Day Trips from Varna and Burgas, plus Sunny Beach Excursions

All prices are in euro: Bulgaria adopted the euro on 1 January 2026. MakeYourTravel transfer and cruise prices were read from our booking system on 12 November 2026. Transfer prices are "from" prices for a private car for up to 4 passengers, and the price shown when you book is the one that counts. Ticket prices and hours come from the sites' own official pages, checked this week. Where we could not find a current official price, we say so, and you should check before you go.

Day trips from Varna: where to go for one day

Varna and Golden Sands sit on the northern half of the coast, so most trips head north along the sea or west inland. What to do inside the city is in our Varna guide. This page covers what lies outside it:

Balchik Palace and Botanical Garden

Balchik is a white town on a hillside 46 km north of Varna. The Palace was built between 1924 and 1936 as the summer residence of Queen Marie of Romania, and next to it is the Sofia University botanical garden, with more than 3,000 plant species and a large cactus collection. They are two separate tickets. The Palace costs €10 for adults, €3 for children aged 6 to 18, free under 6, with a family ticket at €18. The Botanical Garden costs €10 for adults, €3.60 for pupils and students, free up to age 4, with a family ticket at €20. From May to August both are open 08:00 to 20:00 with no day off, and from late October to March the Palace opens 08:30 to 17:00, weekends and public holidays included. Hours are shorter in April, September and October, so check before you go.

Allow two to three hours for both. The complex is built on steps and stone paths that drop down to the sea, so it is hard work with a pushchair. If you are not driving, you can book a private transfer from Varna to Balchik, from €50 per car. It is a one-way transfer, and the return is booked separately.

Cape Kaliakra

Cape Kaliakra is a narrow finger of rock running about two kilometres out into the Black Sea, with red cliffs that drop 70 metres straight into the water. It is a protected nature and archaeological reserve. You walk through the remains of the medieval fortress to the tip of the cape, where there is a small chapel and a museum inside a cave, and on calm days you can spot dolphins from above. The cape is 12 km from the town of Kavarna and about 1 hour 15 from Varna.

Three things to know before you go. There is no public transport to the cape, so you need a car or a taxi from Kavarna. You pay a small fee at the entrance, and we could not find a current official price list in euro this week, so bring cash and check before you set off. And it is windy even in summer, with stretches of path that have no barrier on the cliff side, so hold small children by the hand. Kaliakra and Balchik fit well into one day: the cape in the morning, Balchik after lunch, about 50 minutes' drive apart.

Aladzha Monastery and the Stone Forest: a half day near the city

Two short stops that combine into half a day. Aladzha Monastery is a medieval cave monastery from the 13th and 14th centuries, cut on two levels into a limestone cliff almost 40 metres high, inside Golden Sands Nature Park. Adults €5, students €3, under 7 free. From May to October it is open daily 09:00 to 17:00. In November and from March to April it opens 10:00 to 17:00 and is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. From December to February it is closed.

The Stone Forest, Pobiti Kamani, lies 18 km west of Varna: natural stone columns, some several metres tall, standing in sand. Adults €3, students €2, under 7 free. From May to October it is open 10:00 to 19:30, closed Mondays and Tuesdays. In November 10:00 to 17:00, again closed Mondays and Tuesdays. In December it opens only by prior request, and from January to April it is open 10:00 to 18:00, closed Sundays and Mondays. Thirty minutes to an hour is enough, and children love running between the columns.

Madara Rider and Shumen

This is the day for history. The Madara Rider is an early medieval relief carved 23 metres up a cliff face: a horseman, a lion falling at the horse's feet and a hunting dog behind. It has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979 and it is the figure on Bulgaria's euro cent coins. Adults €3.58, pupils and students €1.53, a family ticket for two adults and a child €6.14, under 7 free. In winter, from 1 November to 31 March, it is open daily 08:30 to 17:00. Check the Shumen museum's site for summer hours. You climb steps to reach the relief, so it does not work with a pushchair.

Shumen is another 25 minutes on. Above the town stands the Monument to the Founders of the Bulgarian State, a vast concrete structure from 1981 with figures of khans and tsars, and next to it Shumen Fortress, €3.07 for adults. In the centre is the Tombul Mosque, usually described as the largest in Bulgaria. Check hours for the fortress and the monument before you go, as they shorten in winter. Varna to Shumen takes about 1 hour 05 on the Hemus motorway, and you can book a private transfer from Varna to Shumen, from €96 per car one way.

Two more short ideas

• Kamchia reserve: about 25 km south of Varna, where the Kamchia river meets the sea. Flooded forest, dunes and a wide beach, and a UNESCO biosphere reserve since 1977. Buses run from Varna bus station.
• Dobrich: about 50 minutes north, an inland town with a restored craftsmen's quarter. A good rainy-day option. Workshop hours vary, so check ahead.

Day trips from Varna without a car

Some places work by public transport and some do not:

• Aladzha Monastery: bus 29 stops at the monastery twice a day, morning and evening. Buses 109 and 409 stop at Chaika, and you walk from there.
• Stone Forest: bus 43 to the Razklon Banovo stop in the village of Slanchevo.
• Balchik: intercity bus from Varna bus station. The number of departures changes with the season, so check at the station the day before.
• Madara: by train from Varna to Madara village station, then a walk to the reserve. Check the Bulgarian State Railways timetable.
• Kaliakra: not practical without a car.

If you want to link several places in one day, a car makes it far easier. We offer car hire with pick-up in Varna, Golden Sands, Burgas and Sunny Beach, which puts Kaliakra and Balchik, or Madara and Shumen, into a single relaxed day.

Day trips from Burgas: Sozopol, Ropotamo and Strandzha

From Burgas most trips head south. The further you go, the fewer hotels and the more forest, until you reach the Strandzha mountains in Bulgaria's far south-east. The city itself, its lakes and St Anastasia island are covered in our Burgas guide.

Sozopol

Sozopol's old town, on a small peninsula of 18th and 19th century wooden houses, is the easiest day out from Burgas: half an hour's drive, and you can stay from morning until dinner. Without a car, take the bus from Yug (South) bus station, next to Burgas railway station, or book a private transfer from Burgas to Sozopol, from €37 per car one way. If you are thinking of staying in Sozopol rather than visiting, our Black Sea coast guide compares the coastal towns.

Nessebar and a sunset cruise

Old Nessebar is a World Heritage town on a small peninsula, with medieval churches and timber houses. What to see and which combined ticket to buy is in our Nessebar guide. From Burgas you can take a private transfer from Burgas to Nessebar, from €39 per car, in about 40 minutes.

You can end the day on the water. The sunset cruise from Nessebar is a one-hour sailing with views of the old town, Sunny Beach, Pomorie and Ravda, and fishing rods on board. It costs €78 per guest, and children pay the same price. That is per person, not per couple, with up to 10 guests on the boat, and you book at least 24 hours ahead. You pay 20% online and the rest to the host at the end of the cruise. The boat is not accessible for pushchairs or wheelchairs, there is no hotel pick-up, and sailings depend on the weather. The listing does not state a season, so the dates open in the booking box are what count.

Pomorie

Twenty minutes north of Burgas, on a spit of land between the sea and a salt lake. People come for the Salt Museum, the working salt pans and the lake's black mud. Museum hours differ between summer and winter and we could not find a current official price in euro this week, so check before you go. Half a day is enough, and Nessebar is another 25 minutes north if you want to combine the two.

Ropotamo river and Beglik Tash

The Ropotamo reaches the sea between Sozopol and Primorsko, and its lower stretch has been protected since 1940: a wide river mouth, water lilies, flooded forest, dunes and rock formations. The way to see it is a short boat trip from the jetty by the bridge on the Burgas to Primorsko road. Boats run in the warm season. We could not find an official price list or opening dates this week, so bring cash and do not count on the boats outside summer.

A few kilometres south, in the forest above Primorsko, is Beglik Tash: a Thracian megalithic sanctuary in use since the Late Bronze Age, with huge boulders arranged in a forest clearing. You reach it on a narrow forest road, and it is easiest from spring to autumn, when the road is dry. Hours and ticket price are not published on the Primorsko museum's website, so check before you go. Ropotamo and Beglik Tash together make an easy full day with children, and you can finish on the beach at Primorsko.

Strandzha

Strandzha Nature Park is the largest protected area in Bulgaria: 1,161 square kilometres of oak and beech forest in the south-east corner of the country. For one day from Burgas, pick one direction. Inland is the village of Brashlyan, about an hour away, an architectural reserve of traditional Strandzha wooden houses, with Malko Tarnovo, home of the park directorate, a quarter of an hour further on. Along the coast you drive to Ahtopol, about 1 hour 10, and on to the mouth of the Veleka river near Sinemorets.

Roads in Strandzha are narrow and winding and the villages are small, so fill up before you leave Burgas and start early. Without a car it is not a day trip.

Sunny Beach excursions: what is worth a day out

Sunny Beach excursions are sold at every hotel desk and promenade stall in summer: jeep safaris, village evenings, boat parties and coach tours. We do not sell those and have not tested them, so always ask what the price includes and what time you get back. What we can tell you is which places are worth leaving the beach for, and how long each really takes.

The strongest three are old Nessebar next door, Sozopol across the bay, and the Ropotamo river with Beglik Tash for a nature day. For a quiet evening, the sunset cruise above leaves from Nessebar, a few minutes from the resort. What to do in the resort itself is in our Sunny Beach guide, and for water slides see the water parks guide.

Day trips from Sunny Beach and Nessebar: times and transport

Sunny Beach and Nessebar are about 40 minutes north of Burgas, which changes the driving times:

• Old Nessebar: about 5 km from Sunny Beach, a few minutes by bus or taxi.
• Pomorie: about 25 minutes.
• Burgas: about 40 minutes, for the Sea Garden, the pier and the lakes. Buses run all day.
• Sozopol: about 1 hour 10, because the road goes round the Bay of Burgas. You can book a private transfer from Nessebar to Sozopol, from €76 per car one way.
• Ropotamo and Beglik Tash: about 1 hour 30, so leave early.
• Varna: almost two hours each way on a hilly road through Obzor. Possible, but a long day.

Day trips from Burgas by bus: which bay the bus leaves from

All buses to the coastal towns leave from Yug (South) bus station, beside Burgas railway station. According to the timetables published by Burgas's municipal bus company, as we read them on 12 November 2026:

• Sozopol, bay 5: on the hour from 06:00 to 20:00, with a second operator on the half hour from 06:30 to 19:30 on weekdays. The last bus back from Sozopol leaves at around 21:00.
• Nessebar and Sunny Beach, bay 3: from 06:10 until after 22:00, two or three an hour on average, with longer gaps at some times of day. Some run via Pomorie and old Nessebar, others via the new town.
• Pomorie, bay 4: once or twice an hour from 06:30 to 20:30 on weekdays, about hourly at weekends.

On the municipal company's intercity routes, children up to 7 travel free and children aged 7 to 14 pay half, with a document showing their age. On the municipal company's January 2026 fare list a ticket from Burgas costs €3.37 to Sozopol and €2.66 to Pomorie centre. The Nessebar and Sunny Beach route is run by other operators, and we found no official fare list for them. Timetables change between summer and winter, so check at the station on the day.

Which trips work with children

• Easiest: the Stone Forest near Varna, the Ropotamo boat trip, Sozopol and the Botanical Garden in Balchik.
• School age and up: the Madara Rider, Aladzha Monastery and Beglik Tash. There are steps and some walking, and the stories behind them hold a curious child's attention.
• Hand in hand: Cape Kaliakra, because of the cliffs and the wind.
• Less suited to small children: Strandzha, because of the long, winding drive.

On the sunset cruise from Nessebar children pay the full price, and pushchairs cannot go on board.

What is open in winter and what is seasonal

The Bulgarian coast runs mainly from May to September, and it is worth knowing that before you plan. In winter the Palace and garden in Balchik, the Madara Rider and Shumen Fortress stay open, and the old towns of Sozopol and Nessebar are open to walk around, though most of their restaurants and shops are shut. Aladzha Monastery is closed from December to February, the Stone Forest opens in December only by request, and the Ropotamo boats, the Sunny Beach excursion stalls and the cruises all depend on the season and the weather. Month by month temperatures are in our Black Sea weather guide.

Varna or Burgas: which base to choose

Varna suits travellers who want palaces, cliffs and history. Burgas suits those who want old towns, a river and forest. If you want both, the two cities are about 130 km apart, a little over two hours by road, and you can split your holiday in two: details are on our Varna to Burgas private transfer page, from €110 per car. For somewhere to stay, see our hotels in Varna and hotels in Burgas. Prices depend on your dates.

The bottom line

With one day from Varna, go to Kaliakra and Balchik. With one day from Burgas or Sunny Beach, go to Sozopol, and add Ropotamo if you have a car. Madara and Shumen are the day for history, and Strandzha is for real quiet. Heading inland as well? We have matching guides to day trips from Sofia, day trips from Plovdiv and day trips from Bansko.