Batak is a centre of one of Bulgaria's largest municipalities by terms of territory - 667 km2 or 15% of the Pazardzhik Province area - as well as one of the most sparsely populated ones including only the town itself and two villages - Fotinovo and Nova Mahala.

Tools, objects, ceramic vessels, ornaments as well as bones of rhinoceros were found which proves that the climate was warmer in the Quaternary.

This is justified by an inscription on the fountain of Virgin Mary Monastery of Krichim built by the people of Batak in 1592, a writ of the feudal possessions of Sultan Suleiman I (1520–1566), in which the village of Batak is also mentioned, as well as the remnants of many churches and monasteries burnt down by the Ottomans during the conversion into Islam in this region.

In the old legends it is related to the Tsepina chieftain Batoy, while the history professors Yordan Ivanov and Vasil Mikov suppose that Batak was Potok, a settlement of Cuman origin existing between the 11th and the 13th century.

During the centuries of Ottoman rule, many hajduks in the region of Batak took revenge from the Turks for the outrages upon Bulgarian people – Strahil Voivoda, Deli Arshenko Payaka, Gola Voda, Todor Banchev, Beyko, Yanko Kavlakov, Mityo Vranchev, etc.

On 20 January 1878 the people of Batak who had survived the uprising enthusiastically met the advancing Russian army.

Today Batak is a renovated modern town famous for its historical monuments and a resort and tourist centre.

A key hydro power system — Batak Hydropower Cascade — with five dams and three hydroelectric stations was constructed in the 1950s.