Sunny Beach

Sunny Beach is a coastal town in Nesebar Municipality along the Bulgarian Black Sea coast, stretching across several kilometers of sandy shoreline and attracting mainly package tourists. The wide beach promenade runs parallel to the water and is lined with rows of multistory hotel buildings, between which restaurants, shops and leisure facilities crowd together.

In the 1960s, the Bulgarian government unveiled plans for a new holiday destination and began constructing the first hotels on the previously sparsely populated coastline. Over the decades, the town grew into one of the largest beach resorts along the Black Sea coast, with private investors building many new hotel complexes after socialism ended.

Most entertainment venues cater to European visitors, so you will find English or German signage alongside Cyrillic script at many locations. In the evenings, the beach bars and clubs fill with tourists from Russia, Britain and Scandinavia spending their summer holidays here.

Most hotels sit within a 5-minute walk from the beach, and the main road runs north to south through the town, making orientation straightforward. During the peak season between June and August, the beach and restaurants can get quite busy, so visiting in the early morning or late afternoon is worthwhile.

At some stretches of the shore, the water deepens so gradually that you can walk almost 50 meters (about 160 feet) before it reaches your waist. These conditions make the place especially popular with families with young children, who can splash around in the shallow water without worry.