Summer City Guide: 72 hours in Varna, part 2

The evenings are cooler. Your boss has already called while you’re on the beach to ask when you’ll be back,

and you’re exchanging final lingering looks with the sea, aware that this affair can’t last forever. Summer is winding down. You work all year for something barely longer than a daydream, start cocktails well before the conventional hour, spend too long in the sun and close more clubs than is sensible. It will be memorable, but it isn’t quite over. For the last August weekend, we return to Varna for a final 72-hour route: sweet sips, different flavours, long evenings and places to pause.

Coffee and a little more: Memento

We begin at Memento, celebrating six years in Varna in 2026. From morning coffee to evening cocktails, it has become part of the city’s day, whether you’re visiting or live here. Take a seat for coffee, stay for something sweet or return later for a drink.

Six summers, thousands of visitors

and many seaside meetings later, Memento remains a natural part of our route. For the fifth year running, it won North Coast: Best Bar at the Go Guide Seaside Awards. Happy sixth birthday.

Lunch in a garden: Domat na Stroitelya

For lunch, we head to Domat na Stroitelya, a century-old house opposite the Sea Garden, welcoming its second summer. It’s handy for the centre and the sea while offering a cool, leafy garden to retreat into. Give lunch with friends or family a little more time. There’s a familiar warmth from the moment you sit down, and the Sea Garden is ready for the next walk.

A table for a crowd: Staria Chinar

Dinner belongs to Staria Chinar, a Varna name that has brought locals and visitors together for years. The menu combines

traditional Bulgarian dishes, Balkan influences

and a substantial grill selection. It suits a quiet family dinner or a large group in which everyone wants something different. Whichever location you choose, expect the familiar welcome and food to return to when you want to eat well without too much experimentation.

Back in time: Varna’s Retro Museum

Between beach visits and walks, allow a few hours for the Retro Museum in Grand Mall. Its collection covers 1944 to 1989 and is interesting even if socialism isn’t part of your own memory. More than 50 restored cars, including Volga, Moskvich, Škoda and Trabant models, are the main draw. There are motorcycles, household objects and wax figures of Todor Zhivkov, Leonid Brezhnev, Fidel Castro, Emil Dimitrov and Todor Kolev. The published visitor information lists daily opening from 10:00 to 19:00 and adult admission at €15.34.

In the cliffs near Golden Sands: Aladzha Monastery

Aladzha Monastery makes an interesting addition to a Varna stay. The medieval retreat is carved over two levels into a limestone cliff nearly 40 metres high, inhabited by hermit monks in the 13th and 14th centuries.

Explore the monastery rooms, church and chapel,

then the so-called Catacombs, around 600 to 700 metres away, used as early as the early Christian period. All of it sits within Golden Sands Nature Park, a green change from another afternoon on the beach. The published May-to-October hours are daily, 09:00 to 17:00, with adult admission at €5.

Summer City Guide: 72 hours in Varna

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