The village of Leshten is one of the most attractive and well developed destinations for rural tourism in Bulgaria. It lies on the southern slope of the Rhodopi mountain but overlooks to the Pirin mountain, too. The village is situated some 200km to the south of Sofia and just several kilometers away from the town of Gotse Delchev.
There, some 15 renovated houses, built in the traditional style of the Bulgarian Renaissance period, offer the perfect combination of a typical rural atmosphere and modern comfort. The houses have spacious terraces (so-called ‘chardak’), blossoming gardens and cozy ‘mehana’s with fireplaces, where guests can cook their own meals. The village also has its restaurants and pubs where one can taste traditional Bulgarian cuisine.
Leshten offers various types of entertainment to its guests, such as hunting and fishing, mountain hiking, trips to the nearby spa resort of Ognyanovo (5km), the ethnographic complexes of Kovachevitsa (7km), Dolen (20km) and Delchevo (18km), as well as one-day tours to the impressive Rozhen Monastery near the town of Melnik or the popular ski resort of Bansko. Once in Leshten, tourists can also visit the Dark Forest natural reserve with centuries’ old beech and fir trees, remains of two Thracian sanctuaries - the Goat’s Stone and the Black Rock, the Kanina river’s canyon, etc.
