Pancharevo Gorge (Pancharevo saddle) is a deep and narrow
gorge
A canyon (from ; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), or gorge, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosion, erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tenden ...
in the upper stream of the
Iskar River
The Iskar ( bg, Искър, ; la, Oescus) is a right tributary of the Danube. With a length of 368 km it is the longest river that runs entirely within Bulgaria.Vitosha
Vitosha ( bg, Витоша ), the ancient ''Scomius'' or ''Scombrus'', is a mountain massif, on the outskirts of Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. Vitosha is one of the symbols of Sofia and the closest site for hiking, alpinism and skiing. Conveni ...
and Plana to the southwest and the Lozen Mountain to the northeast. The gorge forms the boundary between
Samokov
Samokov ( bg, Самоков ) is a town in Sofia Province in the southwest of Bulgaria. It is situated in a basin between the mountains Rila and Vitosha, 55 kilometres from the capital Sofia. Due to the suitable winter sports conditions, Sam ...
and
Sofia
Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and ha ...
valleys. Its average altitude is 700 m. The villages of
Pancharevo
Pancharevo ( bg, Панчарево, , also transcribed as Pančarevo) is a resort village and district located on the outskirts of Sofia close to Vitosha, Lozenska and Plana mountains and occupies the southeastern part of the Capital Municipa ...
,
Kokalyane
Kokalyane ( bg, Кокаляне) is a village in the municipality of Sofia, in the district of Pancharevo in Bulgaria. As of 2007 it has 1,859 residents. The village is situated at the foothills of the Vitosha mountain, 18 km from the center of S ...
and Dolni Pasarel also located in the gorge. In the narrowest part of the gorge
Iskar River
The Iskar ( bg, Искър, ; la, Oescus) is a right tributary of the Danube. With a length of 368 km it is the longest river that runs entirely within Bulgaria.Urvich medieval fortress, and in the left - Kokalyane monastery. In the gorge are situated the Pancharevo Lake and the
Pasarel Reservoir
The Pasarel dam and reservoir is located 20 km to the southeast of Sofia, Bulgaria at an altitude of 700 m.
The dam is situated roughly halfway between the Iskar Reservoir and Lake Pancharevo near the village of Dolni Pasarel. Though built ...