introduction to Varna

Introduction
Varna is a truly great beach side city, located on Bulgaria's northern Black Sea coast, this city is making a serious case for entertainment capital of Eastern Europe. Walking through the seaside parks, watching the dolphins perform in the aquarium, enjoying one of the many free water parks or just relaxing at a cafe on the beach, whatever you do in Varna, it's going to be fun, cheap & entertaining. Varna isn't Bulgaria's largest city, just its best. This is after all the "Party Riviera".
The City
Varna has one of the most interesting & entertaining beach fronts in the world. Something is always going on. Going to the beach in here isn't an action, it's an experience. With plenty of bars, restaurants, carnival games, water parks, open air discos & some of the best looking, least dressed women you have ever seen!
Varna's city center is built entirely for pedestrians with networks of walking streets several kilometers long. Thousands of shops & sidewalk cafes, there aren't many better ways to spend a day shopping on a pink tiled street next to the Black Sea in Bulgaria. Downtown Varna has a great outdoor market, it's a great place to buy quality, yet really cheap clothes. The market is at the end of the pink tiled walking street, just across the street from the gold domed cathedral, that so dominates the city skyline.

Night time in Varna has more of a time than any other night you've ever seen. The beach area comes alive as the crowds flock to enjoy the warm summer nights. Nightclubs, discos, restaurants & cinemas, the carnival games are a whole lot of fun. There's even archery, which I'm not sure how good of an idea that is, seeing that vodka is practically free in this country. On my first time with the bow & arrow I hit the bullseye, which in turn qualified me for a stuffed animal, Woo Hoo!

Personal Experiences
As for my personal experience in Varna, I spent an amazing 2 months there. Not once did I go bored from lack of entertainment or from lack of something pretty to look at. During my days in Varna, I'd usually walk up & down the main street, flirting with all the girls, because yes they are all that beautiful. Luckily I'm pretty cute, so I didn't do all that badly. Everyday I would usually eat at Happy's, it's like Denny's, but think mini skirts.
In the afternoon I would head down to the beach & waste away at a beach side cafe. My favorite one was the Inflatable Chair Cafe. A friend showed me the place, I was amazed the first time I went there.Everything was inflatable, the cup holders, the chairs, the tables, everything! I would be sitting there in my bright purple inflatable chair, sipping on some Bacardi, staring at this gorgeous girl next to me. As she sunbathes, topless, on her bright green inflatable sun chair. How could life get any better than sitting at the inflatable chair cafe, surrounded by half naked women, so beautiful that if they were in Milan, tourists would mistake them for super models.
I would spend most of my evenings in Varna, walking down the the boardwalk, going from disco to disco. The best disco by far in Varna is New York. The club is legendary among Varna nightlife. Situated right on the beach, it's open air & the clubs centerpiece is the 50 foot replica statue of liberty in the middle of the dance floor. The club is going off every night from 11 & after, so many girls it's unreal & this is Bulgaria. The girls, they're like super fine, super fine like Denise Richards/Sarah Michelle Gellar/Cameron Diaz, fine.
Sometimes I would go up to Golden Sands & spend the day. There's no combination like Bacardi, Sprite & a beach. I had some good times at Golden Sands, once you've had a little Southern Comfort, no difficulty level on the mechanical bull seems too high.
Nights in Golden Sands are something else entirely. Me, being bad, usually chose to go to the strip club, next to the one disco, across the street from the hot dog/hat seller dude. When you first get into the club, you'll automatically think "ahh this strip club sucks", but wait until around midnight & you'll see how great it truly is.
When I went in nothing was happening at the strip club, so I went over to the dance club instead. Then a friend of mine came running over & told me that I had to see what was going on in there. When I got back over there, I saw what quickly propelled this club up the ranks to best strip club ever! Sex on stage! For like hours & this wasn't just any girl, this is Bulgaria. This girl was hot. I mean hot like Marissa on The OC hot.
I asked the club whether they were hiring, they said yeah, but you would have to meet a few requirements. I boldly stated, baby I got whatever requirement you need. I was getting all excited about the audition, then they pointed at like the only ugly girl in the whole country, so I was like fuck it, never mind.

Finally
Varna will always be remembered by me, as one of my favorite cities in the world. All the fun I had here, all the women I met, all the days I spent on the beach at the inflatable chair cafe. When people talk to me about Rio, I talk to them about Varna. Your time here will go by all too quickly & unfortunately after 2 months my time here was up also. Another adventure awaited.

Getting Around
Varna is a very compact & easily navigated city. Pretty much everything is within walking distance & there are buses every 15 minutes to Golden Sands, leaving from the KFC. If you don't feel like walking, the taxis here are safe, ridiculously cheap & numerous.

Getting There
Varna is readily reached by bus from Sofia (15 hours) & Burgas (4 hours). Bulgaria has a very safe, efficient, most of all cheap coach network, but the roads can get kind of bumpy. There is also a ferry leaving irregularly to the Romanian port town of Constanta. There is also a train leaving daily to Ruse (10 hours), with connections to Bucharest (5 hours). Also Istanbul is only a 20 hour bus ride away.

Lodging
The best way to find a hotel in Varna is to hop in a taxi & just ask for "sleep, cheap", you'll either go to a whore house, or to a reasonably priced hotel, either way you can't go wrong. The taxi should take you to a nice reasonably priced place, giving you a few days to get settled in & find another place. Hotels are very cheap n Varna, around $15 dollars a night for a single. Golden Sands on the other hand is outrageously priced, a hotel there will cost you around $100 bucks for a single.

Food
Cheap! Food is very cheap. There are restaurants everywhere, with quality food & very cheap prices.
Even if you eat at a nice restaurant like a "Happy's", you shouldn't find yourself paying more than $3 dollars for a meal. Food at grocery stores are even cheaper, but with restaurants being so cheap & convenient, you probably won't do much of your own cooking.

When To Go
The time to be here is from late Spring to very early Autumn. I visited from August to September & things were perfect. August is the holiday season in Bulgaria, so it's the best time to come, as far as nightlife & everything go.

When Not To Go
The winter, it´s cold, the crowds have thinned, no one is on the beach & there's no nightlife.
How Does Varna Compare With Other Destinations.
Varna is easily Bulgaria's best & most entertaining city, Varna blows away competitors like Burgas, Nesebar or Sozopol. On the international scale Varna also is a heavy competitor. When it comes to nightlife, beaches & good looking women, Varna can't be beat by any city in Europe. This is the "Party Riviera", & when you're here, it shows.

Comparative Cost Scale
Bottle of coke = $.75
Bottle of vodka = $2
Cigarettes = $.60
Big Mac = $2
Night in a hotel = $15
Bacardi Breezer = $1
Tablet of Ecstasy = $10
Hooker = $30