Varna is the third largest city in Bulgaria and a seaside resort on Bulgaria’s Black Sea. Varna is a cheap destination where you can find beaches, bars, a huge park with attractions for kids, big malls, interesting museums, and a central street with many restaurants, bars and coffee shops.
I must mention that it’s not a lively city others in Europe (Berlin, Rome, etc.) but it’s a nice place where you can spend a few days. I also recommend to do a day trip to the town of Balchik (post about Balchik) or to visit the Golden Sands area, especially if you are looking for nightlife and a promenade with many stalls and restaurants (post about things to do in Golden Sands).
We stayed at the Golden Sands area in the all-inclusive HVD Viva Club Hotel (Tips on how to find cheap hotels). We arrived in Varna with a taxi that cost 25 leva for a one-way ride, but there are also buses that ride to Varna and back to the Golden Sands area.
Tips before flying to Varna
Sim Abroad
Today you will find wireless internet in almost every hotel or restaurant you visit, but it is always convenient to have internet everywhere. In Bulgaria you can buy a local SIM in the shops of the local telecommunications company Yettel for a fairly low price of about 20 to 40 BGN. Here is a photo of the packages they offer to tourists and you can just buy their sim and put it in your phone and start surfing. In my opinion, the smallest package of 25GB will be enough for most visitors and will only cost 10 euro.
I personally recommend using an eSIM, which is an electronic SIM, and highly recommend Airalo. I was very satisfied with their user experience (simple tutorial videos for operating the SIM card) and everything worked without any special problems. I wrote more about them in an extended post on the subject of a SIM card abroad as well as about other options such as buying a local SIM card.
Blog followers have a 15% discount code for Airalo to purchase an eSIM – to redeem the discount, click on this link. The discount code is already included in the link.
Where to sleep in Varna?
We will sleep in the Golden Sands area at the Viva Club Hotel, an all-inclusive hotel (tips on how to find cheap hotels). We took a taxi from the airport to the center of Varna. It cost 25 Lev each way, but there are also buses that go to the city of Varna and back to the Golden Sands area. It is recommended to visit there in the months of May – September. In the off season many places for tourists will be closed but if you are not planning on the beach or water parks, you will find enough things to do because Varna is a big city after all.
How do you get to Varna?
There is an airport in the city of Varna and from many European destinations you can find direct flights there.
Car rental in Varna
There is no need to rent a car in Varna, but if you plan to take a trip and leave Varna (like we did to Balchik or the Golden Sands), then the most convenient thing is to rent a car, certainly if you are traveling with children. Car rental in Varna and Bulgaria is very cheap compared to Europe and you can rent a small car for 25 Euro per day.
You can search for a car in the search engine Paapm Paapm. Personally, I really like to search through them because they save me time (instead of going to several websites) and they also have the option of filtering out non-recommended rental companies.
Events and festivals in Varna 2024
Summer music festival Borne 22.6-5.10 – link to all the events in the festival
Opera performances in the theatre in summer 15.6-30.8 Link to all performances
Jazz Festival 11.7-13.7 Link to all the details
Recommended beaches in Varna
Rappongi Beach Beach with restaurant bar and sunbeds Directions
Varna beach, a virgin beach with only sand and no sunbeds, but there are many restaurants and cafes nearby Directions
Beach Buna Beach First Buna Beach that is mainly suitable for a walk along the beach Directions
Retro Museum
One of the coolest museums we have ever visited. It’s located on the first floor in the Grand Mall and it’s nostalgic, filled with cars from the communism period (what awesome cars they had back then!), there is also music from this period and toys and daily stuff that help you see how they lived back then.
In this museum you will feel like you went back in time. There are also wax figures of famous people who drove those cars then.
We wandered around the museum for about an hour and really enjoyed to see these unique cars and reading about the figures.
An entrance ticket costs 10 leva. There’s an option to buy a combined ticket with the wax museum (which is also in the mall), but we chose to enter only the Retro Museum because we had already been in the wax museum in Berlin.
Visit Primorski Park
This is the largest, oldest, and most familiar park in Varna. We loved it. It’s a huge park and you can wander there for hours. There’s a big area with attractions for kids and a small Luna Park. There is also a dolphinarium in the park.
There are many walking trails in the park and you can go right down to the beach and the promenade from it. Along the promenade there are bars and restaurants.
We sat at the “Beach Selfie Bar”. I drank a cappuccino and Roman ordered a Bloody Mary cocktail which was good. The view to the beach was beautiful and we liked the bar’s design.
The only thing that was missing in the park was that there wasn’t any place to rent bikes from. And this park is perfect for bike-riding.
Shopping
Varna is a cheap destination for shopping. We usually don’t shop during our trips (we travel a lot and we try to travel cheap), but I bought a nice coat for 40 Leva, gloves for the gym and a bag (yes, I consider it a lot of shopping :)). The Grand Mall is a big mall with many famous brand shops like Zara, Bershka, H&M, and more. There are also local brands and designer shops.
Dormition of the Mother of God Cathedral
The cathedral is located at about a 15-minute walk from the main street in Varna. This is a really beautiful cathedral. It’s impressive from the outside and from the inside. I think it’s definitely worth a short visit.
We sat there for a few minutes and loved to look at the small details and the wall paintings. I’ve always been fascinated by the fact that people spent months and years painting the walls. The most impressive one was in the Chapel in the Vatican, Rome.
Wander around the main street
In Varna’s center there’s a main street with many restaurants, bars, and coffee shops. If you are looking for a nice place for a drink or a meal with a lively atmosphere, this is the place to go.
Excursions outside the city of Varna
As I mentioned, with a rented car you can go to the areas near Varna. For example, we went to Belchik and the Golden Sands. If you are adventurous, you can also diversify with a visit to Burgas or travel west to the center of Bulgaria and visit Plovdiv, which is the ancient capital of Bulgaria and is absolutely a destination worth visiting.
Nesebar city
Nesebar is a small town that is swallowed up within the boundaries of northern Burgas. I did not visit it but one of the followers of the blog wrote to me about it. Its interesting part is the old city or the Straria Grad – which is located on a small peninsula connected by a narrow road and surrounded by ancient walls. Some people think it is simply the old town of Burgas. You can wander the alleys of the old city, admire the historical buildings, the amphitheater and the ancient churches. It’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site so expect lots of visitors and tourists (locals too). There are lots of souvenir shops on the streets and it’s worth a visit of a few hours.
You can park in the parking lot for a fee – at the entrance to the city turn right and continue to the parking lot.
And if you have already reached it, then you must visit Burgas. In Burgas you can find a lot of attractions and worthwhile things that I haven’t blogged about yet, but you can find a lot of information on Google.
Strandzha Nature Park
Another place I haven’t visited but one of the followers of the blog recommended is Strandza Nature Reserve. He wrote about the reserve: I visited the Strandza nature reserve on the border with Turkey and I really recommend it. There are forests, rivers and beautiful waterfalls. As a travel enthusiast, I took day trips in nature and saw that you can also ride a bike. The villages there are beautiful and full of old wooden houses that are special to the region. You can walk around the village of Brashlyan, in my opinion it is a gem that not many people know, the locals are very nice and calm and when you are there you feel as if you have gone back a hundred years in time.
And if you’ve already traveled all the way to the area, it’s really cool to reach the border with Turkey and see the huge Turkish flag flying in front of the Bulgarian flag on both sides of the Mutlu River. Drive to Rezovo and aim for the south coast or the border monument.
Things to do in Varna with children
When we traveled in Varna it was just me and Roman, but for those who come with children, there are lots of things to do in and around Varna.
- Dolphinarium Dolphinarium Varna directions
- bowling
- Carting
- The stone forest
- Zoo directions
More attractions in Varna
There were other things we wanted to do in Varna and we didn’t get to, so I’m attaching the list here:
- Casino
- Kayaking in the river, a daily trip – for more details and purchasing tickets
- 3 hour cruise in the Black Sea in Varna including lunch and drinks – for more details and ticket purchase
- Walking tour in the city of Varna – for more details and purchase of tickets
- Evksinograd Palace directions
In conclusion, Varna can be an ideal destination for a summer vacation that includes both belly and various attractions. We were there as a couple and we are waiting to go back there again with the girls.
Hope my post helped you. If so, I would very much like you to respond here in the comments, and if you have any more questions, then you are also welcome to ask them in the comments or write to me on the blog’s social networks: Facebook and Instagram.
Looking for more information about Bulgaria? I have more posts about Bulgaria on my blog.
More posts I wrote on that
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Restaurants and coffee shops in Varna that you don’t want to miss
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