Coastal Resorts & Sights

  I have travelled a fair amount in Bulgaria on various trips and so thought it would be interesting to show some photographs and video footage of some of the areas I have visited. 

Many people are unable to get out for long periods and cannot travel around visiting different area so I have put together a couple of pages to show the places I have visited on various travels along the coast and on the 'Other Places' page you will find details of other areas I have travelled to and a few of the places I think are well worth a visit. 

Various Trips - October 2005 Trip, September 2006 Trip, 2007 and 2008 and 2010)

In October 2005 I spent 2 weeks traveling around Bulgaria and having spent a couple of days looking at properties around Stara Zagora, myself, Toni our driver/translator and a friend headed east towards Sliven and then down to the Yambol region and across to the coast. 

We stopped for a coffee in Yambol which has a pleasant town centre with a nice long pedestrian area and a large park but not much else to recommend it and the outskirts are very drab and industrial and the surrounding countryside, flat and rather boring. 

The journey across to Burgas from Yambol was through mainly flat agricultural areas dotted with small sleepy villages and the odd factory. It was a very quiet rural area and we hardly passed another car on the road. 

However heading into the outskirts of Burgas was a different matter. We were confronted by numerous tatty high rise concrete blocks and cars and people everywhere. We didn't stop but headed South to Sozopol for the night. Being out of season it was lovely and quiet and we had a very pleasant evening stroll around the narrow streets and harbour. The old part of Sozopol is made up of timber framed houses and museums but then new part then sprawls up the hill and a further 2 kilometres down the coast. Here is a video clip of the old part of the town and below some photographs. The photo furthest to the right shows some roman ruins on the beach. 

'New' Sozopol extends from the hill above the old part and mainly south along the coast for a couple of kilometres. In September 2006 I revisited Sozopol and noticed much more construction right along the road as shown in this video clip. 

Having just returned from another visit to Sozopol (July 2010), I can say that the old town is one of my favourite places along the coast. Whilst touristy to some extent, it still retains it charm and is a lovely place to walk around in the evenings and get a meal. We had absolutely no problem finding a place to stay in the old town, depsite it being the height of the tourist season. There were plenty of hotel rooms available for 50 levs and we stayed in a great private room with large terrace for 30 levs. We ate at the restaurant at the far end of the southern sea wall, overlooking the beach. The food was great (if twice the price of a meal further inland). New Sozopol now extends as far as the eye can see and beyond but the old part has not been spoiled. Definitely recommend a visit to old Sozopol.

Our journey then continued north back to Burgas where we had a quick look around and actually the city centre is very pleasant and the park and promenade/beach area quiet nice. We headed on up to Pomorie and then Nessebar which sits on a rocky outcrop attached to the main land by a short strip of road. Or at least the old part of Nessebar does, the new development of 'New Nessebar' sprawls along the coast from the old part and merges with Sunny Beach. The old part is definitely worth a visit and is full of old Byzantine ruins, cobbled streets and lovely old houses. Here is some video footage of the old part and then looking back at the mainland and video footage of Sunny Beach in October. 

(View from Nessebar back to Sunny Beach and old harbour)

I re-visited Nessebar in July 2010. Parking was not a problem on the edge of the old town, although expensive at 3 levs an hour. You are best to eat at one of the restaurants right by the car park where you can get a draught beer for 0.80 levs and a palte of whitebait or slice of pizza for around 3 levs. If you decide to eat in the main part of the old town, a meal for two will set you back around 30 levs. Whilst worth a visit if in the area, Nessebar does not have the charm that Sozopol does and is just crammed with tacky tourist stalls.

We stayed the night in an apartment in Sveti Vlas. Out of season in October we could find no hotels open and only a small cafe which was being used by al the builders. Sveti Vlas, although perched above the coast line and once a small coastal resort, is now just a mass of apartment blocks right up the hillside. 

In September 2006 I returned to Sunny Beach and whilst deserted in the autumn and winter, the summer season was still very much in full swing (see photos above) and there were masses of people enjoying the beach and bars. The resort very much try to cater for the Brit abroad with happy hours at all bars, Sunday roasts, Big TV screens showing football and night clubs and peep shows. Contrast this video footage in the summer with the one above. 

I visited again for a short break in July 2008. We were initially going to camp at Irakli nature reserve but having got there to find it covered in rubbish and having had the car broken into and bag stolen within 30 minutes of arriving, we opted (after a couple of hours in the police station in Obzor) to go and stay at a friend's family hotel in Ravda. Ravda is now fairly developed with hundreds of hotels and apartment blocks but the centre still retains a nice feel and there are 2 or 3 lovely stretches of beach and rocky outcrops for fishing off. It has a much quieter, relaxed feel to it than Sunny Beach and tends to attract more Bulgarians than foreign tourists. We did go to Sunny Beach for a day and it is a very nice beach but as completely covered with sun loungers and umbrellas that you have to pay for, it ends up fairly expensive (around 10 levs a lounger plus 4 levs for umbrella I think). For those looking for a lively, party atmosphere, then a week's holiday to Sunny Beach may suit you.

On the latest trip along the coast (2010) we did not even bother to stop on Sunny Beach. It is now just a sprawling mass of half completed apartment blocks and 'for sale' signs. There is no division between Sunny Beach and Sveti Vlas.

Then it was on to Obzor, where a fair amount of development is also taking place, but this resort has the advantage of being a proper town and there is a nice beach. The area is also backed by wooded hills. We opted to stay here for a night on our most recent trip (July 2010) and again had no trouble finding a lovely little apartment to rent that was 2 minutes from the beach and only 30 levs for the night. 

I have a good friend in Varna and have visited often over the years. It is a lively city with a long pedestrian stretch reaching down to the sea gardens and beach and promenade. Here is a clip of the city taken from the balcony of my hotel one stay and then views of the beach. 

I also visited Golden Sands in October 2005. Out of season and a couple of years ago, it appeared more pleasant than Sunny Beach and there was also more open at that time of year. However, my parents stayed there in June 2007 and having had to negotiate the crowded one way streets lined with 'tack' shops and coaches, and seen that it is now much more developed, I am not so sure if there is much between Sunnny Beach and Golden Sands. My parents found that most of the beach was cordoned off as private and so you could only freely walk down narrow passageways to the sea edge. Every spare inch of sand was covered in sun loungers and they struggled to find anywhere to eat that was not a Steak house, burger bar or pizza place. I have also visited Albena briefly, which had a great stretch of beach but lacks any atmosphere. 

On our July 2010 trip we were staying in St Konstantin & Helena, just on the northern tip of Varna. Here there are a couple of lovely smaller beaches that were not crowded and were free to access. The actual resort of St Konstantin & Helena, while catering mainly for package holidays from Russia. Romania and Skandinavia, is a pleasant place to walk around and grab a bite to eat.

On the trip in October 2005 we drove as far north as Kavarna and stayed the night in Balchik on the edge of the harbour in a lovely hotel. Balchik at the time at real charm and in the morning you could still see all the fisherman preparing to go out for their day's catch. However, when back there in July 2010 it had a neglected, run-down feel to it and was no longer the charming fishing port I remember. It was absolutely dead, despite it being the main tourist season and all along the promenade by the sea were abandoned concrete structures or apartment buildings with numerous for sale signs. If visiting to see the Palace and Botantical gardens you can get in for free by walking through the restaurant at the end of the promenade, near the palace - just make sure the guy at the rear entrance is on his cigarette or toilet break when you walk through! 

Balchik promenade - July 2010

On the latest coastal trip we headed up to Cape Kaliakra, as it is somewhere I have always wanted to visit, where there are supposed to be lots of ruins. However, having now been I would say do not bother! You are charged 3 levs per person to access the cape, you are surrounded by wind turbines and phone masts and all in all you get the impression you have been duped to come in and see a few ruins (nothing more than the outer defense wall and entrance gate and a few stones left of a couple of churches and dwelling houses with nothing by way of explanation) so that you will have to pass the several tacky stands and make your way to the one restaurant. The small museum in the cave by the restaurant has a good model of how the cape may have looked but all in all very disappointing and what the guide books do not tell you, is that the cape is dominated by a no-go-zone military area! 

The road from Balchik to Kavarna is strewn with random developments off towards the coast and several golf courses and has a very strange feel to it, as though someone just thought - 'hey, lets build a massive estate around a supposed golf course in this random field', which basically is what happened.

In September 2006 I visited friends in Malko Turnavo (great place to stay for a day trip to Istanbul) and then traveled up the coast from Primorsko back to Varna. The resort of Primorsko had a fair few new apartment blocks but the smaller resort or two we passed through on the way up to Sozopol were not particularly developed at all, although how long this will last who knows. 

Since moving over here in October 2006, I have caught the coach a number of times to Varna and the route takes you across to Burgas and up through all the resorts to Varna. From leaving Burgas you are hardly ever out of the new apartment blocks and hotel complexes that now stretch for many miles along the coast line. One resort more or less merges into another until you get past Sunny Beach into the hills heading over to Varna.

On the latest trip in July 2010 we decided to head back home via Veliko Turnovo so took the A2 northern route out of Varna. If you take this, around 20km outside of Varna you see a sign for the 'stone forest', take this exit and then turn left and then right at 't-junction' and just up that road on either side you will see large stone columns, formed when the earth's clay plates pushed together  many millions of years ago. You can just park on the edge of the road and walk around the stones on the right for free, but to get into the main part on the left you have to pay 3 levs per adult. We didn't bother as can see enough from the road. But its an interesting stop off point if passing. 

Further inland, close to Shumen, about an hour's drive west of Varna, take the signs for Madara and drive through the village. After a few minutes you'll come to a couple of snack bars and a souvenir shop. There is a small car park and opposite the cash desk to pay the 4 levs per person fee to enter. At first we were not sure whether to bother paying as the guide book said the bas-relief (carving) of the man on a horse with dog, killing a lion, from the eighth century of earlier, was badly eroded and hard to make out. But we decided as we had made the effort to drive there, we would pay and go in. You go up a long flight of stone steps and at the top you see the carving in the cliff face. I was expecting something far larger but it is still quite a sight, given how long ago it was done. 

There is plenty more to see in this area. Heading down from 'Madara Horseman' you can take a right and after around 500 metres you find yourself climbing rough cut stone steps in the cliff face.  The going is hard work and for anyone with mobility problems or who is not fairly active, I would not advice going up. There must be a thousand steps or so, some very steep with just a small handrail to hold on to. Health and safety are never high on the agenda in Bulgaria and here especially. At the top you follow a track (there are no sign posts) and eventually come to the ruins of an old fortress. Be careful because if you walk along the wall to the left, it suddenly ends at the cliff edge with no warning (the danger sign as fallen down the cliff) and no fencing. When going back from the fortress to the steps down, becareful to get the right track as there are no markers and we ended up following a more worn track for a while, before realising we were going the wrong way. Once you have made your way down to the bottom of the cliff again (becareful as its steep and slippery if wet) go back past the bas-relief and carry on to the left towards the caves. The sheer size of one of the 'caves' is impressive and there are some ruins at the base. The carving and ruins are well worth a stop off if you are travelling along this route, but there is little else to see in the area (except maybe the Pliska ruins and the Preslav ruins - neither well preserved) and the countryside is pretty non-descript and boring. 

You'll find more information about coastal areas and resorts under various discussions on the forum. I update the forum regularly so well worth stopping by every now and then.