Peak Kupena 2025

Pictures from our hike from Aleko hut to peak Golyam Kupen and back along the same track on a very hot July day.

The stony slopes of peaks Golyam and Maluk Rezen 

Hike info:

Date: 04 July 2025 

Destination: Kupena hut

Mountain: Vitosha

Total length: 13.5 km

Elevation gain: 210 m

Total duration (plus picnic and rests): 4 and a half hours

Average difficulty: 4 / 10

Peak Golyam Kupen

Not the most pleasant of peaks of climb - a pile of gigantic ragged stones, actually

Finally on the peak, where we had our exquisitely delicious and still cold beer

Me-made items, worn on this hike:

Husband: boxers, Burda T-shirt

I: lingerie, Burda jeans pants

Views from the peak

Hut Kupena, at the foot of the peak, where we filled our bottle of water

Globe flowers, the emblematic flower of Vitosha

Peak Kupena from afar

Glimpse towards Sofia from the trail

Back at Aleko hut

A young doe in the forest

Aleko - Kupena Hut 2023

This week we chose an easy trail in the upper parts of Vitosha, from Aleko hut to Kupena hut and back, along the high altitude circuit track. The timing was just perfect for the various flowers on Vitosha, especially the endemic yellow globeflower (Vitoshko lale), the mountain lilium, the wild orchids and many others.

The day was hot and sunny and the trail was packed, like never before!

Hike info:

Destination: Kupena hut

Mountain: Vitosha

Total length: 13 km

Elevation gain: 210 m

Total duration (plus picnic and rests): 4 hours

Average difficulty: 4 / 10

:The steep slopes of Golyam Rezen

 

Me-made items, worn on this hike:

Husband: boxers, Knipmode cargo pants

I: lingerie, Love Notion's Tunic, Love Notion's leggings, hoodie in the backpack

:Tollius europaeus (витошко лале) - protected species

 

:Peak Golyam Kupen (1942 m)

:Kupena Hut (officially named after prof. Ivan Staykov, but nobody calls it that). We had our rest and picnic here, at the foot of Golyam Kupen. Unlike our previous hikes to the hut, we decided to skip climbing the peak - mostly because there isn't really a trail to it and climbing and then getting down involves maneuvering piles of big rugged stones, which isn't that much fun the third time.

:Mountain lilium

:And back to Aleko

Peak Golyam Kupen 2022

Long time no see :) 

We were busy with some repair works at home, then I hurt my back badly and spent more than two weeks mostly sitting in a reclining chair and trying to find the least hurting position :( I haven't sewn for more than a month now and I itch to go back to my creative hobbies. 

This Saturday I felt sufficiently recovered to go on a fairly easy hike in the higher altitude parts of Vitosha. We walked the trail from Aleko Hut to peak Golyam Kupen and back and even if we had planned it, we couldn't have chosen a more perfect timing for hiking in this part of the mountain - all of the late spring / early summer flowers were in bloom and the mountain was a garden.

:The slopes of the two "Slices" - peak Golyam Rezen and peak Malak Rezen with some patches of snow still melting

:Mountain lilium

Hike info:

Destination: peak Golyam Kupen (1930 m)

Mountain: Vitosha

Total length: 12.4 km

Elevation gain: 200 m

Total duration (plus picnic and rests): 4 hours

Average difficulty: 4 / 10

 

Me-made items, worn on this hike:

Husband: boxers, Knipmode cargo pants

I: lingerie, Burda t-shirt, Sabrina Slims, hoodie in the backpack

 

:Aquilegia aurea (златиста кандилка), a Balkan endemism, protected species

 

:On peak Golyam Kupen (1930 m)

:We had our picnic right at the foot of the peak