Black Sea Coast

The Bulgarian Black Sea Coast, stretching for 236 miles (380km), is a popular destination for thousands of Bulgarians as well as foreign visitors every summer, with warm sea temperatures, a sunny climate, picture-perfect white sand beaches, modern resorts and a favourable exchange rate.

Clean beaches, safe swimming and wide sandy beaches characterise the northern Black Sea Coast with the lively town of Varna a good base from which to explore the surrounds. To the south lie picturesque bays and unusual rock formations, and the trawler port of Bourgas flanked by the old Greek fishing villages of Sozopol and Nessebur.

Black sea coast is famous for its gold sands beaches, wonderful resorts and beautiful nature. The resorts on the Bulgarian coastline are popular worldwide because of the great conditions they offer to the thousands lovers of the sea. The bright sun, the endless stripes of fine golden sand, the beautiful bays with transparent waters turn the summer holiday into a memorable experience.

The nature in the Bulgarian Black sea coast is highly varied. 130 kilometers is just beach stripes most of them consist of fine golden sand. In some places the wind has gathered it in elongated sand dunes, giving the coast a peculiar romance.

The rest of the coastline is either high, rocky and the sea surf founded wonderful forms. There are also low and boggy places where the humid and warm air made it overgrowth with plants that some places look like jungles.

The coastline of the Black sea in Bulgaria is a really wonderful place for holiday, recreation, balneology, bird watching, historical sightseeing, wreck diving and many other activities.

From cape Kartal on the Romanian border to the mouth of Rezovska River, on the Turkish border, the Bulgarian coastline resembles series of continuously changing pictures. On the north it starts with a low, even and relatively monotonous coast, which is sometimes boggy. Than come the Blatnoshkata and Krapecka coastlines. South of them nearby Shabla is the remarkable 6 kilometers long beach. It is also famous for the healing mud in Tuzlata. A great advantage of the region is the thermal mineral water, which can be used for healing and prevention. We will generally divide the black sea coast in two – Northern and Southern.

South of cape Shabla, the coastline becomes rocky and steep. As a result the coast in Kaliakra, Balgarevo and Kavarna is craggy. Huge stone blocks are stopping the powerful pressure of the waves. As a result from the thousand year fight between the two great natural powers, beautiful formations grew in the rocks. They give the coastline unique, cold beauty. Between the rocks, along the steep coast can be seen bays with short arched beaches and crystal clear and calm water. One of the most popular Bulgarian resorts - Roussalka is situated in such bay. The original architectural design of this resort turns it into one of the pearls along the Bulgarian Black sea coastline.

Than comes Balchick - the coastline is even higher at places. This particular site offers extremely picturesque and unique view - a strange mixture of the natural land shaft - the steppes of Dobrudja and the vast sea. The coast is enriched by the original buildings and the wonderful park of the palace.

Nearby the mouth of Batova River in a close proximity to Kranevo village in a huge coastal drop can be found a splendid combination of calm, warm sea with shallow bottom, wide beach (almost 400 thousand square meters) and the picturesque resort Albena. The mouth of the river is famous for its rich and luxuriant, jungle like vegetation.

After a short rocky coast south of Kranevo starts the famous resort complex Golden Sands. The total length of this coastline is 3300 meters and the maximum width of the beach is 70 meters. The resort is 17 kilometers north of Varna and is connected to it by a magnificent panoramic road - part of an important Trans European highway – North - South. The terrace - like forest coast offers a lot of opportunities for a great summer holiday. For relatively short time were built scores of hotels, villas and holiday homes. Numerous alleys, various sport equipment and playgrounds, well maintained parks turn Golden sands into a preferred and important sea resort.

South of Golden Sands is St. Constantine and Helena resort. Here the coast is even wider and provides great opportunities for resort and park construction. The architects have created great examples of the building’s mastership. Most of the holiday sites in the resorts work all year round because of the balneology - services they offer.

Varna - the first and most significant Bulgarian sea resort today is huge holiday, balneology and theraputic spa and healing centre, with natural mud treatments. Today Varna offers to its guest a lot of opportunities for a nice and active holiday. A lot of night clubs and casinos keep the nightlife in Varna on a high level.

South of Varna is the new system of resort complexes which is now called Golden sands south. The new resort construction is in Galata, Shkorlpilovci, Byala and Obzor. North of Kamchia River can be found 43 thousand square meters beach line. On the real mouth of the river the sandy stripe takes almost 5 kilometers long and 200- 300 meters wide with a total area of 1 million square meters. Famous sites are the eastern slopes of the Avrensko plateau, covered with forests, the lower flow of Kamchia – Longoza. This is an exuberant virgin forest with more than 40 species of trees and shrubs, some of them are endemics. The water of the river is rich in fish and it has turn into a real paradise for fishermen.

South of the remarkable mouth of Kamchia River the coastline is highly various. In the lowering separated by the mountain slopes are situated the villages Shkorpilovci, Byala and Obzor. The beach in Shkorpilovci is 5 kilometers long and 150- 200 m wide. The total area is 750 thousand meters. Than along the mouth of Byala river individual beaches are opening, there is another beach in the village of Byala and south of it comes the beach of Obzor- 3700 meters long with a total sand area of 280 thousand square meters.

South of Obzor close to the rocky cape Emine the coastline is steep.

The rich agricultural vicinity of the already mentioned sites especially the southern - Shkorpilovci, Byala and Obzor are famous for the vine and fruit - trees growing. This provides great opportunity for the visitors, not only to enjoy the sea, the beach and the magnificent sights, but also use the healing quality of the fruit and especially grape healing methods.

As a whole the area from cape Emine to Sunny beach is exclusively appropriate for summer relaxation and recreation. Mountain, forest, sea, and the south exposition of the mountain slopes are the natural wealth, which can be used as a health center of national and international significance.

St Vlas is considered to be one of the resorts with perfect exposition, because it has faces south and is protected by the cold north-east wind. The construction of resort complex Elenite is another example of positive influence of the natural resources.

South of St. Vlas among the forestry slopes of the eastern parts of the Balkan mountain range on a small peninsula is situated the old Nessebar. South of it is the arc-like bay of Sunny Beach. This is where the southern part of the Bulgarian black sea coast starts.

This protected from the winds coastline on a 5, 5 km long and 100 - 200 meters wide beach hosts the biggest and well developed resort - Sunny Beach. The beach offers magnificent dunes and fresh forest.

Pomorie is a traditional Bulgarian resort. It offers warm winter climate and cool summer, pleasant water and warm sun a lot of organic fruits and vegetables. This nice resort is also famous for the mud- healing cervices.

As for the coastline of Nessebar we should mention the famous sand dunes made of the finest sand on the black sea coast. The Nessebar dunes are situated along one kilometer long beach stripe but its width reaches 1, 5 kilometer. The dunes are very high and can be used as a protection from strong winds during the spring and autumn. This has a positive impact on the duration of the active season in the site.

The coast along the road from Nessebar and Pomorie is strewed with vine yards and fruit trees.

The beaches on Ravda and Aheloy are very pleasant and well maintained. They are preferred by tourists who want to rest in a secluded place.

The beach between Pomorie and Sarafovo is the same. This low coast with a lot of fruit and vine yards is still preserved untouched by the construction of huge hotels. Still the beauty of the site is unforgettable and promises a wonderful holiday.

The coast in Sarafovo is covered with dark sand which is proved to have healing qualities for the human organism. This is a neighborhood of Bourgas and is very close to Bourgas airport.

South of Sarafovo are the Bourgas salty lakes situated in the northern part of Bourgas bay. The beaches in Bourgas are quite nice, but definitely there are better places to take sun baths. The sand is dark from the magnetite mixtures and is proved to have positive impact on the human organism.

South of the city the coastline of the wide Bourgas bay are practically unusable for the tourists, because of the industrial zone. Here is the big Bourgas port, where huge ocean liners can be seen.

South of it between the eastern slopes of Medni Rid and than the legendary Strandja Mountain and the sea, are stretching out beautiful and secluded beaches. One after another are rowed the village of Kraimorie and Chernomorec, the huge republican beach (Gerena) with more than 700 thousand square meters sand area. Then the coastline is taken by Kavacite, Alepu, Arkutino and Ropotamo. Than can be seen the famous mouth of Ropotamo river.

The main characteristic of the beaches in this part of the southern Black sea coast is that the individual beaches, especially the smaller ones, are separated via rocky, jutting in the sea capes. Most of the rocks are broken and the sea water forms small bays. Thus among the coastal cliffs are formed narrow and deep bays with crystal clear water and big habitat, which is a real paradise for divers.

The neighboring beaches are separated by the capes and are protected from the cold winds during the winter, which makes them appropriate for a year round resort usage.

Sozopol definitely deserves to be called the Romantic Resort of the Bulgarian Black Sea coast. The town is beautifully situated at a small rocky peninsula in the Southern part of the Bourgas Bay and is located only 32 km from the sea city and 410 km from the capital city of Sofia.

Today Sozopol is a popular beach resort, famous for its nice sandy beaches, distinctive 19th-century stone and wood houses, and its romantic harbour. Sozopol has two beaches- the Central Beach, situated in the Old Town and the “Harmani” Beach in the new part of Sozopol. In very close vicinity a couple of camping sites are situated. The “Golden Fish”, the “Garden”, “Kavacite” and "Smokini" (the “Figs”) camping sites have wide and quiet beaches, and the sea water is so pure, that you can see the colour of the shells at the sea bottom.

Kavacite, Alepu, Arkutino and Ropotamo beaches are very well preserved and attract thousand of visitors during the summer season. The sites are now in process of development and a lot of enterprisers are investing there.

The villa site Duni is relatively new resort complex. It is along a magnificent beach. It takes just a small part of the northern part of the vast Alepu.

South of it the Black sea coast is even more beautiful. The mouth of the romantic Ropotamo River is remarkable for the unique combination of river, sea and the Strandja Mountain. The venerable Strandja forests are very close to the water as is the case in Arkutino. Thus the coastline is exquisite and it gives an opportunity for the tourists to hide below their cool shadow during the hot summer days. The sight in this part of Bulgaria is magnificent all year round. Alepu, Arkutino and Ropotamo are very suitable for walks amid a beautiful virgin nature.

South of this wonderful sites is Stomoplo. The coastline of Stomoplo is more famous as the northern beach of Primorsko resort. This is a 2300 meters long beach stripe with wide sand dunes. The sea is just magnificent.

Primorsko together with the nearby situated town of Kiten are famous beach resorts. Between the two towns can be seen a long beach line, which is being used by the International Student Camp. Tourists can also enjoy the beautiful sunken mouth of Diavolska River.

South of the small peninsula where is Kiten, can be seen the magnificent Atliman bay.

Further on after the Karaagach River which is also flowing into the Black sea tourists will stay breathless from the beauty of the untouched small beaches. These are Karaagach beach, Lozen, Gochov Ergek, Popadiiski beach, the beaches of Tzarevo, Varvarski beach and the beach in Ahtopol. South of them flows the not so famous river Veleka, which is actually the biggest river which starts from Strandja mountain. South of this river to the last one - Rezovska River, which just on the Bulgarian southern border with Turkey, can be found the small beaches of Sinemorets and Rezovo.

This whole string of magnificent and picturesque site along the Bulgarian black sea coast proves that it can satisfy even the most sophisticated taste. The sea coast is just fabulous. Most of the beaches are with fine and clean sand, the water is crystal clear, the sun is hot. A lot of locally grown organic fruits and vegetables, caressed by the warm sun can be found along the southern part of the coast.