Burgas is one of the two big cities on the Bulgarian Black sea coast.
A summer holiday is usually associated with many lazy hours on the beach. In addition, it can be enriched by visiting exciting places near the sea. I wrote this article with the idea to share information about interesting places in Burgas and around. It is dedicated to 15 of the most attractive Burgas attractions. I visited them all, so the writings below are based on my personal impressions.
If you are on holiday in Burgas or have something to do there, this post will definitely help you find what to see and do in this beautiful region of the Bulgarian Black sea coast.
Travel resources
You can visit some of the most beautiful places in Bulgaria via organized daily tours. Have a look here for several options from the biggest Bulgarian provider for day tours from Sofia – Traventuria.
Rent a car for your trip to Bulgaria from Top Rent A Car, the major car hire provider in Bulgaria with loyalty program for the returning customers. Click here to rent a car.
You can find the best accommodation choices at Booking.com, one of the world’s leading digital travel companies. Click here to look for the place to stay in Bulgaria.
How to get to Burgas
Burgas is situated 382 kilometers east of the Bulgarian capital Sofia. You can get to Burgas by car or by public transport – by plain, by train from Sofia, and by bus.
Top sites to visit in Burgas and around
This section is dedicated to the top things to see in Burgas and nearby.
Burgas: The Sea Garden
This is a very pleasant park for a walk in Burgas along the sea.
Burgas: the Historical Museum
Burgas: the House-Museum Petya Dubarova
Petya Dubarova is one of the best Bulgarian poets. Several popular songs have been written based on her texts. Unfortunately, she ended her life at the age of 17. The house she lived in functions as a house-museum now.
Burgas: Saint Anastasia Island
Saint Anastasia Island is one of the newest and the most attractive tourist destinations in Bulgaria where you can be so close to pirate treasures and archeological finds.
It is not only an interesting place to visit, also a real sea experience, because to get there you need a boat or a ship. Well, tourist ships are available at the Burgas port, Magasia 1, where there is also a tourist center. More information about the island and the way to get there you can find in the corresponding blog article.
Burgas: Aquae Calidae
Aquae Calidae is a recently open tourist attraction near Burgas. It is old baths from Roman times, used earlier by the Thracians as a sanctuary and later on rebuilt several times over the centuries. They have been used nowadays until a decade ago.
Now it is a museum. Aquae Calidae is located about 14 kilometers northwest of the center of Bourgas between the villages of Vetren and Banevo, now districts of Burgas. You can learn more about the place in the post here.
Nessebar: the Old town
A place with a unique atmosphere that does not need a special presentation because it is already well-known. You can see there typical old houses, very old churches and temples, fortress walls, and charming sea scenery.
Nessebar: Archaeological Museum
Located in a new building at the entrance of the Old Town in Nessebar, the museum presents exhibits from the history of ancient Messambria and Medieval Nessebar.
Pomorie: Ancient-Thracian domed tomb
5 km west of Pomorie you can see a Thracian antique dome tomb dating from 2-4 century AD. The access is easy and convenient. You can reach it by car.
The tomb is a large circular room with a diameter of about 12 meters and a thick hollow column in the middle. A 22-meter-long dromos corridor leads to this circular room. The column is more than a meter in diameter and rises to the surface of the tomb. Inside the column there are traces of spiral staircase that led upwards in the very past.
Pomorie: the Historical Museum
It is located in the old part of the town in a building that is an architectural monument.
Pomorie Lake
Pomorie Lake is a coastal lagoon, located 19 km northeast of Bourgas and 2 km north of Pomorie. Despite the nice view, what is interesting about the lake is that оne of the major airways of migratory birds from across Europe Via Pontica passes above the lake. Over 250 different bird species have been observed in the wetland area. There is a visitor center on the southern shore of Pomorie Lake. Close to the tourist center is the Salt museum.
Chernomorets: Akra fortress and museum exposition “St. Nicholas”
Chernomorets is a small town located 25 km southeast of Burgas.Two interesting tourist sites can be visited there. The first one is a small museum. Its name is “St. Nicholas” and it is located in the center. It consists of two halls – archeological and ethnographic, and a lapidarium where you can see a rich collection of stone anchors – the oldest anchors found at the bottom of the Sozopol Gulf. Saint Nicholas is considered to be a patron of the settlement.
The second site is the Akra fortress which is situated on the Akra Peninsula (Cape Akin), the first peninsula after the town of Chernomorets in the direction of Burgas. The fortress can be reached in about ten minutes by car from Chernomorets on a dirt but stable road.
Akra fortress was built in the second half of the 5th century under the rule of the Byzantine emperor Anastasius. It served as a fortification of a settlement, remnants of which can be seen today on the seabed in low and clean waters. The fortress survived until the 90s of the 6th century, when the Avar invasions occurred.
Sozopol: the Old town
The old town of Sozopol is an architectural and archaeological reserve, one of the symbols of the Bulgarian Black Sea coast. I strongly recommend you to go and have a walk there. You can see typical old houses from Strandzha region, fortress walls with towers, small shops and restaurants, amphitheater and all this surrounded by the Black Sea.
Sozopol – The Archaeological Museum
The Archaeological Museum is located in the old town of Sozopol and contains interesting exhibits presenting the history of the town.
Sozopol: St. Ivan Island
The St. Ivan Island is located north of Sozopol. The name of the island comes from the monastery “St. John the Baptist”, whose remains can be visited nowadays (please, be aware that Ivan is the Bulgarian for John). The Monastery of St. John the Baptist is one of the first Christian monasteries. It dates back to the end of the 5th or the beginning of the 6th century. A lot of archives, preserving ancient manuscripts from this monastery, are kept in various European libraries today.
In 2010 the Bulgarian archaeologist prof. Kazimir Popkonstantinov found a coffin with bones at the base of the old church there. Analyzes and studies afterwards indicated that those bones were part of the relics of St. John the Baptist himself, the predecessor of Christ.
How to get to the St. Ivan Island
There are not currently organized trips to the island of St. Ivan. The cruise ships departing from the quay in Sozopol only pass along the two islands of Saint John and St. Peter. To get to the island, you have to use one of the fishing boats on the quay. The price is negotiable. We paid 40 BGN in total to get to the island and back.
It takes about 20 minutes to reach the St. Ivan Island. The return takes the same time. You will also need to plan at least 40 minutes to look around there.
Deultum
Deultum is the only colony of free Roman citizens on the territory of Bulgaria. In 2011 Deultum was elected by national electronic vote for one of the Bulgaria wonders. It was found that there was a Thracian settlement at first. That was before the beginning of the new era. Later on, in the second half of the 1st century under the rule of the Roman emperor Titus Flavius Vespasian, the Roman colony Deultum was founded by the veterans of the August VIII Legion.
The national archaeological reserve “Deultum-Debelt” is situated in the eastern outskirts of the village of Debelt, about 20 km southwest of Bourgas. The site is quite impressive for its reach history and its size.
Well, it was the last place near Burgas I wanted to share with you. After I know or visit more interesting sits in Burgas and around I will let you know. You can also recommend some below in the comments.
