Varna sea. Varna or as it is also called the sea capital of Bulgaria is located on the western coast of the Black Sea.
You can get to Varna by plane. Only 6 km to the airport, which receives flights from 101 cities of the world. By bus, train or car.
Varna 2020. Varna Beaches Review
The port of Varna was officially opened in 1906. Part of the port is occupied by a passenger terminal. The Varna Marine Station is located in a three-story building, which houses restaurants, a duty-free shop and offices. It serves cruise and regular passenger ships. The Marine Station greets us with an embankment overlooking the port and many cafes and restaurants for every taste. Here you can take a tour on a pirate ship. If you haven’t taken it yet, we recommend it, it will leave an impression.
There are also cafes and restaurants in the building of the seaport. You can see the main prices in the restaurant menu in the photo. To find out the price in euros, you can simply divide the price in leva by 2. 2 leva is approximately 1 euro. Restaurant “Nemo” assortment of dishes and price list you can see in the photo.
And at the pier in the Sea Port, this yacht is waiting for us. The yacht can be rented for 148 euros for 2 hours or for 199 euros for 5 hours.
A strip of restaurants and cafes stretches along the pier.
Also nearby is a harbor for yachts, boats and other small vessels. There is also a yacht club and a yacht shop nearby. Note that this is not the only yacht parking in Varna.
South Beach
So, the first beach on our way is the South Beach – with the widest sand strip.
I will note that all the beaches are sandy, there are rocky areas, there are no pebble beaches in Varna. This is a place for organized and spontaneous sports events (beach football/volleyball), concerts. Nearby is the cafe “Mr. Baba” stylized as a wooden ship.
The beach is adjacent to a sports complex with several swimming pools, including an open-air one. The South Beach is actually part of the central beach of Varna. The beach has: cafes, changing rooms, children’s playgrounds, beach volleyball courts, water slides, trash cans. The cost of renting an umbrella is 5 levs. A sun lounger is 5 levs. Many cafes have their own beach areas. Where you can enjoy drinks and snacks and lie on a sun lounger or in a specially equipped area on soft pillows or sofas. The South Beach is very wide (up to 100 meters), the length is about 500 meters. There is always plenty of free space. The water here is relatively clean. Now the sea is very rough and it is not so transparent.
Adjacent to the beach is a swimming sports center with two swimming pools. One of them is open and works all year round, and a SPA center, where massage services are provided, a fitness room.
We continue our way along the sea coast and among cafes and restaurants, we see a water park. True, it is very small, but it works. For more information about this water park, watch the video on our channel.
Central beach
The Central Beach continues the South Beach. It accommodates a huge number of night discos, bars and clubs. It is always noisy and fun here. The main beach of Varna will please guests with its impressive size, abundance of cafes and night clubs, clean sea and soft sand. Here we see a restaurant on the beach with its own swimming pool. And this is a favorite place for many to contemplate the sea and take photos. In winter, a Christmas tree is installed here. The Seaside Park adjoins the central beach. A very successful combination: sea, sun, sand and greenery. Where you can find coolness in the midst of the daytime heat. The beach has everything you need for relaxation: rental of sun loungers and umbrellas (5 lv.), changing rooms, showers, cafes, restaurants, retail outlets, playgrounds. At night it becomes even hotter and more fun: numerous night clubs and beach discos begin to work. On the central beach, as well as on the South Beach, there are paid VIP zones.
Here is the menu of one of the many restaurants.
These little trains go along this route every half hour. The route and schedule of the train are on the screen. A ride on such a train costs 50 euro cents. At the end of the video, we will ride together on such a train. And now let’s continue along our route.
Cafes and restaurants follow one another, there are more than fifty of them along the entire embankment. Not counting small snack bars and stalls…
And we slowly approach the next beach.
Fisherman’s Beach
This is the Fisherman’s Beach, which is not very suitable for swimming, as it is mostly rocky. But along it there is a string of cafes with a variety of cuisines. And you can drive up here by car. And further along our route, all the beaches have the possibility of parking a car right next to the beach. “Fisherman’s Beach” is officially designated by the Varna authorities, has its own information board and opening hours. This is quite strange. Since the beach is a pile of large stones and only closer to the Officer’s Beach there is a very small area for accommodating vacationers. The main wealth of the beach is the numerous cafes with local Bulgarian-Black Sea cuisine and the availability of parking for cars. Otherwise, the infrastructure is modest. Apart from a lifeguard post, benches and trash cans, there is nothing.
Officers Beach
Here we see the fisherman’s beach, and here is the “Officer’s” beach. Let’s look back and see the path we have already taken…
And we continue our walk further. Here we come to another cafe with an extravagant name “La Cucaracha”.
Prices in La Cucaracha.
Let me remind you, divide the price in leva by 2 and you get the price in euros. Here we are on the new beach – Ofitsersky – Zapad. Nearby on the sign we see record low prices for sun loungers and umbrellas. Only 25 euro cents! Why so cheap? We will answer this question a little later. Ofitsersky – Zapad beach is famous for its hot underground hydrogen sulphide springs. Among the advantages, there is catamaran rental, lifeguard posts, showers, changing rooms.
And here is a fitness center with exercise machines right on the seashore. It works until 11 pm. Right next to it is a rental of classic bicycles and three-wheeled electric bicycles. The prices are 5 euros for 30 minutes or 7 euros for 1 hour.
One of the main local attractions is the pool. It has healing hydrogen sulphide water and is located right by the seashore. The pool looks unsightly and the smell may be confusing, but it is just the smell of hydrogen sulphide. Swans fly to the hot springs for the winter.
Just a few meters away from this pool, there is a “river-channel” flowing into the sea. This is the explanation for the low prices on the adjacent beach. This is waste water, albeit purified. Plus the smell of hydrogen sulfide adds to the feeling that something is wrong. Also, this beach is often unsuitable for swimming. Because the local health inspectorate often publishes reports stating that it is closed for swimming, especially after rains when the treatment facilities simply cannot cope with the load. There is a notice at the entrance to the beach, but most people do not see it and take water procedures here.
Beach Officer-East
Next comes the Ofitserskiy-Vostok beach. Although the prices for an umbrella and a sun lounger are higher here, don’t let that mislead you, the situation with the water quality is exactly the same here. Because it is also located close to the outlet channel. The peculiarity of the beach is that there are almost no waves here because of the breakwater. You can swim even when the red flag is hanging on other beaches. We conducted a water transparency test. Despite the lack of waves, there is almost zero visibility under the water, you can’t even see the bottom.
Rapong Beach
The beach “Rapongi” by the name of the restaurant of the same name. Renting an umbrella and a sun lounger will cost 5 euros. And to comfortably stay on a 3-bed bed will cost 10 euros, a tent another 25 euros. The restaurant “Rapongi” according to tourists’ reviews is expensive and pompous.
And recently the reviews have gotten worse. Lunch for two will cost 60-70 EUR. Parking is free. But after 10 o’clock in the afternoon it is problematic to find a free space here. You can also get to the beach by train. It stops on request. Rapongi is famous for its abundance of paid water activities. So a 30-minute parachute ride over the sea will cost 30 euros. And an hour on a pedal boat – 5 euros. We tested the transparency of the water. Now there are strong waves, there is almost zero visibility in the water, you can’t see anything.
Exotic bar. Judging by the sign – for surfers right on the street, most likely it works in the evening. There was no opportunity to check the quality of service.
Bunite Beach
This beach has less service, but there are still parking lots and restaurants nearby. The price for an umbrella and a sun lounger is 5 euros. The peculiarity of the beach is that there are almost no waves because of the breakwater. You can swim here even when there is a red flag on other beaches. You can go wakeboarding here.
Near the opposite side of the breakwater is the beach “Bunite 2”.
There are noticeably fewer people than on the central beaches of Varna.
“Rest” Beach
This is practically a wild beach. There is convenient parking along the coast. There are no paid areas, beach accessories and water attractions. This also characterizes the beach “Pochivka”.
Nudist beach
And finally, the last beach “Hidden” or also called “Nudist”. We learned about it from Google reviews, here are some of them. To get to this beach you will need to overcome a barrier of stones.
After all the adventures we are heading back, we stopped the little train, you can stop it by waving your hand and we are already heading back.
Housing in Bulgaria
Regarding accommodation in Varna, I will say that you can rent an entire apartment for two in Varna from 17 euros per day. And renting a hotel room for two will cost from 27 euros. There are also hostels in Varna, so there is an opportunity to rent accommodation even cheaper.
Most of Varna’s beaches are suitable for family holidays with children. During the season, there are enough vacationers on the beaches. On the other hand, even in the hottest months, there will always be places. This means you won’t have to step over bodies in search of a place in the sun and lie side by side with your neighbors. Varna’s beaches are about 8 kilometers long and stretch along the entire coastline. Beach holidays are not as popular here as sightseeing or health treatments, but there are good beaches here too. All Varna beaches are municipal, and entry to them is free. But many have paid areas where you will have to rent a sun lounger and umbrella or rent a separate gazebo or tent. Relaxing on your own towels in such areas is not allowed; there are free areas for this.
Asparuhovo is a suburb of Varna, where there is a pretty good beach. This is not a resort area (actually a residential area), so there are not many people on the beach. Basically, these are only local residents. The beach is almost 1 km long. There are changing rooms, showers, cafes. The advantages of this place include the fact that there is a park nearby. The park is equipped with playgrounds and sports grounds. There is access to the beach for cars. Of the minuses: the beach in Asparuhovo is cleaned worse than the beaches in the city center.
Conclusions:
All Varna beaches are suitable for visiting. We cannot recommend only the Ofitsersky beach. All beaches have free zones. Almost all beaches have zones with paid umbrellas and sun loungers and some have VIP zones.
If you choose by cleanliness, then the best in my opinion is the beach “Pochivka”. But there is no infrastructure, lifeguards and there are large stones, so visiting this beach with children is highly undesirable. With children, I recommend visiting the beaches: “Yuzhny” or “Tsentralny”.
Sea water temperature in Varna by month
