Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast

Last modified 10.03.2022 | Published 13.08.20102010's, Bulgaria, Southern Europe, Travelogue

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A week with sun and bath and a day trip to the wonderful town of Nesebar. Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast has a few things to offer.

 

Albena & Balchik

This summer I took my children to the Bulgarian Black Sea coast for a week of sunbathing and swimming. We had a good time all of us, but for me it was also a kind of culture shock.

The reason for this is due to the fact that we stayed in a tourist trap of the worst sort, in my opinion. The town of Albena on the coast north of Varna is a quite large secluded resort built with the sole purpose to accommodate tourists. In that respect it is very artificial and bears no resemblence to anything genuine.

The beach was however beautiful. It stretches for 5 kilometres, is 150 metres wide and quite clean. The water is lukewarm. Our hotel was not on the front row, but on the street behind it, offering six swimming pools of different sizes and design. Really nice indeed. (I’m not ironic.)

What I did not like about the resort was the fact that it was almost impossible to find anything but tourist food. They even had Norwegian menus. As a matter of fact they served Norwegian Christmas meals! In my opinion travelling to another country involves eating local food.

 

I dislike feeling at home when I am abroad. (George Bernard Shaw) 

 

Fortunately we rented a car the week we were there. Some of the evenings we went a few kilometres north to Balchik. This little town had retained some of its original flavour and had a pleasant seaside promenade featuring several good restaurants.

 

Expand and watch these images from Albena and then go on reading below.

This map shows the driving route between places mentioned in this article from Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast.

 

 

Nesebar

We also went on a day trip to Nesebar (Nessebar), which deserves its place on the World Heritage List. This “Pearl of the Black Sea” was really nice to walk around in, even though the crowds were huge and the heat under the sun quite oppressive.

Read my article.

 

 

 

The Black Sea coastal town of Nesebar. It is on UNESCO’s World Heritage List, and certainly on many tourist agendas as well.