Sveti Vlas

Worth a detour

Sveti Vlas sits where the Stara Planina finally reaches the sea, at the northern corner of Nesebar bay, facing due south and sheltered from the north wind. The town is new, steep and almost entirely apartment blocks, and the reason to come is the marina: three hundred berths, a proper quay to walk along in the evening, and the only place on this coast where you can look at boats rather than at sunbeds.

Story

Background

The setting does the work. The shore faces south, the mountain rises behind it, and the municipality makes a good deal of the climate: fog is rare, there are between two hundred and forty and two hundred and sixty sunny days a year, and only about twenty-six cold days in winter. It also claims, as clean-air resorts do, that the air between the mountain and the sea suits people with asthma and other lung complaints. That is the town's own claim rather than an independent finding, and it is worth taking as such.

Marina Dinevi is the substance. It was certified for port services at the end of December 2006 and formally opened in June 2007: forty-five thousand square metres of water, three piers and five floating pontoons, thirteen hundred and thirty metres of quay, three hundred berths for boats from five to thirty-one metres, and a forty-tonne crane. It is ten kilometres from Nesebar, forty from Burgas, and about thirty from Burgas airport, which is close enough to hear the approach on a still evening.

The beaches are the weak point. There are three of them and the largest, the central one, is only about a kilometre long and sixteen metres wide on average — a small allowance for the number of beds built above it. Come in June or September, use the marina and the restaurants along it, and drive to Ravda or Irakli when you want sand.