Cherni Vrah, Vitosha
- Range
- Vitosha
- High point
- 2290 m
- Time
- 2–3 h return
- Season
- all year
Profile is a rough sketch from hut and summit heights, not survey data.
Cherni Vrah is Sofia's house mountain: you can leave the city centre after breakfast and be on the top before noon. The standard start is Aleko hut at about 1,810 m, and from there it is little more than an hour up a wide, well-marked path.
The summit plateau is a boggy, bouldery tableland with a weather station that also serves tea and bean soup, which is a bigger attraction in January than it sounds. In winter the route is marked with tall poles, and in fog you will need every one of them.
It is an easy walk, but the plateau is very exposed. Wind and whiteouts arrive quickly, and most of Vitosha's rescue call-outs are people in city clothes a few hundred metres from the path.