Varna sightseeing: top places to visit in Varna, Bulgaria

In this article, I will take you on a journey through the must-see sights of Varna and nearby, and show you the top attractions there. Most of the places, described below, can be visited almost any time a year.

Located on the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria, Varna is a city that will propose you a great combination of ancient traditions and modern influences. With its charming city center, old ruins, interesting museums and tourist sights, and wonderful beaches, Varna has something to offer for everyone.

Varna: Bulgaria’s maritime capital, the third largest city in the country, the port of Shoumen, according to a joke – all those are well-known definitions of our beautiful seaside city. In addition, this is one of my favorite Bulgarian cities. I usually spend my summer holiday on the Northern Black Sea, thus in the recent years I have not missed a year without visiting the city of Varna.

Contents

Things to see in Varna
Things to see near Varna
Varna attractions
Attractions near Varna
How to get to Varna

Things to see in Varna

Archaeological Museum: a must-see place in Varna

Some people think that museums are usually boring, but this is not the case with the Varna Archaeological Museum. In several halls on the first floor you can see the Varna Gold Treasure, which is the oldest found gold in the world, dating from the end of the 5th – beginning of the 4th millennium BC. It was discovered by chance in 1972 during excavation work along the northern shore of Lake Varna. The place was a necropolis – 294 graves were gradually uncovered and gold objects were found in some of them.

The gold troves and other finds are displayed very interestingly in the museum. Along with the showcases and information boards, you can see in one of the halls restoration of the richest grave from the necropolis – the grave number 43. The person buried there is supposed to be the ruler. So you can feel like a researcher almost on the ground. I am not an archeologist, but as a student I have been involved in archaeological excavations, so I have an idea of what it is.

• Opening hours: 10am – 5pm , days off: Sunday and Monday.
• Ticket price: BGN 10, for people using a discount – BGN 3.

Roman Baths in the city center

Roman baths, also known as the Big Thermae, are an interesting place dating back to Roman times. Their ruins are located in the heart of the city. Once upon a time they were the public baths of the Roman city of Odessos, the precursor of Varna. They were built in the late 2nd or early 3rd century under the reign of Emperor Septimius Severus. With its 7,000 square meters area, the Odessa baths are among the largest known Roman baths in Europe.

There are also Small Roman baths. They are located on Primorski Blvd. (this is the street starting from the railway station and parallel to the shore) just before the Sea Garden.

• Opening hours during the summer period : 9am – 6pm , without a day off.
• Ticket price: BGN 5, for people using a discount – BGN 3.

Varna sightseeing: the Cathedral

The Varna cathedral “Assumption of the Virgin” is the largest church in the city and is among its symbols. It is located in the central part of the city.

The Theater “Stoyan Bachvarov” Varna

A very beautiful building in the center of Varna. In addition to theaters, it also hosts symphony concerts and operas. The Varna Theater was founded in 1921 by Stoyan Bachvarov, a Bulgarian dramatic actor, hence the name of the theater. A curious fact is that Stoyan Bachvarov’s great-grandson is Uti Bachvarov, a popular contemporary Bulgarian actor and host of the popular culinary show “Fast, Easy, Tasty”.

Sea Garden

The Sea Garden is another symbol of Varna. It is a big city park by the sea. You can stroll on pretty paths and see lovely gardens with flowers and plants. The Sea Garden is not just a landmark, but home of several other iconic landmarks in Varna.

Whenever I’m in Varna, a walk in the Sea Garden is a must thing to do.

Aquarium Museum

The Aquarium Museum is both an extremely interesting attraction in Varna and the base of the Institute of Fish Resources, part of the Agricultural Academy. Its designer is Dabko Dabkov, a Bulgarian architect born in Tryavna, who studied in Munich and lived in Varna.

It is located in the western part of the Sea Garden.

As a child, I visited the museum at least ten times. In recent years I have also entered. It’s always very interesting there and definitely among the great things to do in Varna.

• Opening hours during the summer period: 9:00 – 19:00, without a day off.
• Ticket price: BGN 4, for people using a discount – BGN 2.

More information about the museum can be found here.

Naval Museum

The Naval Museum is another emblematic landmark in Varna. The expositions in it trace chronologically the shipping along the coasts of Bulgarian lands from ancient times to the present days. Part of the museum is the ship “Druzki”, the only preserved torpedo carrier of this class in the world. The museum is located in the southwest corner of the Sea Garden.

• Opening hours during the summer period: 10:00 – 18:00, days off: Sunday and Monday.
• Ticket price: BGN 8, for people using a discount – BGN 2.

The Promenade

The Promenade in Varna is located between the sea and the Sea Garden and is also a great place to walk. There are many restaurants along it.

Euxinograd Palace

It was the summer residence of the kings who ruled Bulgaria after the Liberation from Ottoman rule (1878) – Prince Alexander Battenberg, Tsar Ferdinand and Tsar Boris III. The complex is located about 10 km east of the center of Varna and is located on a three-kilometer coastal strip in close proximity to the resort of St. St. Constantine and Elena. The complex includes a palace and a huge park.

It is quite interesting site in Varna, but unfortunately, visiting the palace is a bit cumbersome. The site is not like an ordinary museum and you cannot just go, buy tickets and look around. To visit the place, you must send a prior request to euxinograde@government.bg a few days before the day of your visit. The tour lasts about an hour and a half and is carried out with a guide.

University Botanical Garden – Ecopark Varna

It is the first Ecopark in the country and combines artificial and natural ecosystems. The place is pleasant for a walk. You can see many plant species. The most interesting in my opinion are the flower areas with the collections of roses, cacti and irises. Within the ecopark, you can also see ancient sites – a Roman tomb and an ancient villa. However, the remains of the villa are quite modest and overgrown with bushes and grass. In addition, one of the routes passes over a bridge over an artificially constructed waterfall, and in the northwestern part of the park there is a small chapel.

Ecopark Varna has many designated areas for recreation and picnics. During our visit, most of the areas were occupied by groups of people, some were taking a break, others were grilling food on the barbecues built there, and there was also a large group of children who were playing freely.

If you expect to see an abundance of well-arranged flower gardens, you will probably be disappointed – there are none, except perhaps the Rosarium. For such finds, the Botanical Garden in Balchik remains a favorite. If you are simply looking for a place with authentic nature to walk, Ecopark Varna will probably appeal to you. Personally, I prefer to walk around the Sea Garden, which has charming views of the sea and is free to visit.

The University Botanical Garden is located next to the main road in the Konstantin and Elena resort area.

• Opening hours during the summer period: 8:00 – 20:00, without a day off.
• Ticket price: BGN 6, for people using a discount – BGN 3.

Retro Museum – Time Machine

This is another museum that has nothing to do with boredom, a place that brought me back to my childhood. The main focus of the Retro Museum is the cars of the communist times – the emblematic Volga, GAZ Chaika (Gull), Moskvitch, Zhiguli, Wartburg, Skoda, Zaz, Trabant. All the exhibits there were as shiny as they were new.

In addition to cars, many things of socialism times can be seen – clothes, shoes, briefcases, my “favorite” format toilet paper (an idea softer than sandpaper 😉 ), washing machines and powders, TVs, radios with the size of a large TV, an especially rich collection of toys, numerous inscriptions and slogans, most of them related to fire safety, public cleanliness and personal hygiene.

It is located in the Grand Mall, just above the Main bus station.

Aladzha Monastery: one of the top places to visit near Varna

It is an old rock monastery, located about 15 kilometers northeast of Varna center. The Aladzha Monastery was established in the 12th to 13th centuries and acted until the end of the 15th or the beginning of the 16th century. You can see there a chapel, a church, remains of murals, monastic cells, kitchens, and a dining room.

There are old catacombs located 700 meters away from the monastery. They can be reached in about 10 minutes of walking along a forest path. The path starts just from the museum.

• Opening hours during the summer period: 10:00 – 17:00, without a day off.
• Ticket price: BGN 5, for people using a discount – BGN 3.

Panorama Galata

“Galata” panoramic platform is a dedicated platform for observing Varna and the sea from the Galata district. The place got better. It now has a nearby parking lot, and they also added benches and a railing. The best views are in the evening during and after sunset.

In addition to the wonderful view of the Varna Bay and the city, on the railing of the site you will see many closed padlocks left by romantically inclined couples who symbolically sealed their love in this way. If you’ve traveled around Europe, you’ve probably come across such romantic places with lots of padlocks.

The site is located 5 kilometers after the turnoff from the main road to Burgas towards the neighborhoods of Asparuhovo and Galata. It can be reached by city bus as well as by car.

Coordinates: 43.172517, 27.926826

Following are some top things to see and do near Varna.

Things to see near Varna

The Stone Forest (Pobiti kamani)

The Stone Forest, in Bulgarian “Pobiti kamyni”, is a desert-like natural phenomenon consisting of a lot of stone blocks and sand dunes. The stones are stone columns between 5 and 7 meters high and from 0.3 to 3 meters thick. The whole area of the Stone Forest is quite big – it takes approximately 13 square meters.

Some of the strangest rocks have names encoded with symbols from the Glagolitic alphabet. At the ticket office, you will be given a sheet of paper with the names and symbols so that you can try to determine which rock is named after what.

Don’t miss the energy circle – a place marked by stones arranged in a circle. It is located about 800 meters south of the ticket office. Measurements were taken there and it was found that this place was the second most energetic place in Bulgaria after the Rupite area.

I had visited the Stone Forest several times before this summer, so the phenomenon was not new to me, but it was one of those places that were always interesting.

The Stone Forest is located about 25 kilometers west of Varna, near the village of Slanchevo – along the old road to Sofia.

• Opening hours during the summer period: 10:00 – 19:30, holidays: Monday and Tuesday.
• Ticket price: BGN 5, for people using a discount – BGN 3.

Petrich Kale fortress

The ancient stone fortress of Petrich Kale is perched on the high plateau above the village of Razdelna. The old ruins are a cool spot to walk, see from high up, and experience history.

The climb up to the fortress is a bit of a challenge – it’s short, takes only about 20-25 minutes, but the path is very steep, especially near the end. It’s also made harder by thorny bushes on the slope. It’s thrilling and motivating to see old artifacts while walking and looking down from the top.

The village of Razdelna is located about 29 km west of Varna. You can reach it by car or by train from Varna. The starting point for the route to the fortress is the fountain on the eastern outskirts of the village.

Coordinates: 43.16066932803618, 27.63886549012333.

It is convenient to leave the car by the fountain (if you got there by car). The trail begins 50 meters to the left of the fountain. At the beginning of it there is a blue sign about the fortress attached to a tree.

Ovech Fortress

The Ovech fortress in the town of Provadia is an interesting place 49 km from Varna. It is located on a high plateau and there is evidence that it was used in several different historical periods, being inhabited by Thracians, Romans, Byzantines, Bulgarians, Turks. The fortress offers a beautiful panoramic view of the city.

A visit to the fortress can be combined with a walk through the Historical Park.

Varna attractions

Entertainment Area of ​​the Seaport

This is a huge space, full of various attractions, the most impressive from them is the huge Ferris wheel, more than 30 meters high. The space is a part of the adjacent area of ​​the Port of Varna-East. Large-scale cultural and sports events are organized there, one of them being the city holiday.

Sunset cruise with the ship Pinta Varna

A visit to each of the places above is an attraction itself. But let’s not forget that this is Varna, and as we talk about Varna, we cannot miss the sea. So, let me share a fun and typical maritime attraction – a sunset cruise with the ship Pinta Varna. It usually takes place on Saturday and Sunday evenings.

The ship leaves from the Sea Station. The cruise takes about an hour and a half.

Pinta Varna is a three-masted sailing ship and is a modern replica of the ship PINTA, the one on which Hristofor Columbus was sailing when he discovered America in 1492. Our experience of Pinta Varna was really funny and even slightly romantic.

Information on similar cruises can be found here.

Attractions near Varna

By boat or kayak on Kamchia River

Kamchia is one of the largest rivers in Bulgaria. It flows into the Black Sea. The area around its mouth is full of plants and a forest called a longose. This forest was declared as a nature reserve and thus protected. If you want to try something different, you will surely enjoy a boat ride, water bike or kayak on the Kamchia River near its mouth. It’s a great place to kayak in Bulgaria.

👉 Explore the Kamchia Reserve and marvel at the wonderful nature in the Kamchia Biosphere Reserve. Go kayaking and book your spot here. The tour includes an instructor, training, and full kayaking equipment.

In addition, there is a wide beach at the mouth of the river, without concrete, without many establishments and without huge hotels to choke it. It is not by chance that the bungalow complexes right next to the beach bear the enviable names of Romance and Paradise. This beach is part of a 13-kilometer stretch of beach, the longest in Bulgaria, with numerous dunes overgrown with dry-loving herbaceous plants, reaching all the way to Shkorpilovtsi. On the beach, you can enjoy great sunrises and sunsets.

Kamchia Beach is located 29 kilometers south of Varna. The turnoff for the beach and the resort is from the main road Varna-Burgas in the area of the village of Bliznatsi. The boats depart from the central part of the resort complex. Water wheels are also rented there. But be careful: there are a lot of mosquitoes around the river, especially in the evening, so take the necessary precautions!

Attractions near Varna: Historical Park

Historical Park is an open-air museum complex where you can see many expositions and realistic reconstructions of periods of Bulgaria’s history and their attractive presentation. The park is well organized and has a wonderful setting. In addition to the various objects and expositions, you can enjoy lakes, avenues and open spaces there.

The Historical park is located on the outskirts of the village of Neofit Rilski, about 40 km west of Varna.

How to get to Varna

Varna is situated 441 kilometers east of the Bulgarian capital Sofia. You can get to Varna by car or by public transport – by plain, by train from Sofia, and by bus.

Another big city on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast is Burgas. You can read more about it and especially about the day trips from Burgas.

Have you ever been in Varna or you plan to? Please share below.

The article was prepared thanks to Varna City Card.