42°40′N 23°40′E / 42.667°N 23.667°E
Sofia Province (Bulgarian: Софийска област, romanized: Sofiyska oblast) is a province (oblast) of Bulgaria. The province does not include Sofia in its territories, but Sofia remains the seat of its administration. The province borders on the provinces of Pernik, Kyustendil, Blagoevgrad, Pazardzhik, Plovdiv, Lovech, Vratsa, Montana, and "Sofia City Province" (which is in a separate oblast, see Sofia Administration), and borders with Serbia to the northwest.
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The Iskar (Bulgarian: Искър, pronounced [ˈiskɐr]; Latin: Oescus) is a right tributary of the Danube. With a length of 368 km, it is the longest river that runs entirely within Bulgaria. Originating as three forks in Balkan's highest mountain range Rila, the Iskar flows in a northern direction until its confluence with the Danube. As it flows northwards it fuels the largest artificial lake in the country, the Iskar Reservoir, forms the divide between the Vitosha and Plana Mountains in the west and the Sredna Gora mountain range in the east before entering the Sofia Valley, which contains the nation's capital Sofia. From there the Iskar runs through the Balkan Mountains, forming the spectacular 84 km long Iskar Gorge. As it crosses the mountains, its water course turns in a north-eastern direction at Lakatnik. North of the Balkan Mountains, the river crosses the Danubian Plain and finally flows into the Danube between the villages of Baykal and Gigen. Geologically, Iskar is the oldest river in the Balkan Peninsula.
Its watershed drains 8,617 km in the provinces of Sofia, Sofia City, Vratsa, Lovech and Pleven. The Iskar flows through nine towns and numerous villages. The Iskar river basin is home to more than 50 species of fish, including Cottus haemusi that is endemic to the upper Iskar and Vit drainages.
Pirin Macedonia or Bulgarian Macedonia (Bulgarian: Пиринска Македония; Българска Македония) (Pirinska Makedoniya or Bulgarska Makedoniya), which today is in southwestern Bulgaria, is the third-biggest part of the geographical region of Macedonia. This part coincides with the borders of Blagoevgrad Province, as well as the surrounding area of Barakovo from Kyustendil Province. After World War I, Strumica and the surrounding area were broken away from the region and were ceded to Yugoslavia.
It covers an area of about 6,798 km, which is 10.18% of the geographical region of Macedonia. One of the regional centers is Blagoevgrad. The region borders Kyustendil Province and Sofia Province to the north, Pazardzhik Province and Smolyan Province to the east, Greece to the south, and North Macedonia to the west. The population is estimated around 290,000 people.
42°15′N 23°0′E / 42.250°N 23.000°E
Kyustendil Province (Bulgarian: Област Кюстендил, romanized: Oblast Kyustendil) is a province in southwestern Bulgaria, extending over an area of 3,084.3 km (1,190.9 sq mi) (constituting 2.7% of the total territory of the Republic of Bulgaria), and with a population of 106 131. It borders the provinces of Sofia, Pernik, and Blagoevgrad; to the west, its limits coincide with the state borders between Bulgaria and North Macedonia, and between Bulgaria and the Republic of Serbia. The administrative center of the Province is Kyustendil.
Republican Road I-6 (Bulgarian: Републикански път I-6) is a first class road in Bulgaria. It runs from Gyueshevo at the border with North Macedonia to Burgas on the Black Sea coast. With a total length of 508.5 km (316.0 mi), I-6 road is the longest road in Bulgaria. It is part of the European route E871 in the section Gyueshevo–Pernik and of the E773 in the stretch between the Petolachkata junction near Strazhitsa and Burgas. The road passes through nine of the 28 provinces of Bulgaria: Kyustendil, Pernik, Sofia City, Sofia, Plovdiv, Stara Zagora, Sliven, Yambol and Burgas.
The Central Balkan National Park (Bulgarian: Национален парк Централен Балкан) is a national park in the heart of Bulgaria, nestled in the central and higher portions of the Balkan Mountains. Its altitude varies from 550 metres (1,800 ft) near the town of Karlovo to 2,376 metres (7,795 ft) at Botev Peak, the highest summit in the range. It was established on 31 October 1991.
The park is the third-largest protected territory in Bulgaria, spanning an area of 716.69 km with a total length of 85 km from west to east and an average width of 10 km. It occupies parts of 5 of the country's 28 provinces: Lovech, Gabrovo, Sofia, Plovdiv and Stara Zagora. The national park also includes nine nature reserves, covering 28% of its territory: Boatin, Tsarichina, Kozya Stena, Steneto, Severen Dzhendem, Peeshti Skali, Sokolna, Dzhendema and Stara Reka.
Sofia City Province (Bulgarian: Област София-град, romanized: Oblast Sofiya-grad) is a province (oblast) of western Bulgaria. Its administrative center is the city of Sofia, the capital of the country. It borders Sofia Province and Pernik Province. It consists of only one municipality – the Sofia Capital Municipality.
The Stolichna Municipality (Bulgarian: Столична община, romanized: Stolichna obshtina (also transcribed as Stolična obština), lit. 'Capital Municipality') is an obshtina (municipality) in Sofia City Province, Western Bulgaria.It is named after its administrative centre, the city of Sofia, which is also the capital of Sofia City Province and Sofia Province and the capital of Bulgaria as well.
The municipality is located mainly in the Sofia Valley, and also in the feet and lower parts of the mountains of Stara planina and Vitosha, Plana, Lozen, Rila. As of 2016, it was home to 1,500,927 inhabitants, of which 1,400,000 live in Sofia.