Sunny Beach Bulgaria 2023: Pros and Cons, Housing Prices, Sea and Beaches
After reading this article, you will find out whether it is worth going on holiday to Sunny Beach? And has the holiday become more expensive in 2023? We will also evaluate the popular resort according to all the main criteria. You can also take part in the assessment of the resort – by giving your rating at the end of the article.
The main thing about Sunny Beach
Sunny Beach is the largest and most popular resort in Bulgaria. Sunny Beach is written in Bulgarian as “Slunchev Bryag” and pronounced as “Slynchev Bryag”. The first hotel in Sunny Beach was opened in 1959. Until 1999, the Golden Orpheus song contest was held here.
And now Sunny Beach has become a party place for young people from all over Europe who come here to spend their vacation during the summer season, which lasts from June to the end of September. Today, Sunny Beach has about 117 hotels, as well as more than 100 attractions. In addition to hotels, residential complexes for permanent residence are being built at the resort.
The Sunny Beach resort has a humid subtropical climate. According to long-term data, the warmest months of the year are July and August with average temperatures of +26°C. The sea water is warmest in August with an average temperature of +24.9°C.
This summer we met most tourists from Romania, Ukraine, Poland, and Great Britain.
Location
The Sunny Beach resort is located on the shore of the bay, in the form of a semicircle. The beach of the Sunny Beach resort stretches for 8 km. The Sunny Beach resort is part of the city of Nessebar, where there is already a municipality and schools. In the north, Sunny Beach merged with the resort of Sveti Vlas , and in the south with the city of Nessebar .
How to get there?
The closest airports to Sunny Beach are located in Burgas , 35 km away from Sunny Beach. Burgas Airport is international and receives international flights from 20 airlines. And the airport in Varna is located 100 km away from Sunny Beach.
Regular bus service to the cities of Bulgaria is served by its own bus station. It is located near the center of the resort. Buses to Burgas (travel time is about 30 minutes) leave every half hour. Prices for bus tickets on the route Burgas – Sunny Beach are about 4 euros. Varna – Sunny Beach 7 -7.5 euros.
Sunny Beach is connected by local bus service to Nessebar and Sveti Vlas. There are bus stops around the city. The ticket price is 1 euro. There are also free minibuses to the water park. Small pleasure boats to Nessebar depart from Sunny Beach and back every 20 minutes. The ticket price is seven and a half euros, a child’s ticket is five euros. And you can take a train to Nessebar and back. The ticket costs 3 euros for an adult, 1.5 euros for a child.
There are taxis and several car, bicycle and electric scooter rentals in the city. Electric scooter prices are 7.5 euros for 15 minutes. That is, 1 minute is 50 cents. If you rent a scooter for an hour, it is 25 cents per minute.
Beach in Sunny Beach
The entrance to the sea is gentle, which is suitable for children. The sand is clean and fine. The beach is 60 meters wide on average, reaching 100 meters in some places. The quality of water and beach care and generally the maintenance of cleanliness at the resort are at a high level. Despite the abundance of vacationers, it is clean. The Sunny Beach resort was designed taking into account the latest trends in water purification.
We measured the temperature of the sea water at the Center beach. The water in the sea is +26.6°C degrees.
Prices on the beaches depend on the specific beach and fluctuate within the following limits: umbrella – 4.5 – 5 euros, sun lounger – 4.5 – 5 euros.
The beaches of Sunny Beach offer all the main entertainment. A ride on a jet ski will cost 60 euros for 15 minutes. A banana boat and a tablet will cost 15 euros. And if you want to diversify your leisure time with water and air extreme sports, parasailing is at your service. One flight costs 75 euros, if you fly together then it will be 90 euros for two.
It should be noted that this year all three beaches “North”, “Center” and “South” traditionally received the international environmental award “Blue Flag”.
Many people ask a legitimate question. What is the Black Sea like after the destruction of the dam in Nova Kakhovka? In principle, we did not notice anything unusual. As RZI-Burgas said, 113 water samples were just taken in Bulgaria. The results showed that the water meets the requirements for excellent quality. And at the moment there is no pollution. Also, the website of the environment and water resources in Bulgaria in a message from June 30 indicates that there is no data on the pollution of Bulgarian waters of the Black Sea and the studies of coastal waters from the coast, conducted by the Directorate of the Black Sea Basin, do not indicate potential pollution of the marine environment. The measured values at all six points are below the maximum permissible concentrations and average annual values.
In the Sunny Beach area there is a natural attraction – sand dunes, there are 5 of them.
Sunny Beach 2023 – Accommodation
There are 117 hotels in the Sunny Beach resort. Prices for accommodation this summer start from 21 euros for a double room, which is 1 euro lower than last summer. In a hotel on the first line, prices start from 31 euros. And a 2-bed room on an all-inclusive basis costs from 110 euros per day. If you want to rent an apartment, then the prices for a studio apartment will be from 29 euros.
If you want to buy an apartment in Sunny Beach. Now the prices for one-room apartments start from 22,000 euros, and for two-room apartments from 30,000 euros.
Sunny Beach – Food
What to do if you haven’t booked an all-inclusive hotel? Where to eat?
The first power supply option.
It is the simplest option, but also the most expensive. It is simply to eat in cafes or restaurants located throughout the town. There may not be any vacancies in good value for money places. You should also keep in mind that you will have to make several test orders in different establishments, read reviews, in a word, spend a lot of time before you find what suits you.
Second option.
A budget option for food is to cook for yourself, buying products in chain stores, where prices are minimal. For example, in Sunny Beach, this is the new Lidl. It is located at the entrance to the resort from Varna. However, to get to Lidl, tourists have to cross a busy road, which is quite dangerous. Also, at a distance of 4.4 km from the center of Sunny Beach, there is a large Janet Grand Market. The peculiarity of this store is the huge range of products. With this option, the cost of food will be close to what you spent at home.
Safety
To increase the safety of holidaymakers, over 350 police officers from other parts of Bulgaria will be sent to the coastal resort areas this summer. There is a stationary police station in Sunny Beach. It is located in the center of the resort near Tsvetochnaya Street.
Sunny Beach is the noisiest resort in Bulgaria. Because young people from all over the world come here with all the ensuing consequences. Therefore, you need to take precautions. Do not leave valuables unattended on the beach. In the hotel, put valuables in the safe.
What to see in Sunny Beach?
Flower Street
The most famous street in Sunny Beach is Tsvetochnaya Street. This crowded pedestrian street runs from the center of the resort to the sea with a pier.
Promenade
The promenade runs along the beach of Sunny Beach. It is dotted with shopping kiosks, bars and restaurants. A popular place for vacationers to stroll in the evenings.
Lunapark
In the center of Sunny Beach is located Lunapark. It is not crowded during the day. The rides are open from 5 pm to midnight. Lunapark is small, but the rides are for all groups, from the smallest to the extreme. There is an attraction like “Roller Coaster” which costs 6 euros to ride. The ride on the Booster, “attraction booster” will cost 9.5 euros. A ticket for 4 extreme rides at once costs 20 euros. Along the perimeter there are tents with shooting ranges, indoor darts areas. There is also an electric race track.
Fun Park
There is another amusement park in Sunny Beach – Fun Park, which is located near McDonald’s. It has about the same range of attractions, but there is also a Ferris wheel nearby. King Kong will greet you at the entrance. The park is open from 17:00 to 24:00. The prices in Fun Park are simpler – all attractions are 3.5 euros. And there are also discounts.
Nessebar
The main attraction for tourists is the nearby ancient historical town of Nessebar.
Water park
There are two large Aquaparks. Action Aquapark is located right on the resort grounds, and Nessebar Aquapark is 5.5 kilometers from the resort center. Getting to the waterparks is quite easy: free minibuses stop at special stops marked with an information board. Such buses run every 20-30 minutes.
Nessebar Aquapark is more suitable for teenagers and adults, Action attracts families with small children – there are more children’s slides and even a small zoo. This summer, at the height of the season, the prices in the Aquapark were: in Nessebar Park, adult – 34 euros (21 euros after lunch), children 17 euros (13 euros after lunch), in Action Park, adult 29.5 (21 euros after lunch), children 15 euros (10.5 euros after lunch). It is better to buy tickets online, then there is a small discount.
Excursions in Sunny Beach
Directly from Sunny Beach you can take many excursions. So an excursion to Nessebar is 15 euros. A walk along the sea to Sozopol with a walking tour and lunch will cost 40 euros. And you can go on a shopping tour to Varna for the whole day for 17 and a half euros. A visit to the Varna Dolphinarium will cost 40 euros. An excursion to Istanbul from 90 euros.
It should also be noted that for sports enthusiasts Sunny Beach offers tennis courts, basketball and volleyball courts, mini golf, bicycles, as well as rowing and sailing boats, scooters, water skis, pedal boats, water parachutes (parasailing), etc. There is also an equestrian center with well-trained horses and trained riding instructors. The Sunny Beach resort previously hosted the international popular song festival “Golden Orpheus” from 1965 to 1999. Now it hosts symphonic music days, part of the international folklore festival, fashion shows, and various beach competitions.
Finance in Sunny Beach
The official currency of Bulgaria is the lev. For ease of calculation, one euro is worth two leva or one lev is worth 50 euro cents.
In Bulgaria, almost all normal shops and catering establishments accept cards for payment, and if they refuse to accept your card, which is very unlikely, then something is wrong, it is better not to use such services. For pocket money, taxis, although many accept cards, we recommend taking small euros with you, which can be exchanged for leva in Bulgaria.
Mobile communications
If you come to Bulgaria from EU countries, then you do not need to buy a SIM card, European roaming works in Bulgaria. And for residents of Ukraine and other countries, you can use your SIM card, just connect the necessary package for roaming in EU countries. This will be more profitable than buying a new card here. In Sunny Beach, we easily found prepaid SIM cards at a price of 7.5 euros.
To Sunny Beach 2023 by your own car
But many hotels resort to trickery, on the booking site they indicate the availability of parking. But in reality it may turn out that it is not available or all the parking spaces are occupied or the parking is located several kilometers from the hotel. Therefore, you need to read the reviews of the hotel. The cost of parking, the one in the very center of Sunny Beach will be 2.5 euros per hour. If you walk a few hundred meters away from the sea, you can find parking for 1.5 euros per hour and 12 euros per day.
Pros
- A huge selection of housing in various price categories.
- Good infrastructure and cleanliness at the resort.
- A wide selection of catering establishments.
- Good and accessible transport links.
- It is possible to buy food products on your own at low prices in Bulgaria.
- Clean and warm sea, plenty of sunny days.
- The sea is also suitable for the little ones.
- There are water parks and attractions.
- There are attractions nearby and it is possible to go on an excursion.
- Sunny Beach has a perfectly flat surface, there are practically no differences in altitude, you won’t have to go down to the sea from a height and then climb back up on the way home.
Cons
- For vacationers looking for a quiet place to relax, it may seem like a noisy place.
- On the streets you can often see young people in a state of intoxication, especially in the evenings.
- Sunny Beach can safely be called a territory without price tags. Even in pharmacies it is difficult to find medicine with a price. Therefore, the price often depends on what language you speak, your appearance, etc.
- There are very few hotels with parking, especially in hotels close to the sea.
- Due to the very dense development there are few green spaces, if this is important to you, then it is better to choose another resort, for example, Golden Sands.
Results
Sunny Beach is perfect for young travelers from all over the world with its sand dunes, water sports and vibrant life. And for those who love a noisy and active holiday.
I wonder if you have been to Sunny Beach? What you liked or didn’t like, write in the comments.
Sea water temperature in Sunny Beach by month
