Rila

A wildfire in the Rila Mountain in Southwestern Bulgaria has now been fully contained, the local firefighters' service says.

The forest fire in Bulgaria's Rila Mountain has been contained from three sides, the blaze continues only on the northwestern slopes, Nova TV station reported on Sunday.

The advance of the fire front to the south towards the famous St. Ivan Rilski Monastery has been halted.  

More than 40 new wildfires have occurred in Bulgaria over the past 12 hours as a result of hot summer weather, strong winds and human neglect of fire safety rules, BGNES reported on Friday afternoon.

A recent article on Bulgaria on the Insider Monkey website has listed seven "best places to visit" in the country.

The Srebarna Nature Reserve, the resort of Sunny Beach, the northeastern town of Ruse, the Seven Rila Lakes (glacial lakes in the Rila Mountains in the southwest), the Ledenika cave, the Iskar river, and the capital Sofia, according to the website's own rankings.  

The Bulgarian Council of Ministers has now approved a project-memorandum of collaboration between the government and investor Garanti Koza Bulgaria.

The document was regarding the project named Grand Kanyon - Sofia.

A large-scale tourism and recreational complex is to be built in the Sofia neighborhood Mladost on territories owned by the Turkish company.

A 2.8-magnitude earthquake was registered in western Bulgaria Thursday evening, according to the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC).

The earthquake was registered at 6:56 p.m. on Thursday, with an epicenter located 20km south of Samokov, 35km northeast of Blagoevgrad, and 61km south of Sofia, at a depth of 2km.

Bulgarian tourism remains a quite attractive investment segment with projects worth approximately BGN 2.9 B to be launched across the country in months.

The construction of one of the most ambitious tourist projects in the region is expected to be launched in April or May the latest.

The search and rescue operation for three boys who got lost in the Rila Mountain has been temporarily suspended due to the extremely difficult weather conditions.

A part of the rescue team got submerged by snow following an avalanche, according to Hristo Grigorov, President of the Bulgarian Red Cross.

Panoramic photos of Bulgaria's most beautiful mountain regions have been included in Google's Street View service.

Apart from nature, a number of buildings including museums and churches also have 360-degree photos offering viewers a glipmse on the inside.

Bulgaria's largest ski resorts - Bansko, Borovets and Pamporovo open this year's ski season on Saturday, reports the bTV national channel.

According to the information, this season the three resorts will keep the ski pass prices from last year, while the Tourism Ministry expects a 4-5% increase in number of tourists.