Sozopol Holidays

Sozopol’s a tale of two halves. The 2,000-year-old old town looks like it’s been lifted straight from the pages of a Balkan storybook, thanks to its terracotta-topped houses and winding cobbled lanes. In fact, it’s the oldest settlement on the Black Sea coast. Not to mention, there’s a seven-metre-high ancient gate, left behind from a fortress, sitting on the seafront. The modern part of town, meanwhile, lines up a flock of shops and restaurants, along with a Blue Flag beach.

You’ll find two stretches of sand in this part of the world – Central Beach and Harmanite Beach. Harmanite’s the leggier of the two, and comes with a coveted Blue Flag. They straddle the town’s southern peninsula, and both are backed by cafés, restaurants and shops. If you’re after watersports, there’s banana-boating, windsurfing and sailing on offer.

The town was known as Apollonia back in the day, when the Ancient Greeks settled in the area around the 7th century BC. It developed into an impressive cultural centre, thanks to its importance as a maritime hub – a legacy it still carries today. Sozopol was eventually handed over to Bulgaria once and for all when the 19th century rolled around.