Bacho Kiro Cave

Bacho Kiro sits in the gorge beside Dryanovo Monastery, a cave of about three and a half kilometres of galleries on several levels, of which several hundred metres are open on two routes, with formations, narrow passages and small lakes. Its significance is archaeological: excavation has produced a long occupation sequence, and a study published in 2020 dated human remains from the cave to around forty-five thousand years ago and identified them as Homo sapiens, which made them among the earliest modern humans known in Europe and pushed back the date of the arrival. The cave was one of the first in Bulgaria opened to visitors, in 1938. The gorge around it has walking routes and the monastery is at the entrance.

Background

The Bacho Kiro Cave lies 5 kilometres west of Dryanovo, only 300 metres from the Dryanovo Monastery, cut into the canyons of the Andaka and Dryanovo rivers. It was opened in 1890 and took its first recreational visitors in 1938, two years before it was named after Bacho Kiro, a teacher of the Bulgarian National Revival. The cave is a labyrinth of galleries and corridors on four levels with a total length of 3,600 metres, of which 700 metres have been kept up for visitors, with electric lighting, since 1964. An underground river carved the galleries over time, and they are full of stalactites, stalagmites and other formations; along a section 1,200 metres long the halls carry fanciful names such as Bacho Kiro's Throne, the Dwarfs and the Sleeping Princess.

Source: Wikipedia, "Bacho Kiro Cave"

What's there

• Some of Europe's earliest modern human remains - dated to around 45,000 years ago.
• Two visitor routes - a short and a long circuit through the galleries.
• Narrow passages and small lakes - the character of the longer route.
• The Andaka gorge - the valley the cave and monastery sit in.

When to go

April to October; winter opening is limited. Two hours including the gorge walk. Tours are timed. The longer route involves tight sections and is not for everyone.

Things to know

The longer route has narrow low passages that are uncomfortable for larger visitors. Tours are in Bulgarian unless arranged. The archaeological finds are not in the cave; there is little interpretation of them on site. It is cold and wet underground.

Nearby

Dryanovo Monastery is at the cave entrance; Veliko Tarnovo lies east.

Key facts