Bulgaria 
In numbers.
15m
Height
0.28m³/s
Average flow
estimate
Apr–Jun
Nov
Best months
41kW
Water power
estimate
The water at Popinolashki waterfall, month by month
It roars from February to May.
The fullest months: from February to May.
- 0.4 m³/sJan
- 0.5 m³/sFeb
- 0.6 m³/sMar
- 0.6 m³/sApr
- 0.5 m³/sMay
- 0.4 m³/sJun
- 0.2 m³/sJul
- 0.1 m³/sAug
- 0.2 m³/sSep
- 0.3 m³/sOct
- 0.4 m³/sNov
- 0.4 m³/sDec
From about 0.10 m³/s in the lowest month to 0.64 m³/s in the highest. Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: from April to June and November.
Estimate: the timing comes from rain, snowmelt and evaporation (NASA POWER, 1991–2020); the amounts from the river model of HydroATLAS (WaterGAP, 1971–2000). Dams upstream can change the real flow.
Waterfall at Pirin mountain in Svetivrachko, Pirin Macedonia
Popinolashki waterfall is a waterfall in Bulgaria. The water falls 15 m.
Getting there.
- Polenitsanearest town · 14 km in a straight line
- Parking 270 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Sofia Airport (SOF)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 114 km in a straight lineCar hire at SOF airport (Sofia)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From April to June and Novemberbest 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.
How big is it?
How big it really is.
Height of the drop from Wikidata. Buildings and the person are drawn at the same scale.
41 kW
About 0.28 m³/s falling 15 m: the power of the water as it drops.
- enough to power about 10 homes, if it were all turned into electricity
Power of falling water = density × gravity × flow × height. Average flow and height as shown above; an estimate.
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 185 m in 2.0 km. Here the river runs about 190 m below the lower rim of its valley.
What is around.
- —viewpoints
- 3waymarked walking routesБанско - х. Яне Сандански, x. Демяница - x. Яне Сандански, За Спано поле
- 1car parks
- —swimming spots
- 2picnic sites
- —toilets
- —information boards and visitor centres
- —bus stops within 1 km
- —other named waterfalls within 4 km
- —caves
- 1campsitesWild camp
- 6hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 kmх. Беговица, х. Яне Сандански, з. Спано поле (Shelter Spano Pole) and 3 more
- 2restaurants 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
- Polenitsa14 km in a straight line
- Sandanski15 km in a straight line
- Strumyani17 km in a straight line
- Bansko20 km in a straight line
- Kresna21 km in a straight line
- Stara Kresna22 km in a straight line
- Razlog24 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 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 12 | 18 | 23 | 27 | 27 | 21 | 15 | 8 | 2 |
| Night °C | -7 | -5 | -2 | 2 | 7 | 12 | 14 | 14 | 10 | 4 | 0 | -5 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 52 | 44 | 55 | 55 | 64 | 66 | 46 | 42 | 50 | 57 | 50 | 64 |
| Wet days | 8 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 13 | 12 | 9 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 10 |
| Sun h/day | 3.6 | 4.7 | 5.5 | 6.5 | 7.8 | 9.3 | 10.5 | 9.8 | 7.4 | 5.8 | 4.2 | 3.4 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 14 | 12 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 12 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (1,230 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 | 31% | 95% | 214% | 134% | 71% | 76% | 57% | 209% | 53% | 84% | 15% | 147% |
| 2021 | 286% | 84% | 83% | 86% | 70% | 69% | 24% | 42% | 61% | 214% | 61% | 216% |
| 2022 | 62% | 96% | 51% | 85% | 55% | 131% | 78% | 159% | 89% | 22% | 95% | 69% |
| 2023 | 156% | 72% | 52% | 151% | 107% | 111% | 68% | 57% | 37% | 41% | 181% | 76% |
| 2024 | 144% | 59% | 101% | 80% | 94% | 46% | 44% | 68% | 72% | 15% | 130% | 170% |
| 2025 | 44% | 213% | 118% | 92% | 113% | 20% | 27% | 62% | 20% | 134% | 294% | 68% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
Popinolashki waterfall
Bulgaria
- 15 mHeight
- 0.28 m³/sAverage flow
- Apr–Jun, NovBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q3364161) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| River flow and catchment | HydroATLAS / RiverATLAS v1.0 (Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 |
| 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.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.
beaches
Find your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit 
lakes
Every lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit 
mountains
Every summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit 
waterfalls
Every waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.You are here
islands
Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Visit 
rivers
Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit 
canyons
Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit