LAKATNIK/Stara Planina/Bulgaria


Lakatnik is a not so famous, but lovely place in the Bulgarian mountains called the Stara Planina (better known as Balkan Mountains).

It is located near the site where the river Iskar on its way from the central Bulgarian Highlands to the river Danube breaks through the chain of the Balkan mountains (Iskar Gorge), thus forming bizarre white and red cliffs that surround the village.
For the white cliffs and the various caverns that are formed within the karst rocks, Lakatnik is an Eldorado for alpinists and other folks who love caverns, bats and wildlife.

Lakatnik can easily be reached by train from Sofia. The railway track follows the route of the famous Orient Express. Unfortunately, since departure time in Istanbul was always in the late afternoon, Lakatnik was never to be seen in the old Agatha Christie movie. Passing Lakatnik it was always deep at night, so maybe the mysterious murder
in the Orient Express happend right here.

Although less luxurious than in Agatha Christies book, trains still serve Lakatnik. Journey time from Sofia is about 1:20 hour (ordinary trains) or 55 min (fast trains).

Departure from Sofia:   05:52 
07:15  07:25  10:30  11:19  12:15  13:15  14:15  
                                     16:15 
16:40 18:00  19:00  20:05   21:00  22:30


Departure from Lakatnik:  
04:13 05:49 06:19  07:03  08:51  10:32
                                          13:25  15:39  17:02 17:29  19:07  20:50
                                     fast trains in pink  
                                     
timetable valid until 11.12.2007 
Lakatnik, view to Gara and Iskar




For additional images go to Alan Grants site: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12


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