Pirin National Park

Spread over an area of over 27,000 ha, at an altitude between 1008 and 2914 m in the Pirin Mountains, southwest Bulgaria, the site comprises diverse limestone mountain landscapes with glacial lakes, waterfalls, caves and predominantly coniferous forests. It was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1983. The extension now covers an area of around 40,000 ha in the Pirin Mountains, and overlaps with the Pirin National Park, except for two areas developed for tourism (skiing). The dominant part of the extension is high mountain territory over 2000 m in altitude, and covered mostly by alpine meadows, rocky screes and summits.

The Pirin National Park is famous for its plant diversity and is considered one of the most interesting places in the country from a botanical point of view. On its territory there are almost 1,300 plant species and the most interesting of them all is the edelweiss, which is the symbol of the Bulgarian Tourism Union.

Pirin is the home of a great number of endangered and rare animal species, on its territory there are 160 bird and 45 mammal species – more than 50% of all terrestrial mammals found in Bulgaria.