Relaxing in Burgas on the Black Sea Coast

Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored post, I paid for this trip myself. All recommendations and opinions are my own.

When we were planning our holiday to Bulgaria, we wanted a good mix of adventure and relaxation. After all, it was summer and living in the United Kingdom means we don’t get to relax on a sunny beach and swim in warm waters very often. On our 11 day self-drive holiday we visited historic Plovdiv, hiked the Rila Mountains, explored Rila Monastery, enjoyed wine tasting in Melnik, and hung out in trendy Sofia, Bulgaria’s capital. We then headed back over to the coast to enjoy the warm waters of the Black Sea and visit Bulgaria’s historic coastal resorts of Nessebar and Sozopol.

When deciding where to stay on the coast, I had a difficult time. Bulgaria has a busy coastline lined with beach resorts, however, I didn’t want to stay in a crowded party resort or the bland modern hotel resorts. Instead, I wanted to relax and enjoy a more laid back atmosphere with good food and the opportunity to explore some traditional and historic areas. I also wanted to stay somewhere central so we could easily take the (cheap!) bus on day trips to visit the popular sites along the coast. So in the end we decided to stay in the old town of Burgas and avoided the very touristy Sunny Beach.

In order to save money on car hire and parking, we returned our hire car to the airport where we had picked it up and took the bus into Burgas city. The bus only cost us 1.5 lev each which is about .75 euro, so cheap! The bus station is centrally located in the touristy old town part of the city, so it was an easy walk to the apartment we were staying in. We were starving, so headed off to grab a late lunch on the main pedestrian street. We ate at Cardamon (bul. “Aleko Bogoridi” 27, 8000 Burgas Center, Burgas) and enjoyed some juicy burgers.

There are no famous sites and attractions in Burgas, but the highlight for me was its old town and unique coastline. In this day and age where most beaches are crowded with high rise buildings, Burgas has the Sun Garden, a beautiful park and garden that stretches along the coast for a couple of miles. In the afternoon we enjoyed a walk through the park and out along the jetty. The beach has private areas served by bars with cabanas and beach umbrellas that you can pay to relax on, but there are also large areas of beach that are open to the public.

Whilst we were visiting there were lots of juvenile seagulls everywhere, which made for a lot of very noisy squawking in the evenings. There were also a lot of stray cats in Burgas which is rather sad to see as they were not in good condition. We found this issue everywhere we visited in Bulgaria.

The following day we planned to explore more of Burgas and then relax on the beach in the afternoon. If you enjoy coffee then frappe latte’s (iced coffee) are a popular drink here in the hot summer. A good coffee shop to get one is Kafe Pellini (bul. “Aleko Bogoridi” 32, 8000 Burgas Center, Burgas). Directly across from it is some tombstones and Thracian dolmen, a single-chamber with vertical megaliths supporting a large flat horizontal capstone or ‘table’. Beside it is a archaeological museum in a pink historic building where you can find out more about the Ancient Thracians who once dominated this region.

Along the pedestrian street are many beautiful historic buildings that have been painted in bright colours. Off the main street the buildings and streets are a bit rough looking, but you can see people are slowly restoring them to what they once were. There are several interesting churches in Burgas including the Church of Saint Cyril and Methodius, Church St. Bogoroditsa, and the Holy Cross Armenian church with its small monument to the victims of the Armenian genocide in the Ottoman Empire.

We bought some pastries for breakfast from Milina Bakery (ul. “Kont Androvanti” 2, 8000 Burgas Center, Burgas) and walked along to Troika Square with its mists of water (fun for kids) and its monument of the Soviet Army dedicated to World War II. We then continued on to explore more of The Sea Garden. As well as gardens, there are sculptures dotted throughout the park. I really enjoyed the playful ones by the Cultural Centre including the little hobbit house. Further north from here is also a sand castle exhibition that they put on every summer.

We spent our afternoon relaxing at the beach. The Black Sea gets lovely and warm in the summer and I also loved how huge the beach is in Burgas. It just goes on and on. It is easy to find yourself a quiet spot if you don’t want to sit with the crowd of cabanas. There are toilets available as well as shelters to change and showers to rinse off the salty water. However, the sea isn’t very salty so I quite enjoyed as it wasn’t too disgusting if you got some water splashed in your mouth.

Accommodation Options in Burgas

Search available accommodation in Burgas

Budget

• A16 Hostel – dorms and private rooms
• The Old Captain Hostel – private rooms with shared bathrooms
• Guest House Elit

Moderate

• Super Central Luxury Apartments
• Hotel Doro
• Sea Apartment Colours

Luxury

• Boutique Hotel Promenade
• Primoretz Grand Hotel & Spa
• Villa Promenade

Practical Tips for Visiting Burgas

• How long should I visit Burgas for? Put aside at least a day to explore Burgas and enjoy the beach. We based ourselves here for four nights so we could explore the area.
• Getting to and from Burgas airport to Burgas city: There is a regular bus that picks up from the airport and runs into the city and takes about 30 minutes. As it is also a local bus, it makes a number of stops. The buses here are very cheap at 1.50 lev from the airport to the city. There are also taxi’s if you prefer.
• Getting to Burgas from Sofia: If you have flown into Sofia, then you can either drive to Burgas which takes about 4 hours, or take the intercity bus between them which takes around 6 hours. Check the Bulgarian public transport website for the timetable.
• Language: Bulgarian. It can be difficult to understand signs when they are in Bulgarian, as it looks nothing like the English version. Many of the areas we visited in Bulgaria only limited people spoke English, so we tried to make an effort with some Bulgarian. I encourage you to try a little Bulgarian too. Fun fact – Bulgarians nod when they say no and shake their head when they mean yes.
  • Yes = да (da)
  • No = не (ne)
  • Please = моля (molya)
  • Thank you = благодаря (blagodarya)
  • Hello = добър ден (dobar den)
  • Where is the toilet? къде в тоалетната (kade e toaletnata)
• Currency: Bulgarian Lev, or Leva, which is the plural. Most places had card machines and there were plenty of ATM’s. However, you will need small change for the buses.
• Electricity: The electrical current is 220-240 volts, 50-60 Hz. Wall outlets take the European two round prong plugs. However, you are better off purchasing a worldwide adaptor that can be used in Bulgaria as well other countries. At least then you can potentially get some further use out of it on future vacations. If you’re taking a number of electronics with you, then I would recommend purchasing a couple of these adaptors.
• Driving: In Bulgaria they drive on the right hand side of the road with speed signs in kilometres per hour (km). The speed limits are 50 km (31 mph) within towns; 90 km (56 mph) outside towns; 120 km (75 mph) on expressways; and a rather scary 140 km (87 mph) on motorways. Some of the roads we drove on were very old with huge pot holes and the paint had long since faded, so we had to drive slower in these areas.
• Navigating: We used Google’s free Offline Maps. Google Offline Maps allows you to access free maps for navigating that can be used offline i.e. you don’t need WIFI, data, or roaming to be able to use them. Follow this detailed guide on how to use Googles Offline Maps. Using your phone as a GPS will drain your battery quickly, so use a portable battery charger which you can use to charge your phone and any other USB chargeable devices. If you prefer a paper map, then purchase a Bulgarian road map before you go. At least it’s reliable and won’t run out of battery or malfunction like the electronic options!