The picturesque village of Stoykite (population: 420 inhabitants) is located in the place of Shiroka Luka, in the western part of the Rhodope Mountains. It is situated 16 km northwest of the town of Smolyan, 95 km southwest of Plovdiv, and only 7 km from the winter resort of Pamporovo. Scattered among 5 different hamlets and has preserved the authenticity of a real Rhodopean village and the Bulgarian national traditions and culture, the village of Stoykite attracts thousand of tourists and offers wonderful opportunities for rest and recreation in the atmosphere of the long past times.

  Located in the skirts of the mountain it also offers marvelous panoramas of the ridge of Chernatitza and the peaks of Murgavetz, Perelik, and Karluk.
If you want to come closer to the traditional Bulgarian spirit, to live for a while far from the urban vanity and bustle, to wake up in the morning with the ringing of cow-bells and the cock-a-doodle-do of cocks, then you should go to the Stoykite village. A real open air museum!
 

The village is mentioned for the first time in the historical sources in a document from 1706 by the French traveller Paul Lukas. It was populated in the 17 century during the period of forced conversion to Mohammedanism of the Bulgarian population in the Rhodopes. For a long time the village was also a dwelling place of the shepherds of Shiroka Luka.
 

  
 After the Liberation of Bulgaria (1878) Stoykite was an important centre of the struggles against the senklerists (a group of people, who tried to revert the Ottoman rule.
In the village one can see one of the most interesting Rhodopean churches – “St. St. Peter and Pavel”.
In the village was found a bronze medal from the First International Olympics in 1896. The investigations point that it belonged to Georgi Kapushiev – a famous wrestler in the village.

 7 km northwest of the village of Soykite is situated the village of Shiroka Luka – an architectural reserve. 7 km to the west is the village of Gela - one of the oldest settlements in the region of the Rhodope Mountains with many historical and architectural monuments. The village of Stoykite is a part of the tourist route: Shiroka Luka – peak of St. Elena – Stoykite.
5 km from the village are situated the rock phenomenon Glavata (the Head) and the Summer forest.