Hotels in Varna, Bulgaria
Every hotel we list in Varna, Bulgaria, with live prices and free cancellation on most rooms.
The obvious base is the central grid between Nezavisimost Square and the Sea Garden, where the pedestrianised Boulevard Knyaz Boris I links the Dormition Cathedral, the 2nd-century Roman Thermae and the city beach within about fifteen minutes of walking. Rooms here cost more per night than anywhere else in the city proper, but you save on transport and you can reach almost every church in Varna on foot. Chayka and Briz, on the higher ground north of the Sea Garden, are residential districts with cheaper rooms and a 20-25 minute walk or a five-minute bus ride into the centre. Sveti Konstantin i Elena, 9 km up the coast, is Bulgaria's oldest seaside resort, founded around 1908 beside the monastery it takes its name from, and it has mineral springs and pine woods rather than nightlife. Golden Sands (Zlatni Pyasatsi), 17 km north, is the package strip of large hotels that largely closes between October and May, while Asparuhovo and Galata, across the 2 km Asparuhov Bridge, are the cheapest beds in the area and the least convenient without a car.
If churches are the reason you are coming, sleep inside the ring of the old town. The Cathedral of the Dormition of the Mother of God, begun in 1880 and consecrated in 1886, is the second-largest cathedral in Bulgaria and sits on Mitropolit Simeon Square, three minutes from the opera house; the Church of St Athanasius of 1838 is the oldest surviving church in the city, and St Nicholas the Wonderworker, from 1866, stands directly on Knyaz Boris I. The Armenian church of Surp Sarkis, from the 1840s, is a short detour towards the port. The two sites that need transport are Aladzha Monastery, a 13th-14th century rock-cut complex carved into a limestone cliff in Zlatni Pyasatsi Nature Park about 3 km inland from Golden Sands, with entry around €5, and the small monastery chapel at Sveti Konstantin i Elena. Feast days to plan around are 15 August, the Dormition and also the Day of Varna, 21 May for Saints Constantine and Helena, and 6 December for St Nicholas, when the city eats fish.
July and August are the expensive months, and 15 August is the single worst night of the year to arrive without a booking, because the city holiday, the Assumption liturgies and peak beach season land together. June is the smartest compromise: the sea is swimmable by mid-month, rates run roughly a third below August, and the Varna Summer International Music Festival, running since 1926, fills the Festival and Congress Centre from late June into July, with the International Ballet Competition taking the open-air theatre in the Sea Garden in July of odd-numbered years. September is warm, quieter and cheaper, and the Love is Folly film festival keeps the centre busy in late August and early September. From November to March the coastal resorts shut almost entirely, city hotels drop to their lowest rates, and Varna becomes a working town of about 330,000 people with wind off the bay and daytime highs near 5°C.
Room rates split cleanly by season. In the centre in January or November, a clean budget double or a small guesthouse room runs about €20-32, a three-star with breakfast €35-50, and the best sea-view four-stars €60-85. In July and August the same categories move to roughly €35-55, €60-95 and €120-180, with Golden Sands and Sveti Konstantin i Elena pricing separately and often only on half-board or all-inclusive terms. Hostel dorms sit around €12-18 year-round, and apartments in Chayka, Levski or Vladislav Varnenchik undercut central hotels by €10-20 a night. Budget about €10-15 per person for a full dinner with wine in the centre, and less in Asparuhovo.
