Bulgaria 
In numbers.
Apr–Jul
Best months
1,160m
Elevation
The water at Aleko's waterfalls, month by month
It roars from March to June.
The fullest months: from March to June. Below −4 °C on average (January): the falls can partly freeze.
- 53%Jan
- 65%Feb
- 90%Mar
- 98%Apr
- 100%May
- 89%Jun
- 66%Jul
- 49%Aug
- 47%Sep
- 54%Oct
- 45%Nov
- 34%Dec
Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: from April to July.
Estimate from rain, snowmelt and evaporation month by month (NASA POWER, 1991–2020) around the falls. Dams upstream can change the real flow.
Waterfall in Vitosha, Bulgaria
Aleko's waterfalls is a waterfall in Bulgaria. It lies within Vitosha nature park.
Getting there.
- Sofianearest town · 9.6 km in a straight line
- Parking 860 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Sofia Airport (SOF)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 13 km in a straight lineCar hire at SOF airport (Sofia)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From April to Julybest months to go (estimate)
Plan your visit
Stay, explore and get there
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
Seen from the sky.
8 × 8 km of cloud-free satellite image, with what OpenStreetMap knows around the falls.
N
2 km
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 8 × 8 km, north up. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.
The line follows the river as mapped in OpenStreetMap; heights from the 30 m Copernicus model, which smooths narrow drops — the published height of the falls is the one above.
Around the falls the river drops 699 m in 3.2 km. Here the river runs about 77 m below the lower rim of its valley.
What is around.
- 3viewpoints
- 5waymarked walking routesСимеоново - Алеко, Европейски пешеходен маршрут Е4, България, Витоша 100 and 2 more
- 9car parks
- —swimming spots
- 13picnic sites
- —toilets
- 5information boards and visitor centres
- 2bus stops within 1 km
- 1other named waterfalls within 4 kmГорен Алеков водопад
- —caves
- —campsites
- 90hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 kmх.Северина, Crowne Plaza Sofia, Mercure and 87 more
- 23restaurants and cafés within 3 km
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, up to 2 km around the falls (unless noted). A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet. © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
Towns nearby
- Sofia9.6 km in a straight line
- Lozen13 km in a straight line
- Chepintsi19 km in a straight line
- Chelopechene19 km in a straight line
- Negovan19 km in a straight line
- Bozhurishte19 km in a straight line
- Svetovrachane20 km in a straight line
- Pernik23 km in a straight line
Weather
The weather, month by month.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon °C | 0 | 2 | 7 | 12 | 18 | 22 | 25 | 26 | 20 | 14 | 8 | 1 |
| Night °C | -8 | -7 | -3 | 1 | 6 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 8 | 3 | -2 | -7 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 51 | 45 | 57 | 57 | 80 | 85 | 68 | 58 | 54 | 57 | 42 | 50 |
| Wet days | 10 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 16 | 14 | 11 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 11 |
| Sun h/day | 3.4 | 4.3 | 5.0 | 6.1 | 6.9 | 8.3 | 9.3 | 8.9 | 6.7 | 5.2 | 3.7 | 2.8 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 17 | 16 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 15 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (1,160 m) at −6.5 °C per 1,000 m. Not a forecast.
Photos
Through visitors' eyes.
Recent years
Wet years and dry years
Rain of each month as a share of the 1991–2020 average. A wet season above 100 % usually means a fuller waterfall.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 50% | 198% | 183% | 94% | 84% | 94% | 110% | 154% | 61% | 129% | 32% | 115% |
| 2021 | 316% | 96% | 129% | 115% | 78% | 88% | 71% | 81% | 48% | 177% | 82% | 550% |
| 2022 | 65% | 114% | 45% | 113% | 63% | 141% | 115% | 157% | 126% | 37% | 128% | 90% |
| 2023 | 150% | 71% | 89% | 157% | 111% | 172% | 51% | 58% | 72% | 26% | 301% | 100% |
| 2024 | 167% | 54% | 102% | 81% | 156% | 72% | 38% | 57% | 110% | 54% | 138% | 153% |
| 2025 | 32% | 131% | 104% | 129% | 114% | 24% | 33% | 83% | 48% | 231% | 277% | 66% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
Aleko's waterfalls
Bulgaria
- —Height
- —Average flow
- Apr–JulBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q101251388) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Climate | NASA POWER, 1991–2020 |
| Relief, river profile, 3D model | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| Paths, viewpoints, parking | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
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