Smilyan Beans

Smilyan in the central Rhodopes grows a bean of its own: a large flat speckled variety, purple and cream, cultivated in the valley for generations and adapted to the altitude and the short season, with a thin skin and a texture that holds up to long cooking, and it is protected as a local variety. It is grown on small plots by households rather than at scale, which keeps supply limited and the price well above ordinary beans. The village holds a bean festival at the end of November when the crop is in, with cooking, tasting and selling, and it is a genuinely local occasion that has grown into a regional event. Bean dishes are the staple of Rhodope cooking and the village restaurants serve them.

What you actually see

• A large speckled local variety - purple and cream, grown only in this valley.
• Household plots - the small-scale growing that limits supply.
• The November bean festival - cooking, tasting and selling when the crop is in.
• Rhodope bean cooking - the dishes served in the village.

When to go

Late November for the festival, which is the reason to time a visit; the beans are sold year round. Half a day. The festival fills the village and parking is a walk out.

Honest expectations

Beans sold as Smilyan elsewhere are often not; buy in the village. The festival is one weekend and crowded. Outside it there is little to see beyond fields and a shop. The village is remote and the roads slow.

Nearby

Smolyan is north-east; Zlatograd lies east.