First impressions of Ahtopol, Bulgaria

Ahtopol is a village in the south part of the Bulgarian Black Sea coast, around 16 km with car from the border with Turkey. Its ancient settlement, but in the beginning of the 20th century it burned down, so there is about nothing older left.

Despite the bad weather exactly this day, the place gives impression for subtropics and is very warm place indeed on par with the Spanish Costa Brava. The prices are like half of what you can find in the other villages around, the quality of the sand and the water is great and they are couple of beaches, one of them specifically designated as "nudist beach". Also there is pretty big camping area and even more bungalows as historically it was one of the popular resorts in Communist Bulgaria.

And finally, most of the closer beach is given on concession to somebody (common occurrence in the country) and the access is limited. There are signs that unless you don't pay you can't sit or live belongings in the area. And to make the things even uglier, the umbrellas are up to and even in the water in many places. So, this was enough to spoil my otherwise relatively positive experience.