page_title: Pirin
section_title: Overview
hierarchical_section_title: Pirin / Geography / Overview
caption_attribution_description: English: Pirin mountain, panoramic view from Razlog valley.
context_page_description: The Pirin Mountains are a mountain range in southwestern Bulgaria, with Vihren at an altitude of 2,914 m being the highest peak. One hypothesis is the mountain was named after Perun, the highest god of the Slavic pantheon and the god of thunder and lightning. Another version is that the etymology of the range derives from the Thracian word Perinthos, meaning "Rocky Mountain".
  The range extends about 80 km from the north-west to the south-east and is about 40 km wide, spanning a territory of 2,585 km². To the north Pirin is separated from Bulgaria's highest mountain range, the Rila Mountain, by the Predel saddle, while to the south it reaches the Slavyanka Mountain. To the west is located the valley of the river Struma and to the east the valley of the river Mesta separates it from the Rhodope Mountains. Pirin is dotted with more than a hundred glacial lakes and is also the home of Europe's southernmost glaciers, Snezhnika and Banski Suhodol.
  The northern part of the range, which is also the highest one, is protected by the Pirin National Park, declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983.
context_section_description: Pirin is situated in south-western Bulgaria and is part of the Rila–Rhodope Massif. To the north the Predel Saddle and mountain pass at 1140 m altitude separates it from the Rila mountain range. To the east Pirin borders the Razlog Valley, the valley of the river Mesta and the Momina Klisura Gorge that separate it from the Rhodope Mountains. To the south the Paril Saddle (1170 m) divides it from the Slavyanka mountain range. To the west Pirin reaches the valley of the river Struma, including the Kresna Gorge and the Sandanski-Petrich Valley, that serve as a divide from the Vlahina, Maleshevo and Ograzhden mountains further to the west.
  The main orographic ridge extends from the north-west to the south-east. Pirin spans an area of 2,585 km² with an average height of 1,033 m. The maximum length between the Paril and Predel saddles is 80 km; the maximum width is 40 km. Reaching an altitude of 2,914 m Pirin is the second highest mountain range in Bulgaria after Rila (2,925 m) and the eighth highest in Europe after the Caucasus, the Alps, Sierra Nevada, the Pyrenees, Mount Etna, the aforementioned Rila, and Mount Olympus.
caption: Panorama of Pirin from the Razlog Valley.
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