The Kamchia Protected Area covers almost 129,200 decares, including 7,500 decares of marine areas. Varna Province thus offers a natural environment that extends beyond beaches and open coastline: Kamchia includes shallow marine waters and bays, as well as mobile and fixed coastal dunes, wooded dunes and underwater sea caves. The protected area also preserves habitats for, among other species, wolves, otters, bottlenose dolphins and marsh turtles.
Coastal landscapes and distinctive sand formations
You will encounter a different type of landscape at Pobiti Kamani. The Centre–South group comprises around 300 large and small stone columns, reaching up to six metres in height. Pobiti Kamani is designated as a Natura 2000 protected area to preserve Bulgaria’s largest inland sand habitats. The columns and the reason for the area’s protected status tell two different stories about the place: its striking geological formations and the importance of its sand habitats for nature conservation.
Varna’s Sea Garden also combines nature and culture, though with the character of a city park: it is described as having peaceful avenues, varied natural vegetation and numerous cultural monuments. The University Botanical Garden in Varna, in turn, is considered the country’s first Ecopark and combines artificial and natural ecosystems. These two places offer different perspectives on landscaped and natural environments, without requiring them to share the same natural features.
Prehistoric sites and medieval fortresses
Near the destination, in Provadia, Provadia-Solnitsata is considered Europe’s earliest prehistoric salt-mining and urban centre, dating from 5600 to 4350 BC. The site includes a stone fortress with defensive walls four to five metres high, built around 4700 BC. The dates bring the settlement’s history to life in several stages: the centre is associated with an extensive prehistoric period, while the walls belong to a later construction phase.
The Ovech Fortress tells the story of different eras. It was in use from the 3rd century to the first decades of the 7th century, and again from the 10th or 11th century until the end of the 17th century. Visitors can see a 79-metre-deep well said to be able to speak, as well as the Bishop’s Church, the Knights’ Prison, the tower with the Devil’s Path and the Monks’ Holes. The long break between its two periods of use sets the fortress’s history apart from the earlier settlement traces at Provadia-Solnitsata.
Gold finds and culture in Varna
The treasure from the Chalcolithic Varna Necropolis is on display at the Varna Archaeological Museum. It is considered the oldest technologically processed gold in the world. Most of the necropolis’s objects date from 4600 to 4200 BC and are now held in the same museum. This places a single famous treasure and the larger group of finds in their historical context without treating them as one and the same.
The Vladislav Varnenchik Park-Museum Complex commemorates another chapter in the city’s history. The memorial is located at the exact site of the battle of 10 November 1444, in the western part of Varna. The Ethnographic Museum, meanwhile, presents winemaking as one of the traditional occupations of the local population. The focus here is the cultural history of winemaking, not a wine-tasting offer.
Science and natural history are also among the city’s themes. Varna Aquarium provides information about the flora and fauna of the Black Sea and its hydrological and hydrochemical characteristics. The Nikolay Kopernik complex was Bulgaria’s first astronomy complex and comprised an observatory, a planetarium and a tower with a Foucault pendulum. The two institutions have different focuses: one is devoted to the sea, the other to astronomy.
More experiences
Varna Zoo is home to more than 60 animal species, with around 400 animals in total. Detski kut – Varna offers 28 attractions adapted to different age groups of children. These figures give a concrete sense of the different themes: animal species and population on the one hand, age-specific attractions on the other. Festa Dolphinarium is a unique attraction in Bulgaria; check details about its operations separately.
Discover more destinations: Avren, Dolni Chiflik, Provadia, Aksakovo, Beloslav, Dalgopol, Varna, Byala, Vetrino, Valchi Dol, Devnya.
Return to the main travel overview: Bulgaria.
