Sunny Beach

Sunny Beach is a resort on the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria, located approximately 35 km north of Burgas in Nesebar municipality, Burgas Province. It is the biggest and most popular holiday resort of the country, and is home to over 200 hotels with more than 110 000 beds. There are also 130 restaurants and numerous live music bars, pubs, nightclubs, discos, cafes. It has been undergoing continuous expansion for many years. In recent years almost the whole hotel base has been renovated and several new luxurious hotels have been built as well as many spectacular apartment complexes.

Sunny Beach has a very small permanent population, but during the summer the resort is home to many thousands of tourists. The main strip of high-rise hotels backing onto the beach is several kilometres long and extends along a wide bay between Sveti Vlas and Nesebar.

The resort's construction began back in Communist times, in 1958. Construction works began at a site, where two old wells supplying Nesebar with water in ancient times and during the Middle Ages, had been located.

The climate of the area is Mediterranean, explaining Sunny Beach's popularity with tourists since before the fall of communism. Since that time the resort's popularity has grown among German holidaymakers, who add to the already large numbers of Bulgarian and Russian visitors. More recently, Sunny Beach has begun to attract the attention of British , Scandinavian and Serbian tourists, for whom it is a more affordable alternative to the established Mediterranean resorts.

Attractions for tourists include the beach, watersports, nightlife, and the nearby historical site of Nesebar. Sunny Beach is mainly popular among young people. The Golden Orpheus International Festival of Popular Song, the Decade of Symphonic Music, part of the International Folklore Festival, fashion-shows and various beach competitions are held there.

Housing in Sunny Beach has been heavily favoured by British property investors in recent years. However, property prices have now begun to fall, and several investors are beginning to bail out, having lost tens of thousands of pounds.

Golden Sands

Golden Sands is a resort town on the northern Bulgarian Black Sea Coast, adjacent to a national park in the municipality of Varna.

Although located 17 km north of downtown Varna, it is virtually connected to the city by a continuous swath of resorts and villa communities. It is a popular tourist destination, drawing many visitors from Germany, the United Kingdom, Russia, Scandinavia, Central and Eastern Europe, the Persian Gulf, Israel, and other countries, attracted by the favourable climate, scenic landscape, and reasonable prices. Golden Sands is served by the Varna International Airport and several regular bus lines of the Varna public transit system.

The old growth forests between ancient Odessos and Dionysopolis were first mentioned by Pliny as the home of mythical dwarfs, visited by the Argonauts. Byzantine sources name the local fortress Gerania; there are remains of massive stone ramparts along the edge of the Frangen plateau to the north. The cave Aladzha Monastery, 3 km to the west, was a monastic centre from antiquity through the Second Bulgarian Empire. In the days of Ottoman Empire, Uzunkum (Turkish: long sands) was known as a hideaway for outlaws. It was largely uninhabited until the 1950s, although used for outings.

The resort construction started in 1957 and in about two decades, the place was transformed into a modern holiday complex with more than 100 hotels, numerous villas, casinos, apartment buildings, restaurants, clubs, spa centres, attractions, shopping centres, and sports facilities, including yacht marinas, equestrian base and the Aquapolis water park. Golden Sands received significant internal and foreign investments in the 1990s and early 2000s. A contemporary chapel of John the Baptist was recently added.

The area is labelled to have the purest quartz sand on the coast and abounds in old trees and landscaped parks. Hot mineral water springs and woodlands cascading from the Frangen Plateau, forming the Zlatni Pyasatsi Nature Park, turn Golden Sands into one of the most popular tourist spots in Eastern Europe. It also comprises the Holiday Club Riviera luxury resort and the Chaika villa community, with the historic landmark Aladzha Monastery in its vicinity. Just north of Golden Sands is perhaps the best known gay beach in the nation. Three 18-hole golf courses are currently (2007) being developed around Balchik and Kavarna to the north.

Pamporovo

Pamporovo is a popular mountain resort in southern Bulgaria, one of the best-known in Southeastern Europe. It is set amongst magnificent pine forests and is primarily visited during the winter for skiing and snowboarding. It is also a popular tourist place in summer. The hub of Pamporovo comprises a number of excellent hotels and bars. It is also one of the southernmost skiing resorts in Europe.

The resort is set in the southern Rhodope Mountains at an altitude of 1620 meters above sea level. The highest peak in the area, Snezhanka (Bulgarian: Ñíåæàíêà) at 1928 m, is several hundred meters above the resort. Pamporovo is around 260 km away from Sofia, 85 km south of Plovdiv, 15 km north of Smolyan, and 10 km south of Chepelare.

The resort boasts 25 km of excellent ski-runs and 38 km of cross-country skiing tracks served by 18 lifts with a total capacity of 8500 persons per hour. All ski runs are safeguarded and maintained in very good condition. Four snow-levelling machines and six snow cannons guarantee skiers comfortable and enjoyable downhill rides. More than 100 highly qualified ski instructors fluent in various languages are available to aid both beginners and intermediate skiers as well as snowboarders.

The winters in Pamporovo tend to be mild, but have around 150 days of snowfall each year. This combination allows for a long skiing season at the resort. Pamporovo is renowned for its large number of sunny days during the winter, often topping 120 days from December to May. The average January temperature is 3 degrees Celsius (or 37.4 F).

Bansko

Bansko is a town in southwestern Bulgaria, located at the foot of Pirin at an altitude of 1936 m above sea level. Today it is a popular mountain resort.

Bansko, once mainly a stockbreeding and travelling merchant community, has nowadays become a center of winter and summer tourism. The mountain peaks near the town, the numerous lakes and the old pine woods make it a popular site for recreation. In recent years, the town has gained international popularity after the start of the annual Bansko Jazz Festival and consequently the annual Bansko pop-star concert featuring top pop stars. The nearby village of Banya, located only 5 km from the town, is known for its 27 thermal mineral springs.

A new gondola lift was built in 2003 to replace a minibus ride up to the ski slopes of Todorka. Several other gondolas and ski lifts are in the process of being built. These developments, along with the construction of extensive housing and recreational facilities around the gondola (which is on the southwest end of the town by the river), have made Bansko a popular and growing destination.



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