BULGARIA: ECO CAMPING BATAK REVIEWED

Margaret and Barry Williamson
June 2019
    
Open 1 April–30 September    
N 41.958612  E 24.154751
www.campingbatak.com/en  

There are 44 pictures of the campsite and the nearby restaurant on our MagBazPictures website

There are 36 pictures of the nearby town of Batak and cycling the Kartela Pass on our MagBazPictures website.

POSITION  The campsite is splendidly situated on the southern shore of Lake Batak in the western Rhodope mountains of Bulgaria near Tsigov Chark, 10 km from the small town of Batak. At an altitude of 1100 m (3,630 ft), it was pleasantly cool in June with temperatures in the 20s while the plains below reached the mid-30s Centigrade.

DIRECTIONS  From the A1 motorway (Sofia-Svilengrad), we took the exit for Pzardzik and drove south on rd 37 through Pzardzik and Pestera (30 km from A1). Both these towns have a Lidl supermarket with good parking. The road then narrows and climbs for 16 km up to Batak, where rd 376 turns right for 8 km to Tsigov Chark. Turn right again here for the final 2 km to the campsite, on the right.

FACILITIES  Christo Simeonov, who built, owns and manages the campsite, speaks fluent English, having worked in America and the UK. He welcomed us warmly, provided an information sheet (available in several languages) and lent us a detailed local map for walking and cycling. The site is terraced down to the lake, with tents by the shore, a level grassy area for tourers at the top, and some permanent vans in between. Each pitch is in reach of electricity and a drinking water tap. The free WiFi worked very well and there is a washing machine. The simple unisex toilets and showers were clean, with hot water, though there is no chemical toilet point (they are to be emptied down the normal WC). The external stone washing-up sinks are also very basic.

ACTIVITIES  Christo organises kayaking, cycling and hiking groups, especially at weekends and in high summer - more details on his website. We also saw local anglers fishing from the shore and young campers skinny-dipping in the lake.

DINING  The Ostrova (= Island) Restaurant, just 5 minutes' walk from the campsite along the beach, was open daily except Monday. We had a good meal here with a lovely view of the lake and island from its terrace or dining room. There are also a couple of café/bars in Tsigov Chark which we didn't try, as they were only open at the weekend.

BATAK TOWN  The central square (11 km from campsite) has an ATM next to a large café, as well as a history museum featuring the anti-Ottoman Uprising of April 1876, which began in this area. There is also an ethnographical museum and a café offering pizza and burgers (and better coffee). Young storks clappered their bills in a pair of untidy nests atop the large Orthodox Church, lovingly kept and open to visit, tended by a friendly woman of the parish. The older walled church of St Nedelya was also freely open. In its bare interior, information boards, bullet holes and cases of skulls and bones attest to the Turkish massacre of thousands of the local Orthodox Bulgarians, including the women and children who took refuge in the church in May 1876. Click here for more grizzly details, but not for the faint-hearted. 

OUR CYCLE RIDES

Batak and Batak Dam (total 52 km)  Rode the quiet road 376, rolling up and down into Batak (11 km) to get cash and coffee, then returned 4 km (uphill) to the right turn signed Batak Dam. A blissfully empty tarmac road then led us 12 km through woods and flowery meadows, with views of Lake Batak below on our left, to the dam, which we crossed. There were a few hotels and one small restaurant (mostly closed) before the road turned to dirt. Walkers might continue round the lake to the campsite but we balked at 14 km of extremely rutted track, churned into mud and deep puddles by the free-roaming horses and 4-wheel drive vehicles. We prefer cycling to pot-holing! Retracing our route, we returned on the bitumen to the main road – a good decision, as a heavy shower started and the dirt road would have become a stream. 

Kartela Pass and Batak (total 42 km)  Rd 376 towards Batak again, turning off right onto rd 37 after 7 km (opposite the left turn for the dam). A steady 10-km climb snaked up through shady forest to the pass, with one section of 9% gradient. Very little traffic, just an occasional logging truck or a car collecting water at the wayside springs. At the top of the col, Kartela Pass at 1720 m (5,160 ft), there is an army base, a logging truck depot, a restaurant/café (closed) and a shelter where we ate our packed lunch. The road then descends past another dammed lake to the town of Dospat, but we turned back for an exhilarating 10-km freewheel, then continued 4 km into Batak for coffee and to visit the churches described above. Returned to the campsite, we enjoyed a meal at the adjacent Ostrova Restaurant.

OUR COMMENTS

The position of the campsite is excellent, placed as it is on the edge of a lake in an area already popular with Bulgarians as a retreat from the heat of the plains. Wide level terraces have been made on the hillside between the road and the lake, although access to and from the road requires a short drive past the site to a place where it is possible to turn round. Exercise caution on approaching the site!

The facilities are adequate although quite basic, with a deliberate avoidance of concrete (!) and a concentration on building with wood and stone. The rationale for this is hidden behind the use of the word 'Eco-camping'.

The electrical wiring including the hook-ups on the pitches would not pass normal safety standards (see photographs), so care should be taken particularly in wet weather.

We had hoped for more cycling opportunities but the route round the lake proved impossible, due to the poor state of the unsurfaced section. Other roads require a long steep climb on the way out or back. In contrast, our next Bulgarian campsite, Sakar Hills in Biser, provided a base for 15 days of excellent cycling ranging through three countries (Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey) as well as rides well into the eastern Rhodope Mountains.