2025 Summer Vacation in Romania or Bulgaria: Which One Is Better?

Did you know Bulgaria and Romania, although neighboring countries sharing the Black Sea coastline, will offer completely different summer experiences?

Today, in my comparison between the two countries, you will see that’s the case. Even more so, you will be able to decide which is the best summer destination for you: Romania or Bulgaria.

As a Romanian, I’ve spent plenty of summers at both Romanian and Bulgarian beach resorts, just like most Romanians do. So I’m not basing this article solely on research, but personal experience too.

However, since there is more than water and sand that goes into play when choosing your summer holiday destination, and I’ll look at all these factors below and help you decide which is the better summer vacation destination: Bulgaria or Romania.

(Note: If you’re interested in choosing one of these two countries for long term living instead, check my other article pitting Bulgaria vs Romania).

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Romania’s Black Sea Resorts: Beauty (and the Beast)

Up until 2017, we spent three consecutive summer holidays on the Romanian seaside – and also visited the Black Sea resorts constantly as we lived in Constanta, on the Black Sea coast, for two years until summer 2024.

If you’re curious to see how our successful vacations went in Romania, you can check out my Hotel Dana in Venus impressions, as well as the story of our cheap stay in Eforie Nord.

It was followed by a stay at the same hotel, but then Eforie Nord was a dud and one of the reasons why I decided that we’ve given one too many chances to Romania’s seaside.

We have visited Mamaia quite a few times, which is considered Romania’s top destination and best resort, but also others. There’s plenty to love in each, but also a few quirks you should know about before packing your bags.

Services are slightly better in Mamaia. The quality of everything there – from food to accommodation (here are my recommended hotels in Mamaia) – is slightly better, but also a lot more expensive.

Despite the positives, I consider Mamaia overcrowded, a bit overhyped and generally a diamond that still has to be polished (including prices cut down). But still a nice place where you can enjoy a good summer vacation.

What to Expect at Romanian Beaches

Romanian beaches stretch along the coast with plenty of small resorts. Apart from Mamaia, main ones include Eforie Nord, Vama Veche, Costinesti, and Venus.

Each resort has its particular vibe – Mamaia is glitzy and higher-brow but crowded and more expensive, Vama Veche is more laid-back and known for its party scene, Costinesti is where the students go (so it’s slightly cheaper) while Venus offers a quieter family-friendly atmosphere.

While Romania does have some amazing beaches to offer, not everything is amazing about them. Especially now since many of these beaches have been revamped – and poorly so, in my opinion.

While it is true that you will see wider stretches of sand, thanks to beach expansion projects, the sand itself is no longer soft and… well… sandy, but full of shell bits that make it uncomfortable to walk on without water shoes.

This hasn’t affected all beaches yet and it is something that had to be done, but probably they could’ve found a way to grind those sea shells and make them finer.

Noise Factor: Romanian beaches are usually noisy. The bars scattered all over the place are in a seemingly futile and endless competition of “who can play the loudest music from the 80s and 90s”?

You also have roaming vendors shouting about their “corn on the cob” in catchy – and sometimes bordering obscene – rhymes.

You might have to work a bit harder to find a quiet spot to hear the waves, usually right in front of the sea, but at a higher cost.

Cleanliness: While cleanliness is improving, you can still expect to see at least some litter on most beaches, like food wrappers and cigarette butts.

More people are making an effort to clean up, that’s true, but don’t expect too much yet.

Things are starting to look, feel, and BE better, I have to give that to the Romanian seaside. There are spots where you can indeed enjoy the silence and nature without much noise from beach bars and sellers… and more and more people clean after themselves, but we’re still a far way from perfect.

Some places are better than others, like my recommended hotel Dana in the quieter Venus resort, and plenty more which require some digging.

Not to mention that many of the public beaches – as well as many of the private ones – don’t offer access to a restroom – be it public or paid (this happened to us in Mamaia) which is unacceptable in my opinion.

This is the exact reason why, after giving the Romanian seaside a chance for three years in a row, we eventually decided that enough is enough and it’s time to explore other options.

We chose Romania’s neighbor Bulgaria, despite mixed reviews received from fellow Romanians. We were worried, but had to try. Looking back, it was a great idea!

Bulgaria Resorts: Which Ones Did We Choose?

We first chose Albena on Bulgaria’s northern coast, for two main reasons: first, because it’s close to Bucharest and second because it as a very chill resort aimed mostly at families and older people – and since we were traveling with a young child back then, it seemed perfect.

We wanted silence, we wanted beautiful sea and beaches and opportunities to recharge our batteries. That’s exactly what we got!

Albena definitely felt great for us and it was an amazing first stay in Bulgaria. We’ve since tried Golden Sands and Sunny Beach, and each year, we keep coming back to Bulgaria. There’s a lot to like: quiet beaches, well-maintained resorts, and friendlier price tags.

Last year, even though we were in Constanta on the Black Sea’s coast, we actually opted to visit Golden Sands again and chose an All-Inclusive stay at one of Bulgaria’s best all inclusive resorts, the spectacular Melia Grand Hermitage.

Hotels in Bulgaria vs Hotels in Romania

We prefer All Inclusive hotels when going on vacation. This makes everything easier and the total costs a lot more predictable.

Bulgaria focuses a lot on All-Inclusive summer vacations, while Romania is a bit behind in the area.

We couldn’t find a good deal (hotel quality vs. price) when looking at options in Romania, while we always managed to find something good in Bulgaria, where €1,500 is usually enough for a seven-night stay at a 4-star AI hotel. Romania is more expensive.

Take the first Bulgarian hotel we visited, Hotel Kaliakra – a 4 star hotel in Albena. It is right near the beach, with all rooms offering an impressive sea view. They offer two types of rooms: Superior and Standard, the former being larger.

Click here to check out Hotel Kaliakra (and see prices today)

We chose the Superior Room as I actually had the impression that there are two hotels: Kaliakra Superior and Kaliakra, with the former being the better one since it was a bit more expensive. But I was wrong.

For an all-inclusive hotel, it offered everything we needed, including organic, locally-grown vegetables and plenty of options for all meals. Check out some of the offers below:

Things looked much better when we switched to a 5-star resort like Melia. In the end, you get what you pay for – but it’s always good food.

All inclusive hotels must keep costs low and it is expected for the food to be of a lower quality, but we were surprised with how good it was. In many cases, similar to what you would get in seaside restaurants in Romania or Bulgaria.

The same thing happened in all inclusive resorts that we visited in the next two years in Bulgaria: Melia Grand Hermitage in Golden Sands and DIT Evrika Beach in Sunny Beach, in both cases the food being even better and more varied, as these are 5-star resorts.

We were treated very well at the hotel by all staff: from the girls at the reception, to the waiters in the restaurants and the maids… everybody did a great job overall.

They were not all smiles and good mood as you’d like all people to be when you’re on vacation, but us people living in the Eastern side of Europe tend to smile a lot less than others… so we knew they weren’t actually grumpy. They were polite and nice, though – no problems here.

In Romania, people working in the hotels and hospitability industry are still very rude and with pure manners. Things are improving here as well and things today are much better than they were several years ago, but I feel the staff is still a bit behind what Bulgaria has to offer in terms of politeness overall.

Verdict: Bulgaria takes the lead for hotel quality, especially with their All-Inclusive packages that save money and add convenience.

Also read: If you’re a fan of comparisons, why not check out my Budapest vs Bucharest article?

Bulgaria Beaches vs Romania Beaches

But despite being small, it’s surprisingly clean and nice. And we found out that the same can be said about the other resorts in Bulgaria, although they do have their bad days and less than stellar offerings.

But what really surprised me was the fact that the beaches are spectacular. For some reason, unlike the ones in Romania, they are never packed.

Our hotel was full and there were many hotels in the resort… but the beaches somehow managed to be airy and generally clean. It’s always good if you can go take a bath in the sea without rubbing elbows with other tourists…

The photo below shows the most crowded day during our stay there and even though some might consider that crowded, it’s not Romania-style crowded and it definitely felt very airy when you were there.

For comparison, here is how beaches in Romania usually look like (photo from our final stay in Eforie):

My favorite thing though was the fact that you could actually hear the sea in Bulgaria!

Another interesting thing that we noticed about beaches is the fact that in Romania, you usually have to bribe the people who handle loungers to “reserve” your front row seats.

This is atop of the regular fee that you have to pay and in most cases, it’s the first 2-3 lines that are “reserved”.

While we saw this practice happen in Bulgaria as well, there were always free loungers in the second row, next to the sea – and usually in the first one as well.

The same goes about the beaches of the other two resorts that we visited, although the Golden Sands ones were, surprisingly, our least favorite. Narrower and not as spectacular. And not as golden as the name suggests!

Verdict: Bulgaria wins with cleaner, more accessible, and quieter beaches.

Summer Vacation Prices in Bulgaria vs Romania

In terms of costs, prices are similar in Bulgaria to those in Romanian resorts. And in both countries, they went up a lot in the past few years.

Still, Bulgaria remains more predictable thanks to the All-Inclusive package deals that will usually see you spend small amounts on top of the package deal, while in Romania eating out will end up costing a lot more.

Comparing apples to apples, though, Romania is more expensive than Bulgaria, but not by much. It’s the quality you get for your money that really makes the difference here.

Verdict: It’s a tie. Both countries offer various options for various budget ranges and can get pretty expensive if you aren’t careful.

Final Verdict: Is Romania or Bulgaria Better for a Summer Vacation?

So, if you’re looking for the better summer beach experience in 2025, my vote goes to Bulgaria. The beaches are cleaner, the hotels are more affordable and better equipped, and the atmosphere is noticeably more relaxed.

Romania has its gems, but it’s still catching up when it comes to customer service, cleanliness, and quiet beachfronts.

Paradoxically, looking at everything as a whole, the two countries are extremely similar. It’s the same sea, the same water, the same climate, the same vegetation around and most of the hotels (especially the older ones) have that same – slightly outdated – look and feel, both inside and outside.

Even more, half joking, I can say that you’ll find just as many Romanians in either country.

Bulgaria is far from perfect. For example, they are way behind Turkey or Greece in terms of what they offer, but still above Romania.

When I first went to Bulgaria, I was very afraid. I heard a ton of scary stories – especially on how badly they treat Romanians, but instead I received high quality service and smiles from most of the staff.

Everybody asked us where we were from and as soon as they heard we’re from Romania, they threw a “Buna ziua!” (Good day) or “Ce mai faci?” (How are you?).

At the main restaurant, there was always somebody to greet us in Romanian and wish us good appetite. They did the same with all the other guests, all in their native language. It’s a small detail, but it makes a difference.

So even though it’s the same sea, the same sand, the same climate and pretty much the same people – in theory, the same thing – the small but important elements make the difference.

Contrary to our expectations, we felt much better in Bulgaria than we did in Romania. Even more – and sadder, in my opinion – we felt more welcome.

Where will you spend your summer? If you’ve visited both, I’d love to hear which one stole your heart!