Post by TheTravelBug on Jun 12, 2011 6:30:51 GMT
The Bear Sanctuary at Belitsa has long been somewhere I wanted to visit so on our trip back to BG this year we decided to drive north through Greece and into Bulgaria down near Sandanski. Campsites appeared non-existant in this northern area of Greece so we spent the night in good, cheap motel just on outskirts of Sandanski.
The next day we headed for a quick look around Bansko and then headed to Belitsa. We had discovered on another forum that the road to the sanctuary was rather bad for a short distance. In fact we got to the village, which was 4km from the main road and not a particularly attractive place and then found it was another 11km to the bear sanctuary. Well it took us over 40 minutes to try and negotiate the massive pot holes along the first 4 km and so we decided, bears or no bears, it was not worth risking the tyres and suspension on our van so turned round.
If considering visiting the bear sanctuary you really need a 4x4 and plenty of time to get there. Do not attempt in a normal car.
The next day we headed for a quick look around Bansko and then headed to Belitsa. We had discovered on another forum that the road to the sanctuary was rather bad for a short distance. In fact we got to the village, which was 4km from the main road and not a particularly attractive place and then found it was another 11km to the bear sanctuary. Well it took us over 40 minutes to try and negotiate the massive pot holes along the first 4 km and so we decided, bears or no bears, it was not worth risking the tyres and suspension on our van so turned round.
If considering visiting the bear sanctuary you really need a 4x4 and plenty of time to get there. Do not attempt in a normal car.