Lakatnik 2025

Last Friday we had our 5th in a row  March hike on the Lakatnik rocks. Lakatnik is a village with a train station in the gorge of the Iskar river, popular for its beautiful limestone rocks, carved by the mighty river on its way to the Danube.

The day was amazingly hot for early March, it was a workday and the place was almost empty - ideal for a peaceful and relaxed hike.

Hike info:

Date: 07 March 2025

Destination: Lakatnik Eco Trail

Mountain: the Balkans

Total length: 9.6 km

Elevation gain: 300 m

Total duration (plus rest): 3 h

Average difficulty: 3 / 10

Our visit to Lakatnik was a week or two earlier than usual, so the trees were still not in bloom, but some of the spring flowers were in abundance.

We climbed gradually up the trail to the plateau on top of the rocks, soaking up the view from above towards the picturesque gorge of the river

As usual, the dogwood trees are the first to come to blossom.

"Our" picnic spot - every year we have our lunch on this tiny piece of flat rock, overlooking the river and the mountains across.

The mountaineers' memorial

"Temnata dupka" cave - this time we were in a hurry to catch the train, so we only went near the entrance, without going further into the cave.

The rocks of Lakatnik this year had a big 40 m long martenitza, hanging from above - a temporary adornment, celebrating Baba Marta and the coming of spring, which I found quite nice.