Sunny Beach is a resort on the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria, located approximately 35 km north of Burgas in Nesebar municipality, Burgas Province. It is the biggest and most popular holiday resort of the country, and is home to over 130 hotels with more than 60 000 beds. There are also 130 restaurants and numerous live music bars, pubs, nightclubs, discos, cafes. It has been undergoing continuous expansion for many years. In recent years almost the whole hotel base has been renovated and several new luxurious hotels have been built as well as many spectacular apartment complexes.
Sunny Beach has a very small permanent population, but during the summer the resort is home to many thousands of tourists. The main strip of high-rise hotels backing onto the beach is several kilometres long and extends along a wide bay between Sveti Vlas and Nesebar.
The resorts construction began back in Communist times, in 1958. Construction works began at a site, where two old wells supplying Nesebar with water in ancient times and during the Middle Ages, had been located.
The climate of the area is Mediterranean, explaining Sunny Beachs popularity with tourists since before the fall of communism. Since that time the resorts popularity has grown among German holidaymakers, who add to the already large numbers of Bulgarian and Russian visitors. More recently, Sunny Beach has begun to attract the attention of British and Scandinavian tourists, for whom it is a more affordable alternative to the established Mediterranean resorts.
Attractions for tourists include the beach, watersports, nightlife, and the nearby historical site of Nesebar. Sunny Beach is mainly popular among young people. The Golden Orpheus International Festival of Popular Song, the Decade of Symphonic Music, part of the International Folklore Festival, fashion-shows and various beach competitions are held there.
