During the last ice age the Rila mountain was completely covered in ice. As the weather started to warm up, the massive glaciers slowly began to melt and slide downhill. Some parts of the glaciers got stuck between hills and melted creating giant glacier lakes. This process created more then 200 lakes on the mountain Rila. One of the most popular sights for viewing the glacier lakes is the sight know as the Seven Rila Lakes.
The lakes are situated in the National Park Rila which covers about one third of the mountain. When visiting the Seven Rila lakes, apart from enjoying the lookout, you can hike in the wonderful surrounding nature.
The Seven Rila Lakes cirque (the lookout point) is reachable by a chairlift which starts from the Panichishte Resort situated at an altitude of 1600 m. The drive to this resort lasts a little less then 2 hours from Sofia. The chairlift takes you about 500 m higher to reach the lookout at the altitude of 2150. From there you can take a popular hiking route around the lakes that takes a few hours. On this location you can find a restaurant but the choice of meals is limited. While they can be visited throughout the year, the Seven Rila Lakes are best enjoyed during the summer when the weather is more pleasant and the lakes are not frozen.
The lakes all have names based on their characteristic feature, mostly based on their shape: "The Tear", "The Eye", "The Kidney", "The Twin", "The Trefoil", "The Fish Lake" and "The Lower Lake".