The Quiet Beaches Near Nesebar: Where to Go When the Strip Is Full

The Quiet Beaches Near Nesebar

Nesebar sits next to one of the busiest beach strips in Bulgaria. In July and August the organised beaches at Sunny Beach are wall-to-wall loungers, and the South Beach at Nesebar is not far behind. This is fine if it is what you came for, and unbearable if it is not.

The good news is that this coast has a great deal of shoreline and only some of it is concessioned. What follows is how to find the quiet parts, and what you trade away by going there.

The trade, stated plainly

A managed beach gives you lifeguards, marked swimming zones, sunbed hire, toilets, showers, a bar and somebody whose job is to clean it. An unmanaged beach gives you none of those things.

That is the whole trade. There is no lifeguard on a wild beach, and there is nobody to notice if you get into difficulty. If you are a confident swimmer, watching the sea and swimming within your ability, the wild beaches are one of the best things about this coast. If you are not, or if you are supervising children, the guarded beaches exist for a reason and the reason is a good one.

Where the quiet stretches are

North of Sveti Vlas. Past the marina the coast turns rockier and the development thins out. There are coves along here reachable on foot, and they empty out quickly the further you walk from the last car park.

Towards Emine. The cape marks the end of the resort coast and the start of something wilder — the Balkan range coming down to the sea. The beaches on the approach are among the least developed within easy reach of Nesebar, and the walk itself is the point as much as the swimming.

South, towards Ravda and Pomorie. Between the settlements there are stretches that nobody manages. They are less dramatic than the northern coves but far easier to reach, and in September they are close to empty.

The Old Town's own rocky edges. Not a beach and not for sunbathing, but the water below the peninsula walls is clear and deep and there are places to get in. Locals swim here. Watch for boat traffic and for the state of the stone underfoot.

Going early instead of going far

The simplest way to have a quiet beach is not to find a different beach but to arrive at a different hour. Even the busiest strip on this coast is close to empty at seven in the morning, and the light is better, and the sea is at its calmest.

By ten the loungers fill; by two it is at its worst. Come back at six and half the coast has gone to dinner.

What to take to an unmanaged beach

Everything, is the short answer. Specifically:

• Water, more than you think, and shade you brought yourself — an umbrella or a tarp. There is no bar and no rental.
• Something for your feet. Wild beaches on this coast mix sand with stone and the occasional bit of somebody else's rubbish.
• A bag for that rubbish. Nobody cleans these beaches. They stay pleasant only because visitors carry out what they carry in.
• Cash and a charged phone, and a note of where you are, because "the beach past the third headland" is not an address to give an ambulance.

Safety, seriously

No lifeguard means no lifeguard. Bulgaria's guarded beaches fly flags and staff towers; the wild ones do not.

Currents run along this coast, particularly where a headland forces water around it. Swim parallel to the shore rather than straight out, and if you are pulled sideways, go with it and come in further along instead of fighting it.

Nobody knows you are there. Tell somebody where you went, or go with company.

Jellyfish appear in some weeks and not others, mostly late in the season, and are a nuisance rather than a danger here.

The naturist question

Bulgaria has a long informal tradition of clothing-optional bathing on undeveloped beaches, and you may encounter it on the wilder stretches of this coast. It is not signposted or formally designated near Nesebar, and it is not a thing you will find on a managed beach. The usual etiquette applies in both directions: walk on if it is not for you, and keep cameras away.

When the season does the work for you

All of the above is a summer problem. From late September the strip empties by itself, the sea is still warm, and the beaches that need a walk in August are simply there for the taking in October.

If you have any choice about when you come, that is the answer to this entire article.

The short version

Go early, or go north past Sveti Vlas, or come in September. Take water, shade and a rubbish bag. And be honest with yourself about swimming somewhere with nobody watching — the wild beaches are worth it, but only on those terms.