Burgas is a city on the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria. It is the capital of Burgas Province and an important industrial, transport, cultural and tourist centre.
Surrounded by the coastal Burgas Lakes and located at the westernmost point of the Black Sea, the large Burgas Bay, Burgas has the largest and most important Bulgarian port. Today, it is a key economic, cultural and tourist centre of southeastern Bulgaria, with the Burgas Airport serving the resorts of the southern Bulgarian coast.
urgas is situated in the westernmost point of the bay of the same name and in the eastern part of the Burgas plain which is located to the east of the Upper Thracian Plain. Burgas is located at 389 km of Sofia, 272 km of Plovdiv and 350 km of Istanbul. To the east and north the city is surrounded by the Burgas Lakes - Vaya, Atanasovsko and Mandrensko which are home to several hundred bird species. Pan-European corridor 8 passes through the city.
PLACE TO VISIT
The city of Burgas developed after the beginning of the 20th century and most of the buildings in the city centre date from this time. The city Gallery of Fine Arts is hosted by a secession style synagogue.
The city has a huge park called Sea Garden (Morska gradina) with variety of green species and fantastic view to the Burgas Bay. The garden starts from the central bus and train station. There are small stairs to the sandy beach and in summer the coast id full of many coffees and nightclubs. There's a t-shaped pier at the sea garden - one branch of the "t" has stairs up to a viewing platform, locals boys practise diving off the other branch. It's a nice place for a walk, or you can sit at the nearby cafe and watch the world go by.
Walking in the garden little by little it becomes wilder and you reach the salt-pans. The 'salt-factories' produce many tons of salt every year. A small train runs across the salt-pans, riding it you can see how salt is made and refined.
Bourgas also has two universities and three colleges. The building of the Burgas Free University (private) is located in the city center and is one of the modern city landmarks. The Asen Zlatarov University main buildings are located at the west entrance of the city.
WHAT TO DO
Water sports and activities - In summer you can go surfing and kite-surfing in the bay. There are a few surf and sea sports schools, which you can find on the beaches. You can also book diving.
Cinema - In winter you can go to see a movie. All movies are subtitled in Bulgarian and rarely there are voiceovers so if the movie is in English, you won't have problems. There are few exceptions for children's movies. Cinema: Trakia cinema (6 Tzar Asen Str.)
There are many galleries as well, some of them are Bogoridi, Briz - Boiadzhiev, and Petko Zadgorski Art Gallery.
HOW TO REACH
By Plane - Burgas airport (BOJ) is located in Sarafovo district and it accepts numerous flights from all over Europe, especially in summer. The local air carrier BulgariaAir offers regular internal flights every day to Sofia as well. There are a few low-cost companies that offer good deals to Bourgas as well. These are WizzAir, SkyEurope, GermanWings. In addition, charter companies offer flights from Britain, Ireland, Germany, Switzerland and Norway to Burgas from May until September each year
By Train - The central train station is in the very heart of the city and next its building is bus station South which is the main point to all small summer resorts and villages in the area like Sozopol or Sunny Beach. Tickets are sold in the train station
By Bus - There are very convenient buses from every city in the country to Burgas. Most of the buses coming to the city have a few stops before reaching the Central bus station - South. There are also many buses coming from Turkey and Greece. Every operating company has their own reservation system. Some of the companies that run bus lines to the city are Enturtrans, Union Ivkoni, Kaleya.
By Sea - The Port of Burgas operates mainly industrial ships. There is small marina but the public sea routes to the city are not developed.
