Sunny Beach is a major seaside resort situated in the southern part of the Black Sea coast in Bulgaria. It is situated on a stunning semi-globular bay facing east. It is closed to the north by the descending ridges of the Balkan Range, while to its south lies a small peninsula on which the ancient town of Nessebur is located. The seaside resort is found about 35 kilometers north of Burgas and about 95 kilometer from Varga.Sunny Beach is the largest and the most popular holiday beach resort in Bulgaria. It boasts of over 8 kilometers long and 30 to 60 wide beach strip of fine golden sand licked by a warm and calm sea with a gently sloping sand bottom. It also features natural dunes, wherein 16 rare plant varieties grow, all of which figure in the Red Book of Bulgaria. The most beautiful of these sand dunes are found in the resort’s southern part. Sunny Beach was awarded the prestigious Blue Flag International prize.
Sunny Beach is also home to 500 hotels with over 110,000 beds. These hotels are located in the resort’s park region in close proximity to the beach, while the main strip of high-rise hotels are primarily located on a 70 kilometer beach strip that extends along an extensive bay connecting Sveti Vlas and Nesebar. Some of the five-star hotels found in Sunny Beach are Helena Park, Helena Sands, and Royal Beach, while some four-star hotels found there are Bellevue, Chaika, Delta Palace, Victoria Palace, and Korona. Three-star hotels, such as the Azurro, Delfin, and Kontinental, are also housed in the resort, together with the two-star hotels of Orel, Venera, and Yunona.
More than 150 restaurants and numerous lively bars, cafes, night clubs, and discos are also found in Sunny Beach. Most of the restaurants, folk-style establishments, snack bars, and cafeterias in the resort serve traditional Bulgarian dishes prepared from ecologically pure products, some of which include Shopska salad, kebapcheta, and kavarma. These sumptuous dishes are ideally washed down with Bulgaria’s excellent vintages and brandy.
With Sunny Beach surrounded with warm and calm waters, the opportunity for various water sport activities is endless. Some of the aquatic activities found in the resort include yachting, wind surfing, water skiing, parasailing, and hang-gliding. Other sports facilities are also found in Sunny Beach, such as tennis and riding, where tennis and riding enthusiasts can enjoy a game or a ride in one of the resort’s riding facilities. Tennis and riding Schools are also available in Sunny Beach.
Sunny Beach is also a paradise for children. The resort features various activities, services and amenities that would ensure the enjoyment of both the young ones and their parents. Some of these features include 24-hour kindergartens, sport schools, children’s menus, play areas and children’s pools, kids’ discos, and other various games.
The most appealing attraction in Sunny Beach, particularly for young visitors, is the festivals that showcase various lively and colorful Bulgarian traditions. Celebrated in Sunny Beach are the Golden Orpheus International Festival for popular songs, Decade of Symphonic Music, and the International Folklore Festival. Fashion shows and various beach competitions are also held in the resort.
Also housed within the resort are two campsites, casinos, a shopping center, as well as arts and crafts bizarre.
The construction of the resort started during Communist times in 1958. Through the years, it had gone through continuous expansion, with several luxury hotels and apartment complexes were constructed. Nonetheless, the resort has long been popular with tourists since before the fall of Communism. Boasting of a warm Mediterranean climate and tons of sunshine throughout the year, Sunny Beach has grown popular with German, British, Irish, Scandinavian, and Serbian tourists, all of whom find Sunny Beach a much inexpensive alternative to the established Mediterranean resorts. These tourists have added to the already large number of Bulgarian and Russian tourists who visit the resort.
Sunny Beach is certainly not just a popular beach resort; it is also a much sought-after location for buyers seeking properties overseas. The most obvious attraction for Sunny Beach is the sand and the sun. Sunny Beach is one of the largest and the most developed property market in Bulgaria.
An active market for villas and apartments exists, wherein properties are often being sold out off plan. Much of the buyers are second home buyers, who have chosen Sunny Beach for establishing their second home, and property investors, who are anticipating a further tourism boom. This is due to the ever increasing likelihood of Bulgaria’s joining with the European Union. Without doubt, with the resort’s ever growing popularity with tourists, the properties in Sunny Beach would offer the most considerable rental returns in the entire country.
Much of the properties in Sunny Beach are built along the main beach road that connects the resort with Nessebar and Saint Vlas. The property prices in Sunny Beach start at around 600 Euros per square meter and could reach up to 2,000 Euros per square meter. The prices, however, varies based on several factors. These include the property’s distance to the sea or the beach, the available facilities in the residential complex, the present sales availability, level in which the unit is located, the quality of the construction materials used to construct the building with, and sometimes, on which side of the main road is the property located—the beachside or the other. The types of properties most often found in Sunny Beach are houses, villas, and apartments.
With beach properties in Sunny Beach cost a fraction of what is found in Spain, France, and Portugal, the resort’s local property market can only be expected to expand and grow in the following years. This is already seen with the rising property prices and doubling rental rates in the last three years. It won’t be long before Bulgaria follows the markets of Turkey and Greece, with Sunny Beach as its largest property development. Numerous property developments in the resort are still located within walking distance from the beach. Hence, these properties present not jus greater value for money, but a spectacular location for one’s investments and second homes.