Rila Altitude Camp · Borovets · Rila Mountains · 42.26° N
A seven-day fitness camp launching in spring/summer 2027, based in Borovets at about 1,350 metres on the northern slopes of the Rila range. Coached conditioning in the mornings, mountain adventure in the afternoons, and a summit day on Musala, the highest peak in the Balkans.
Borovets sits at about 1,350 metres, and the week's sessions climb from there to nearly 3,000. The body starts responding to thinner air from around 1,000 metres, and the effects get much stronger above 2,000, so you'll feel the difference on every climb and learn to pace yourself in it. Bulgaria's own national teams train in this range too, at the state high-mountain sports complex at Belmeken (about 2,050 m), on the far side of the Musala massif.
You sleep at 1,350 m and take sessions progressively higher through the week: forest tempo runs first, then hikes above 2,000 m, finishing on the highest summit in the Balkans.
Coached strength and conditioning, hill running, trail intervals and mobility each morning, scaled to your fitness, with heart-rate guidance for working in thinner air.
The second session each day is disguised as fun: bike-park laps, e-bike climbs, quad and buggy safaris. You're still training. Your legs just won't file a complaint until dinner.
Easy days, stretching and mobility, sauna and massage at the resort's hotel spas, plus an optional trip to the hot mineral pools at Sapareva Banya on rest day.
A week won't change your blood. The red-cell gains endurance athletes go to altitude for take around four weeks living at 2,000–2,500 metres. What a week here gives you is hard, varied mountain training and a real feel for working in thinner air.
Source: R. L. Wilber, “Application of altitude/hypoxic training by elite athletes”, Journal of Human Sport & Exercise.
Altitude affects everyone differently. Sessions are intensity-scaled, arrival days are kept easy for acclimatisation, and guides monitor the group throughout. Speak to your doctor before booking if you have a heart, lung or blood-pressure condition.
Here's the camp menu. Guided walks and hikes are included; lift-served riding and motorised activities are add-ons run with local operators.
Waymarked pine-forest paths straight from the resort for recovery walks and tempo runs, including the walk out to Sitnyakovo, a former royal hunting lodge. This is where the week starts and where sore legs come to loosen up.
The highest peak in Bulgaria and the Balkans. Gondola up to Yastrebets, then a trail past the Musala lakes to the summit weather station: 5–6 hours' walking there and back. The week's crown: earned, not given.
Guided rides on hired e-bikes along forest roads and trails around the resort: big elevation, huge views, adjustable effort. The smartest way to log altitude volume without wrecking tomorrow's session.
Around 15 marked trails (20+ km) off the Sitnyakovo Express chairlift, from an easy family trail to the 2.4 km "Scary Movie" downhill, which hosts the UCI-ranked Borovets Open Cup.
Guide-led quad and buggy convoys on forest tracks around the resort, with helmets and a safety briefing. Pure grin-per-minute value on your lighter days.
The most visited group of lakes in Bulgaria: seven glacial lakes stacked one above another in a cirque in the north-west Rila, linked by a high loop. Detailed below, because it deserves its own section.
Forest horseback rides, intro climbing at Malyovitsa (the cradle of Bulgarian alpinism), kayaking or paddleboarding on Iskar Reservoir and the hot mineral pools at Sapareva Banya: the classic rest-day menu around Borovets.
Mid-week, we swap the bike park for Bulgaria's most visited lakes: a staircase of seven glacial lakes in a cirque in the north-west Rila, each named for its most characteristic feature. A chairlift takes care of the first climb; from there it's a high loop between about 2,100 and 2,500 metres with the range laid out below. Moderate pace, big oxygen debt, unforgettable photographs.
About 9 km and 4–5 hours including stops, with roughly 500 m of climbing. The trailhead is about an hour and a quarter's drive from Borovets via Samokov and Sapareva Banya, and a chairlift lifts you from Pionerska hut (about 1,520 m) to Rila Lakes hut (about 2,150 m). We run it as a guided group with an early start to beat the crowds and the afternoon storms.
Mornings are coached conditioning; afternoons are the fun stuff. The week climbs deliberately: easy arrival, build, peak, recover. This is a summer week: the gondola, bike park and Seven Lakes chairlift run from late June, and the high routes can hold snow before then, so spring weeks will have a different mix. Days may move around for weather and lift timetables.
Sofia transfer, camp brief, easy forest walk, mobility session and welcome dinner.
1 350 mMorning fitness testing and strength circuit; afternoon e-bike tour on forest roads.
→ 1 800 mTrail-running intervals, then lift-served laps in Borovets Bike Park with coaching for new riders.
→ 1 790 mFull-day guided circuit of the lakes, the week's endurance centrepiece.
2 095–2 535 mEasy walk, stretching, massage, a buggy safari or the Sapareva Banya hot pools. Your call.
1 350 mMorning gym and hill sprints; afternoon quad or buggy safari on the forest tracks.
1 350 m +Gondola to Yastrebets, then the trail to the highest point in the Balkans. Celebration dinner.
2 925 mThree ways to do the week. All include coached morning sessions, guided hikes, breakfast and dinner, and transfers from Sofia Airport.
Sign up for news to hear first when prices and booking are announced. Quad and buggy safaris are run by local operators with helmets and a safety briefing; minimum driver ages apply (typically 16+). Lift-served activities depend on the resort's summer lift timetable.
Rila Altitude Camp launches in spring/summer 2027. Join the launch list and we'll email you before anyone else hears.
Sofia Airport (SOF) has direct flights from many European cities. Borovets is about 70 km away by road, roughly 75–90 minutes by transfer.
Borovets is Bulgaria's oldest mountain resort, founded in 1896 as Chamkoria. It sits in pine forest at about 1,350 m at the foot of the Musala massif, about 10 km north of the summit, with restaurants, shops, ATMs and hotels in the resort. Samokov, about 10 km down the valley, has the full range of services.
Cool, fresh mountain summers, with average highs of about 20–22 °C in the resort and much cooler air on the summits. Afternoon cloud and thunderstorms often build at altitude, so high days start early and we always carry layers.
Browse hotels and chalets and restaurants on the borovets.eu resort map.
Anyone with a base level of fitness who wants a training holiday that doesn't feel like punishment. Sessions scale from ambitious beginner to competitive athlete.