When choosing a country where you can go to spend your summer vacation, you have to take into account many factors and circumstances and look for answers to the question of which is better. Bulgaria or Greece is an excellent choice for those who prefer a not too hot and humid climate, familiar cuisine and a flight that does not take much time. Which resorts to prefer, the Black Sea in Bulgaria or the Mediterranean in Greece? Let's try to figure it out by considering the main aspects of the upcoming trip.
Flight and visas
Air tickets make up a significant item of expenses for the forthcoming vacation. If you are choosing between Bulgaria and Greece, pay attention to the possibility to reach your destination by direct regular flights, interchange flights and charters:
- Bulgaria Air's planes fly directly to the Bulgarian airport Varna. Travel time is 2.5 hours, and ticket prices for regular flights during the "high" season start at 220 euros. From Varna airport, the closest is to get to the resorts of Albena and Golden Sands.
- A flight by Bulgarian airlines and Azur Air planes to Burgas will cost a little more. Round-trip tickets in Economy class cost € 230. You will have to spend a little less than 3 hours in the sky. Burgas airport is usually used by guests of Sunny Beach, Sozopol and other southern Bulgarian resorts.
- The most popular airport in the mainland resort of Greece is located in Thessaloniki. Direct flights there are operated by VIM Airlines. It will take 3.5 hours to fly to Thessaloniki, paying 260 euros for the ticket. A transfer with a change in Athens or Istanbul will be a little cheaper. Aegean Airlines and Turkish Airlines are ready to take you to the blessed Greek Mediterranean Riviera for € 215-220.
- Direct flights to Heraklion airport on the Greek island of Crete are the cheapest flights operated by Ellinair. The ticket price is from 360 euros. Travel time is 4 hours. They also invite passengers on board who have decided to spend a vacation on the island of Rhodes. The journey will take about 3.5 hours, and you will have to pay 300 euros for round trip tickets.
As for the visa, Bulgaria allows Russian tourists to cross its borders in three cases: if you have a valid Schengen visa in your passport, your own national visa and an open visa from Romania or Cyprus. To visit Greece, you will have to open the "Schengen", which you can get by submitting a standard set of documents to the consulate or visa center. Don't forget to purchase a health insurance policy.
Beaches and hotels
The vast majority of Greek beaches are sandy, but on the islands there are pebbly ones, which are cozy rocky bays. In Bulgaria, the beaches can boast of greater width and length, and their coverage is also sandy in ninety-nine cases of one hundred.
In both countries, guests are offered free access to the beach, but beach equipment costs money to rent. Depending on the resort, a pair of sun loungers for the whole day will cost you between 3 and 8 euros.
In the beauty competition, the Greek beaches of Crete, Kos, Mykonos and Zakynthos are unmatched. The latter has the famous cove of white sand and turquoise waters called Navagio. A photo of a small beach in the bay with the wreck of a smugglers' ship protruding from the water, which was wrecked there, adorns many advertising brochures about a beach holiday in Greece.
There are not too many such picturesque places in Bulgaria, and the sea here is not particularly beautiful and rich in color. However, the beaches of the Bulgarian resorts boast a developed infrastructure suitable for families with children. A large part of them have honorary Blue Flags, which are awarded for cleanliness and special attitude to maintaining ecological balance.
If you prefer diving on vacation, choose Greece. The sea near its shores is more picturesque and the underwater world is undoubtedly richer than that of the Black one.
In terms of hotels, you can choose a hotel within your pocket in both countries. In the Bulgarian resorts, there are quite inexpensive, but clean "fours" and "treshekas", and in Greece they correspond to hotels of category A and B. Prices for hotels in Greece may seem a little higher, but if you start planning your trip in advance, there is a chance too expensive.
