
4
Cross the flowering summer meadows
Between the lakes the valley floor opens into gentle alpine meadow, grazed in places and laced with wildflowers in high summer. The soft linking paths here are the easy counterpoint to the steep haul up to the ridge.

Watch

Nearby

166 km