Chepelare

Chepelare occupies a small valley at the heart of the Rodoppi Mountain. The beautiful Chepelare River passes through the pretty town. Chepelare is 222 kilometers away from Sofia and just 72 kilometers sought of Plovdiv. The Pamporovo resort is just 10 kilometers away. Chepelare is a beautiful mountain town and the nature that surrounds it – venerable fir trees, mountain springs green meadows (in the spring) and deep snow slopes in the winter makes it a place for complete and thorough relax. The longest ski run in Bulgaria is in Chepelare. The skiing infrastructure is basic, but very well maintained; a 2-chair lift with total length of 2471 m and capacity of 700 persons reaches the top of the mountain to Mechi Chal (Bear mountain) peak (1873 m), where the starting points of the ski runs is located, for just 17 minutes. A few smaller drag/towrope lifts are also in favour of the skiers. The ski runs are open from December usually through to April depending on the snow. The resort also offers a lighted piste for children and beginners right in the center of the town.
The runs vary in difficulty from black to green and are some of the longest in Bulgaria. There are a total of 11,400 meters of runs are three main ski tracks:
• Mechi Chal 1 is a black level run and is 3150 meters long and 50 meters wide with a total elevation change of 720 meters and is qualified to be used for international competitions.
• Mechi Chal 2 (Turisticheska) is a combination red/green run that is 5250 meters long and 25 meters wide with a total elevation change of 720 meters.
• The cross country track is 30 kilometers long located at an elevation of 1,282 meters above sea level.
• Also nearby is a 5 kilometer biathlon track.
A tourist would never feel bored because the resort also offers parallel slalom for skiers; ski competitions - Chepelare Cup, Orion Cup and others; ski schools; sledding competitions; outdoor winter carnivals.

The places of interest in Chepelare are:
St.Atanas Church; St. Virgin Mary Church and the Rojen Observatory. The observatory is about 15 km far from the resort, on the Mechi Chal peak. A regular transport the observatory is not available, but you can go up there walking for about 2 hours, hire a taxi, or ask the hotel owner to organise it for you.
The observatory is open for tourists visits and from there you can observe almost all of the Western Rhodopi mountain.

Lodging:
Many small privately owned hotels are available in Chepelare. During the winter the resort and the hotels are quite busy and a booking is required. Most of the hotels are 2 or 3 stars and you can see some of them in the left table of this page. Most of the hotels have restaurants where guests can order breakfast or dinner. Ski rentals are available at the hotels too.