Devin tourist info and hotels

Devin is a town with around seven thousand inhabitants, located at 710 meters elevation in the Rhodope Mountains, on the banks of the Devinska River. It is 196 kilometers away from Sofia, 46km away from Smolyan and 82km away from Pazardjik. Devin is very famous because it is a balneology resort with many curative mineral springs, suitable for a wide range of diseases.
The area has been inhabited for a very long time – since the Thracian period. The settlement of that time was abandoned when the Turks tried to enslave the Bulgarian population during the reign of Bayazid Sultan. The people who left it formed the village as it is today. A medieval necropolis shows that Bulgarians lived there back in the 13th or 14th century. The name Devin is first mentioned in Turkish documents from 1576. Although the town was destroyed in the beginning of the 20th century, new settlers helped in its recovery.
Nowadays, Devin is a great treasure. It has the most healing springs on the Balkan Peninsula and its climate is also very beneficial. The resort is surrounded by coniferous forests, rivers and rocky hills.

 

Apart from the mineral springs, one should also visit the Museum of History, in the centre of the town. Another popular place is the St. Ioan Rilski church.
Devin is reachable only by bus (if you don’t have a car of course) from Pazardjik, Plovdiv, Smolyan, Pamporovo and Shiroka Laka and its bus station is at its entrance.
There are also many interesting places around Devin. You can visit the architectural and ethnographic reserve Shiroka Laka. A breathtaking place is the Trigrad Gorge as well as the caves The Devil’s Throat and Yagodina. You would also be charmed by the Chairite which is a protected site.

Devin Spa

The climate in Devin is transitionally continental with mountain impact. Together with the climate the mineral water is the main healing-prophylactic factor in the resort. There are 4 hydro-thermal water sources with similar physical and chemical characteristics, but they differ in temperature. Their total flow capacity is very high. The water is slightly mineralized, with high levels of alkalinity. It is characterized as fluorine, hydro-carbonate-sodium, with radon and meta-silicon acid content.

 

Application
The mineral waters, combined with the favourable climate, are suitable for medication and prophylaxis of series of different diseases. By external procedures the mineral water is applied to diseases of bones, joints, cardiovascular system, nervous system and reproductive system. It is excellent remedy especially for spa medication and spa prophylaxis by internal application in cases of kidney-urological, gastrointestinal, liver-bilious, metabolic-endocrine diseases and some types of industrial intoxications. By inhalations the water has salutary effect on respiratory diseases. It is highly efficient for spa prophylaxis of osteoporosis and tooth caries. Water can be used also for sports and common prophylaxis. It is bottled as natural-water. If there are surpluses in the quantity of the obtained water, they can be used as a source of energy.
Facilities
In Devin there are hotels for the tourists and private lodgings are also available. During the summertime there is opened a hydro-thermal outdoor swimming pool with a beach strip.
Prospect
With its beautiful and attractive location, wealth of natural factors, ecological purity and closeness to other resorts and tourist sites, the town of Devin is with great prospects of development as spa climatic resort of local and national importance. In the region there are good condition for combination of spa medication tourism with rural and eco-tourism, hunting and cave tourism. Necessary is the reconstruction of the spa healing and prophylactic facilities, their modernization and enlargement.