Aleko - Kupena Hut 2026

Just a day after we returned from our sea holiday in Greece, husband and i are back in the mountain, in search of the last ripe raspberries.

For our early September hike we chose the trail along the high altitude circuit, between Aleko Hut and Kupena hut. The trail is fairly easy and popular, but on work day at the end of the summer holidays it was almost completely empty - e met only a couple of tourists in both directions.

Although the trail runs mostly in the open, above the pine tree line, and the day was mostly sunny, it was not hot and at times the breeze from the mountain was actually chilly - 2000 m altitude is never to be underestimated :)

Hike info:

Date: 04 September 2026

Destination: Kupena hut

Mountain: Vitosha

Total length: 13 km

Elevation gain: 210 m

Total duration (plus picnic and berry picking): 6 and a half hours

Average difficulty: 4 / 10

Apart from enjoying a nice mountain hike, we had planned to pick some wild raspberries for a few jars of home-made jam, so on the way to the hut we looked around and inspected the bushes. The ones near Aleko hut were long picked and gone, but further away in the mountain there were still plenty to be had.

Me-made items, worn on this hike:

Husband: boxers, Burda cargo pants, Burda T-shirt, Burda grey hoodie

I: lingerie, Burda color jeans, Shkatulka top

We had our rest and picnic at the foot of peak Golyam Kupen at Kupena Hut (officially named after prof. Ivan Staykov, but nobody calls it that). Unlike our previous hikes to the hut, we decided to skip climbing the peak - the hut was completely empty and the meadow in front of it provided perfect picnic views and amenities. We had our tortillas and beer, followed by home-made muffins, filled with raspberry jam from our previous hike and spiced with baked fig leaves, brought from our Greek vacation.

Peak Golyam Kupen (1942 m) 

We found a big patch of raspberry bushes near the hut and stopped here for almost two full hours, to fill a couple of plastic boxes with wild raspberries. The berries were a bit on the smaller size and somewhat overripe, so it wasn't the best harvest, but good enough for a bunch of jars of jam, which I'm sure we'll enjoy in the cold months to come.

After getting tired of picking the tiny berries, we started on the way back along the same trail, picking a berry or two on the way for a couple of wild berry pies, mostly raspberries and blueberries, with few  cranberries for good measure.

A noisy spotted nutcracker (сокерица) near Aleko Hut

The first of the wild berry pies and our yield of raspberry jam - almost 10 average size jars :)

Bistritza - Aleko 2026

This Friday husband and I decided to repeat a hike we did last year, from the village of Bistritza to Aleko hut and back along an alternative trail. Last year we came upon raspberry shrubs, heavy with ripe fruit and ended picking up some raspberries for a few jars of home-made jam. The raspberry harvest then was accidental, this time we were prepared - but others had beat us to the berries.

The path from Bistritza to Aleko, following the Bistritza River, climbs gradually from the village into the dense forests of Vitosha.

The route is scenic and shady, with several wooden bridges and resting spots as you make the steady gain in elevation up toward the high mountain area.

Hike info:

Date:  21 August 2026

Destination: Aleko Hut, round trail

Mountain: Vitosha

Total length: 17 km

Elevation gain: 790 m

Total duration (plus picnic and rests): 8 hours, with raspberry picking

Average difficulty: 6 / 10 

Although the raspberry shrubs had been heavily trodden upon and picked before us, we spent almost three hours slowly climbing, eating and gathering ripe berries, with a short power snack rest in between. 

Me-made items, worn on this hike:

Husband: boxer shorts, Burda cargo pants

I: lingerie, Burda color jeans, Shkatulka top

Finally, almost five hours later, we were near Aleko hut.

We decided to pass by Aleko hut and have our lunch slightly above. We've stopped by the hut many times, but on such a hot and sunny day we preferred to find a shade in the trees, with a clear panoramic view to Sofia value, so we climbed up a bit along the "Wall" and had our tortillas and well deserved beers (it was 15:00 o'clock already) on a nice spot with a deep shadow, cast by a big pine tree.

A stone monument of Pavel Romanski, a young pioneer skier who tragically perished in a blizzard on Vitosha in 1931. Sculpted by Ivan Funev, the full-length statue of Romanski, holding his skis, served as an impetus for the creation of Bulgaria’s Mountain Rescue Service. 

We descended along the trail by the Yanchovska River, which is a peaceful alternative back to the village, passing near the edge of the Bistrishko Branishte biosphere reserve.

The trail winds through deep coniferous and beech woods alongside the rushing stream and under the soft light of the late afternoon sun I think I liked it even better than the more popular Bistritza river trail.

The trail leads back to the lower outskirts of Bistritza and connects with the low altitude Vitosha circuit. The final stretch of the hike was along the level track between Bistritza and Simeonovo - such a relief for the tired legs. 

And the sweet reward for our efforts - a dozen of jars of heavenly aromatic raspberry jam and what could go better with my Duolingo lessons this morning, but coffee and pancake with raspberry jam.

Bistritza Aleko 2025

I've been so berried in work and engagements lately, that I have time neither for my hobbies nor for blogging. Gaby was visiting us, then her boyfriend joined us and we had some wonderful time together. Meanwhile husband and I have been using every possibility to hike in the mountains, as summer is so short and before we know it, it will be over. I don't want to leave blanks in my diary blog, so here is a short recap of our previous hike.

Last Friday husband and I decided to do a repeat of a route we designed two years ago - from the village of Bistritza to Aleko hut along the Bistritza river and then back to Bistritza along the Yanchovska river. Both trails run through the Bistrishko banishte preserved area.

The trails are picturesque and fairly easy, despite the significant altitude gain.

The major impediment to our progress were actually not the rivers, the steepness or the insects, but the ripe raspberries :) They were really plentiful,extra big and super ripe and sweet. We ate, until we had stomach pains and then we decided to collect some, filling our lunch boxes with soft berries.

Hike info:

Date:  15 August 2025

Destination: Aleko Hut, round trail

Mountain: Vitosha

Total length: 16 km

Elevation gain: 740 m

Total duration (plus picnic and rests): 5 and a half hours with raspberry picking and eating

Average difficulty: 5 / 10 

The day was a bit cloudy, with some chillness at Aleko hut.

We had our lunch at the hut - tortillas and the hit of the summer - cinnamon cookies.

On the way back we continued to fill the lunch boxes with raspberries, until we got fed up with eating and picking. The trail along Yanchovska river is probably a bit steeper, but very scenic and beautiful, I liked it a lot.

Me-made items, worn on this hike:

Husband: boxer shorts, Burda blouse, Burda hoodie

I: lingerie, Love Notions LDT tunic, Love Notions joggings

As we got home, we decided to make raspberry jam with the berries we had gathered and for our efforts we got four and a half jars of very delicious jam - probably the best I've made so far our of raspberries. The quality of the fruit does matter and these were really superb berries. If we decide to hike there next year, we'll probably should eat less and gather more :)

On Cherni Vruh For Raspberries

I've been so busy with work lately that i simply don't have any time for the blog. Still, I would hate it, if I miss blogging about our hikes or things I've made, so just a quick overview of the hike husband and I had at the end of August on Cherni vruh. We chose Cherni vruh again, as Vitosha is close to home, we had then Gaby and her boyfriend at home and we wanted to be back soon for a family dinner. Aditionally and as a bonus from our hike - we hoped to find the wild raspberry bushes around Cherni vruh ripe with fruit, so that we could have some and even pick a bunch for a few jars of wild raspberry jam. And - yeah, spoiler alert - we did all of that :)

:We started very early in the morning and around 9 AM we were at Aleko, an hour later - on Cherni vruh. To our amazement it turned out that we had chosen to climb Cherni vruh during the annual celebration of the organized tourist movement in Bulgaria, which is honoured by a mass climbing of Vitosha's summit. Luckily, we were early enough and managed to escape the crowds along the trail.

:From Cherni vruh we took the rarely frequented trail down towards the eastern part of the mountain

Hike info:

Destination: Mt. Cherni Vruh (2295 m)

Mountain: Vitosha

Total length: 12 km

Elevation gain: 500 m

Total duration (plus picnic and rests): 6 hours

Average difficulty: 4 / 10

Me-made items, worn on this hike:

Husband: boxers, Knipmode cargo pants

I: lingerie, Sabrina Slims, Burda T-shirt, hoodie

:The raspberries were ripe, though small and not so juicy as some other wild raspberries we have found during our hikes. Still, we gathered about 1.6 kg of them and made almost a dozen small jars of jam.

:After we got bored with eating and gathering raspberries, we took the high altitude circuit trail back to Aleko. The hike took us about 6 hours, but at lest 2 of them were berry picking and eating.