Burgas is the largest city in South-Eastern Bulgaria and the 4th most populous in the country after Sofia, Plovdiv and Varna. Burgas is an important economic, transport, administrative and cultural center in South-Eastern Bulgaria. The city is the administrative center of the eponymous municipality and district. The population is 206 038 residents as of 2013. Burgas is located on the western shore of the Burgas Bay of the Black Sea, at the easternmost point of the Burgas Lowland. The city is 385 km from Sofia, 267 km from Plovdiv and 133 km from Varna.
In the 20th century, the city developed actively, and today it is a major industrial and tourist center. With its shoreline setting and the surrounding lakes, Burgas has a fairly moderate climate, with relatively cooler summers and warm winters.
The history of Burgas is long: scientists say it has been inhabited since the earliest times. But it was difficult for the city to compete with the leading trade centers of the time-Nessebar and Sozopol-so for a long period Burgas was simply an area with small fishing villages and sea fortifications. Everything changed with the opening of the city port, which made Burgas the country’s largest port by size and the second-largest city after Varna.
Today’s Burgas is not the country’s main tourist hub. However, its convenient location near lakes and more historical cities still attracts tourists here. Burgas has ethnographic, archaeological, historical and natural science museums, numerous exhibition venues, and interesting natural attractions in the surrounding area. The center of Burgas is especially interesting from an architectural point of view. Many residential buildings in the Art Nouveau style, built in the early 20th century, have been preserved, as well as residential buildings in the Rationalism style, constructed in the 1930s. Not far from Burgas there is the balneo-mud resort “Burgaski Mineralni Bani”.
ClimateThe climate of Burgas is wonderfully suited for a seaside vacation. There is no intense heat there, because the sea brings a refreshing breeze, and at night it becomes cool. The best time to visit Burgas is during the summer months-July and August-when warm, sunny weather sets in and the thermometer rarely rises above +30 °С. The number of sunny days in summer is approximately 24–27 per month. August-September is the best time for resort-style holidays in Burgas. The close proximity of the Black Sea makes winter warm and mild, with only minor snowfall. The average winter temperature in this area is above 0 °С. The reason lies not only in Burgas’s proximity to the sea, but also in the Stara Planina mountain, which blocks the cold northern winds.
