Sunny Beach is the largest beach resort in Bulgaria. It has more than 800 hotels with more than 300,000 beds. The main attractions are the beach and the night life. Everything in Sunny Beach is centered around tourism. It feels more like a fairground than a city. It has little to do with the real Bulgaria. You might as well be in Salou or any other party town.
Sunny Beach is a popular holiday destination among many European countries. Probably the main variety of people visiting are young people (around 20s) attracted by the very well developed night life in the resort. Other part are foreign groups and families, mostly Russian and German. It may not provide too much activities for children, but many of the restaurants do have a small playground or such.
There are no street names except Flower Street for the main pedestrian street from the main road down to the Beach Promenade and the pier. Here`s 3D map of Sunny beach: http://sunnybeachmap.com
Sunny Beach pretty much shuts down for winter. The season is often divided into three:
Low season from beginning of May to last two weeks of September
Middle season: June and first two weeks of September
High season: July and August
Sunny Beach is usually entered via Burgas airport (BOJ), Varna airport (VAR) or Sofia airport (SOF) which lies about 25km from Sunny Beach. There are domestic and international flights to about 116 destinations in 33 countries, by more than 69 bulgarian and foreign airlines.
How to get to Sunny beach
Best way to get to Sunny beach is by taxi Highly recommend to pre-book before your arrival as avoid any rip off Taxi can be booked through: http://airportpickup.tripod.com at fixed cost.
Best way to get to Sunny beach is by taxi Highly recommend to pre-book before your arrival as avoid any rip off Taxi can be booked through: http://airportpickup.tripod.com at fixed cost.
What to see: Old Nesebar (Take a local bus from the main street for 1 BGN). Old Nesebar is part of the UNESCO heritage. There are lots of archaeological sites and old churches. Lots of shops and restaurants.
What to do in Sunny beach:
- Sunbathing Beach is one of the main reasons for Sunny Beach fame. It is over 5km long and about 30-60m wide. It is clear and not rocky. There are two main zones - near the shore is the "pay zone" where you have to rent an umbrella, and behind it there is the "free zone" where you can put your own umbrella. The price for a single umbrella or a chair is 8 BGN for the whole day (year 2013). You can rent an umbrella only if you find one without chairs, but as most of the umbrellas have chairs under them you end up paying 24 BGN for a day unless you're alone. Maximum number of persons per umbrella is four.
- Action Aqua Park, By the Burgas - Varna road near Sunny Beach center 10:00-18:00, high season 9:30-19:00. Water park and mini zoo covering an area of 36 000 m2 with 30 water attractions, thematic bars and restaurants. 130+ cm: full day 38 BGN, half day (from 15:00) 28 BGN. 90-130 cm: Full day 19 BGN, half day 14 BGN. Web: http://www.aquapark.bg/en/home
- Aqua Paradise, By the Burgas - Varna road in Nesebar (Free bus service from the main street), 10:00-18:30. Another water park located in Nesebar. 130+ cm: full day 38 BGN, half day (from 15:00) 28 BGN. 90-130 cm: Full day 19 BGN, half day 14 BGN Web: http://www.aquaparadise-bg.com/
- Scuba diving There are couple of dive shops in Nesebar offering courses and fun dives in the Black Sea: Angel Divers, Nemo Diving Center, Mike's Dive Center Diving center located in the city of Saint Vlas, north of Sunny Beach
- Khan`s tent restaurant - www.hanska-shatra.sea-hotels-bg.com/index.php/
- Trips and excursions - a lot of tours are available You can take a look and book here: http://airportpickup.tripod.com/excursions.html
There are a lot of shops and stalls everywhere, and especially in the central area. The selection in the stalls selling certain type of goods is pretty much the same in every such stall. Items are usually cheap and quality varies. It is not customary to haggle although sometimes shopkeepers spontaneously offer a promotion. Foreign currencies are not accepted, but there are plenty of exchange offices.
Shops are selling well known brands but as a rule of thumb: if you see something in Sunny Beach it is probably a copy, regardless of the price.
- Beach Boulevard. The boulevard along the shore has hundreds of stalls, shops and bars. Peddlers will try to lure you in, but they are not overly pushy.
- Royal Beach Mall, Around Barceló Royal Beach hotel. A shopping mall with about 100 shops. Selling mostly clothing from unknown brands
Most major beer brands are available. Local brands Shumensko and Kamenitza are cheaper (1-3 BGN for half a liter in restaurants, 1.5 BGN in supermarkets) and not bad.
As all seaside resorts - be aware for thieves. Keep an eye for your belongings (especially when you are on the beach). The other main problem you may encounter are drunk people. Don't argue with people that seem affected by alcohol - some of them might become violent. There are some rumours of food poisoning. Don't eat food that doesn't look good. There are duners and kebaps sold at the streets that might give you a belly ache. Tap water is safe to drink as well as at most of the places in Bulgaria.
