Bulgaria

Bulgaria's best-known lakes lie high in the mountains of the south-west. Rila holds the Seven Rila Lakes, a chain of glacial lakes stepped one above the other, and Pirin is dotted with cirque lakes above Bansko.

Lower down, reservoirs such as Batak and Dospat in the Rhodopes and Iskar near Sofia are used for fishing and boating, and on the Black Sea coast the lakes around Burgas, Vaya among them, and the salt lake of Pomorie are important stops for migrating birds.

The high lakes are reached on foot in summer, often with a chairlift or a mountain road for the first part of the climb.