Varna Vacation Rental villa: Balgarevo, Kavarna

I wanted to take my Parents [mid-eighties] on a holiday where my dad could bird-watch without having to do much walking. Cape Kaliakra on the northern Black Sea coast seemed ideal and this villa is in the perfect spot to access Kaliakra with it's breeding Pied Wheatears, Olive-tyree Warbler and Eagle Owl, the Yailata Steppe for larks, buntings and Red-footed Falcon and the Durankulak & Shabla lakes for Paddyfield Warbler.

Firstly the villa: It is a lovely modern purpose built villa on a quiet residential street on the outskirts of the village. Three good sized bedrooms one en-suite, another bathroom shower and a further toilet in the utility room downstairs. All of downstairs is an open-plan dining/living/kitchen. The garden has BBQ and a beautiful pool. The hot water system takes a little bit of intuition but we worked it out after the first night. Two minor criticisms of the villa. Firstly the kitchen and utensils are a bit limited for self-catering - but given the cost of restaurants people will be eating out most of the time anyway and the owners say they are about to upgrade utensils. Secondly the garden is a bit bare for my tastes but that seems to be the pattern for the ex-pat villas whilst the locals have market-gardens with lilac tress and lots of shade. Difficult to keep up tho and I guess the leaves get in the pool.

Secondly Balgarevo: It's brilliant. An unspoilt traditional Bulgarian village with several bars and restaurants. Our favourite was the one that looks a bit like the Alamo in the town square, but there was one at a 'complex' on the Sveti Nikolai road that was ok as well. There is a fish restaurant between Balgarevo and Kavarna that is very goo also. The shop on the edge of the square is good for daily things like milk and bread, a supermarket at the lights at Kavarna 10 minutes away supplied most else and there is a wonderful vegetable market over the road from that. Balgarevo is not the place if you want a lively or touristy holiday. It hasn't been developed as there is no access to a beach and I loved it because of that.

Finally for all you nature-loving nerds what is the area like. It is a 10 minute drive to Cape Kaliakra and in the last week of April migration there was spectacularb but ideal birding dates would be May 1st-20th. A full report can be read on Surfbirds. The title is "Migration of the Northern Black Sea Coast of Bulgaria, 24th April-1st May 2009". This website won't allow links so try a search .

we have just come back from staying in this villa and have to say that we had a fantastic time. the villa was A1 and the kids had a superb time as did the adults. The village was very rural and the locals were very friendly. Varna was excellent for shopping and the coastline from Balchic down through Albena onto the Golden sands resorts were absolutely superb with plenty to do for the young ones. Dont make the same mistake that we did and fly into Sofia to save some money on airfares and try to drive down to Varna (the drive took 9 hours with Kids trying to murder each other) To be fair the owners of the villa did tell me not to do it but i dident listen.To sum up our holiday, Excellent villa and swimming pool, beautiful scenery , Good food and great weather. We could not ask for more. will book again

We stayed last Sept and enjoyed it so much we have just booked to go back again this year to the same villa. The accomodation was first class, a beautiful villa and very clean.

My 2 children loved the garden and pool. It is situated in a quiet area with a few smart new villas nearby and only 5 mins drive from the sandy beach.The village is not at all commercialised. We even saw working horse and carts go by and the locals are very friendly.There is a good restaurant in the village itself, service was great and very nice food - cheap too! Lots of choice for restaurants and shops at Kavarna which is a short drive away.

We would recommend hiring a car to explore some of the pretty coves and to visit Cape Kaliakra, Varna, Dobrich etc.