Silistar

Worth a detour

Silistar is the last real beach before the Turkish border and the best of the far south: a wide bay with some of the last surviving white Pontic dunes in the country behind it, inside a protected area of around eight hundred and fifty hectares. The park directorate calls it the richest place in Bulgaria for plant species per unit area. Umbrellas are about €2.50, which after Sinemorets comes as a relief.

Story

Background

The protected site was declared in September 1992 by the same order that protects the Veleka mouth, and its area has been revised upward twice since, most recently in early 2026. It covers the bay, the dune system, the river valley behind and the sea cliffs.

What is protected is unusually specific. The white dunes here are among the last in Bulgaria; this is the country's southernmost locality of the sand lily; and the directorate's own description claims the highest plant diversity per unit area anywhere in the country. That is why the rules are strict: motor vehicles are prohibited except for forestry and agriculture, entering the sea-cliff caves is prohibited, navigation on the Silistar river is prohibited all year, picking wild plants is prohibited, and camping and fires are allowed only at places designated in writing by the environment authority and marked with permanent signs on the ground. Wild camping here is unlawful, whatever you see other people doing.

The practical warnings are the same as everywhere in this corner. It is a long way from anywhere; the road down is single-carriageway and slow; the beach is guarded in season but its northern neighbour is not; and no official source documents a car park, so where you leave the car is a judgement call — off the dunes, obviously. Rezovo and the border are a few kilometres further on, and you should have your passport in the car.