Cleanliness and Purity of the Sea and Beaches in Bulgaria

It is but natural for many tourists to choose resorts in Bulgaria for clean and pure beaches, aside from reasonable prices, good food and decent accommodation. Just look for the most recent and updated tourist and customer reviews to get the best on which of these resorts have the cleanest beaches and the purest of waters (as possible).

Do not be fooled by the advertisement and fake reviews that claim that this or that resort has clean beaches and pure waters. For instance, we were surprised to find out that some of them even recommended Kranevo and Chernomorets as resorts with the cleanest and purest waters. But the truth is, they are some of the worst resorts.

Unable to find current information about the purity of the water in Bulgaria, we have conducted our own analysis of the European Union report and are publishing it here.

The European Union researches of purity of the beaches and of the seawater in Bulgaria

If you will be able to access the report of the European Union Commission about the purity of beaches in different countries, you will see that Bulgaria is at 6th place, ahead of Spain, Italy, Portugal, France, and even Montenegro. 91% of the beaches, according to high European standards, deserve a rating “good” or “excellent.”

The measurement method is quite simple. Throughout the year, the water samples are taken from the main beaches of the country and then are checked for any presence of bacteria Escherichia coli and Enterococcus.

at least one sample is taken just before the start of the tourist season.
during the season are taken at least 4 samples
at least one sample is taken every month

In fact, for popular beaches samples are taken more frequently.

Since the first sampling by the new method (in 2011), 73.4% of beaches are rated “excellent” while 96.8% of the beaches are rated “good.” As you can see, even with the large influx of tourists Bulgaria has managed to maintain its sea and beaches very clean.

Since the publication of the report (2014), Bulgaria has made significant investments into water purification systems and equipment of the beaches, and therefore the situation is even slightly improved.

What beaches in Bulgaria can be considered dirty or dangerous for health?

Of 94 tested, beaches, only three do not attain the highest EU standards.

However, they are quite suitable for swimming:

Officers Beach in Varna
Popski Beach in Tsarevo (there’s too warm water, algae)
A Beach of Dogs in Golden Sands (at the north of the resort)

Also, in Bulgaria there are 5 beaches, the purity of which is considered minimally sufficient:

The South Beach in Varna
The central beach in Varna
The central beach in the town of Chernomorets
The South Beach in the town of Chernomorets
The central beach in Lozenets

You can evaluate the quality of the beaches and the sea water of Bulgaria and other European countries thanks to a special interactive map, which is updated regularly.

If you are interested which beaches have become cleaner or dirtier in recent years, you need to download a special map and open it in Google Earth.

Our comments about the purity of beaches and the sea in Bulgaria

The sea in Bulgaria, in our opinion, is quite clean and clear. You can make sure in it for yourself by viewing photos on our website. Visually, the water here is much cleaner than in Crimea, but slightly inferior to the sea in Montenegro (where it is more clear).

In Bulgaria, there are algae, but not as much, as the old reviews on the Internet forums say We had a holiday in Nessebar in late August and early September. During our 14 days there only once we saw algae.

You can make sure about the purity of the sea while looking at our photos: