The tour operators have 'stretched' the season already, way beyond the traditional mid-June to mid-September, to increase their & the resort's earnings potential - if it was open and there were flights, it would still be a ghost town over the October-May period.

The restaurateurs & other people who service tourists in the beach resorts in the summer follow the 'tourist herd' into the mountains in the winter, like nomadic hunters, so that they can earn their living in the ski resorts.

Baldur

Nobody lives in Sunny Beach, it was built as a summer tourist resort where the winters are colder than the UK and the sea freezes from time to time. It's a very short season, Baldur is quite correct, in reality from the middle of June to the middle of September.

Outside that time frame expect little to be open, and at the start of the season there to be a lot of building work.

Peter

We were in SB last January lots of people about, if you go down at night
you see how many apartment lights are on, and people in them.
A man who works in the main street was saying more people are staying
over the winter each year.

Dron

How are these apartments heated bearing in mind that Sunny Beach is colder than the UK in winter and the sea often freezes with temperatures as low as -16 C?

Peter

Hi Dron,

if you go down at night you see how many apartment lights are on, and people in them.

Many apartment viewing trips for potential purchasers take place over the winter period (take any Bulgaria Air or BA flight to Varna over that period and it will be virtually full of these viewers and salespeople, maybe with a smattering of Bulgarians returning home) - the estate agents & developers often use completed apartments to accommodate those prospective purchasers, so not too much should be assumed from that observation.

At least some people have spent significant amounts to buy properties in Bulgaria without realising that the real season is so short, often erroneously expecting the sort of mild winters offered by some parts of Spain, etc. Many purchasers have bought into the 'bucolic fantasy' which is being sold by the developers & estate agents, much to the amusement of ordinary Bulgarian people. This trend appears to be on the wane both in the coastal & ski resorts, from press reports, such as the headline article in this morning's Dnevnik newspaper.

Some who have 'bought into the dream' will doubtlessly choose to spend time in their very expensive (by local standards) apartment out of season, rather than leave it empty for the 7 or 8 months of the year when the weather can be worse than it is in the UK.

Baldur

Baldur and Peter, could it also be something similar to news item Novinite.com dated 19/02 ref roma. Tonyt.

Couldn't say the same for all apartments but I know ours has aircon/heating, but unfortunatley we cannot get flight out in winter

That's correct about electric heating, the apartment blocks are still
open, but most of the hotels are closed.
When was the last time the Black Sea froze over, we have it -15 often
in Scotland our river never freezes over.
Alot of people stay full time in their apartments in SB/Vlas.
Doing my bit for visit Bulgaria.

Dron

THAT'S an interesting story, Tony, I'm not at all surprised.

Bad weather on the Black Sea coast is more the norm than unusual. See HERE

The sea freezing is not an unusual event either see HERE from 2004 I think. Being static and of low salinity it freezes and cannot be compared to a river!

From another forum THIS is an interesting thread when you consider that one of the contributors, Peter Lyubov Delchev is a meteorologist!

The Bulgarian Black Sea coast will never become a tourist destination in winter apart from a few large hotels utilising thermal springs in their specialist heath centres, such as the Grand Hotel Varna in St Konstantin.

Peter

Hi Tony,

That story first broke on 14th February, less likely in a managed apartment complex than a village, I suspect - but I'd never say impossible.

(Fortunately, my neighbour, Petar, takes an almost proprietorial interest in my house, unexpected visitors have described him as responding like a 'human rotweiller').

Baldur