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Golf guide • Bulgaria • Dobruja, Black Sea coast

Golf in Balchik: three courses on Bulgaria's Black Sea cliffs

Between Balchik and Kavarna, on Bulgaria's Black Sea coast, three eighteen-hole courses lie less than half an hour from one another: Thracian Cliffs, a Gary Player layout clinging to the cliffs near Cape Kaliakra, BlackSeaRama, another Player design, and Lighthouse, by Ian Woosnam. Golfers come for these fairways set above the sea, resorts of a good standard and the summer palace of a Queen of Romania, preferably from May to October.

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North of Varna, the Bulgarian coast changes character. The sandy beaches give way to a steppe plateau that stops abruptly above the sea in white and ochre limestone cliffs. Balchik, nicknamed the "White Town" for its cliffs, steps down in terraces to its small harbour; Kavarna, further east, opens onto Cape Kaliakra. This is Dobruja, a long-disputed wheat-growing land, Romanian from 1913 to 1940.

It was on this strip of coast that Bulgaria built its destination golf, in the late 2000s. Gary Player designed two courses here, BlackSeaRama and then Thracian Cliffs, and Ian Woosnam laid out Lighthouse with European Golf Design. All three line the E87 road: Lighthouse and BlackSeaRama about ten minutes from Balchik, Thracian Cliffs around half an hour away, near the village of Bozhurets. Everywhere the sea stays on the horizon and the wind comes into play.

The trip is simple to plan: one course a day, each with its own character, and evenings at one of the three resorts or on Balchik harbour. Four to six nights let you play each layout, replay one, and keep half a day for Queen Marie's palace and its botanical garden, then another for the Cape Kaliakra nature reserve.

The courses

Undulating green and flag on a grassy plateau, a few low trees and the sea on the horizon in hazy light

Thracian Cliffs Golf & Beach Resort

  • Architect: Gary Player
  • Opened 2011
  • 18 holes
  • Par 72

Opened in June 2011 on 85 hectares near Bozhurets, in the municipality of Kavarna, Thracian Cliffs is the course people come to see. Gary Player routed his par 72, 6,452 metres from the black tees, along a narrow strip between the cliffs and the sea: steep changes in elevation, tight fairways and the sea in view on every hole. It hosted the 2013 World Match Play Championship, won by Graeme McDowell. A demanding course, best suited to players who keep the ball in play, but one every golfer will want to have played once.

Signature hole. The 6th, a par 3 of over 210 metres from the back tees, is played from the top of the cliffs to a green set forty metres below at the water's edge; the 7th starts from a tee hemmed in by rocks and sea.

Official website

BlackSeaRama Golf & Villas

  • Architect: Gary Player
  • 18 holes
  • Par 72

Gary Player's first project in Eastern Europe, BlackSeaRama spreads across a plateau above the sea at the locality of Tabiya, about ten minutes from Balchik. The par 72 layout reaches 6,701 metres from the black tees and drops to 5,483 metres from the whites. Fescue-covered contours recall a links, and several lakes bite into the greens, which makes second shots tricky. The gated residential estate, the first of its kind in Bulgaria, keeps the course peaceful. A natural-grass driving range and three practice greens.

Official website

Lighthouse Golf & Spa Resort

  • Architect: Ian Woosnam
  • 18 holes

Five kilometres from Balchik on the road to Kavarna, Lighthouse is the work of Ian Woosnam, former European Ryder Cup captain, together with European Golf Design. The course occupies an exposed plateau, with a few views from the clifftops, and its fairways curl around small residential clusters. Less spectacular than its two neighbours but more accessible, it makes an excellent first round, provided you read the wind well. In 2018 it hosted the European Tour Properties Senior Classic.

Official website

Where to stay

Thracian Cliffs Golf & Beach Resort

The Thracian Cliffs resort spreads its suites across two villages, Marina by the water and Hillside on the slope, at the foot of the course. The Thracian Spa, several restaurants including Olivo and Geti, and two beaches, Argata and Bendida, below the cliffs. Ask for Marina to stay by the water, at the heart of the resort, or Hillside, a little higher, for the view over the course, the lake and the sea. The obvious choice for playing the course several times, half an hour from Balchik.

BlackSeaRama Boutique Hotel

At the heart of the BlackSeaRama estate, this small hotel, a member of Small Luxury Hotels of the World, has just eighteen rooms and one apartment, all facing the sea with a terrace. A heated indoor pool, a sauna and a hammam, and the resort's fine-dining restaurant under the same roof. For two, ask for the apartment: a sitting room with a fireplace and terrace on top of the sea-view bedroom. The first tee is a few minutes away.

Lighthouse Golf & Spa Hotel

A five-star hotel built beside Ian Woosnam's course, five kilometres from Balchik, with a large wellness area, a heated indoor pool and several restaurants and bars. Rooms and suites come with a golf or a sea view: specify the sea view when booking, it makes all the difference at sunset. Practical for a group: you walk from the car park to the first tee, and town is ten minutes away.

Where to dine

BlackSeaRama Fine Dining

BlackSeaRama's fine-dining restaurant, in the Boutique Hotel, is run by Hristo Filov, twice a member of the team that won the Bulgarian selection of the Bocuse d'Or, who went on to Schloss Schauenstein and a year at Central in Lima. Fish, mussels, vegetables and cheeses from the coast, as a tasting menu with wine pairings or à la carte. Open in the evening from Thursday to Sunday only: plan your dinners around those days and book.

Bistro Kestena

On the street leading to Queen Marie's palace, this family bistro has been serving generous, unfussy Bulgarian home cooking for years, with vegetables from its own garden. Order a dish slow-cooked in a clay pot, or the flambéed mussels, the house speciality. Ideal for lunch after the botanical garden, ten minutes from Lighthouse and BlackSeaRama; outside the high summer season, call before you go.

Grilled fish and a tomato, cucumber and white cheese salad on a wooden table, a glass of white wine, fishing harbour behind

Beyond golf

Queen Marie's palace and the botanical garden

From 1924 to 1937, Queen Marie of Romania had her summer residence built at Balchik, the "Quiet Nest", blending Bulgarian, Romanian and Ottoman motifs with a minaret and a chapel. The botanical garden, created in 1940, covers 6.5 hectares in terraces down to the sea and brings together some 2,000 species, including a 1,000 m² open-air cactus collection. Visit early in the morning, before the heat.

Cape Kaliakra

A few kilometres from Kavarna, Cape Kaliakra plunges into the sea in 70-metre cliffs. The nature reserve is home to cormorants and migrating birds on the Via Pontica, and dolphins are sometimes spotted. A path runs past the remains of a 14th-century fortress, capital of the despot Dobrotitsa, to the lighthouse of 1901. It was offshore here that Admiral Ushakov defeated the Ottoman fleet in 1791.

Balchik, the White Town

A Greek colony known as Krounoi and later Dionysopolis, Balchik owes its nickname to its pale cliffs. The town rises in terraces above the harbour, and in the late afternoon people head down for a stroll along the seafront, grilled fish and a glass of local white wine, facing the fishing boats.

Terraced garden with white low walls, cypresses and beds of red and yellow flowers, a stone pavilion above the sea

When to go

The season runs from May to October. May, June and September are the most pleasant months for golf: mild temperatures, courses in good shape and beaches still quiet. In July and August highs approach 29°C, the sea tops 24°C and the coast fills up; play early in the morning. October stays mild but is the wettest month, and direct flights become scarce. Winter is cold and windy.

Getting there

Varna airport (VAR) is about fifty minutes' drive from Balchik; allow around an hour to Thracian Cliffs. Direct flights from Western Europe are mainly seasonal, from late May to early October; the rest of the year, connect via Sofia, Vienna or Istanbul. Locally, a car or a driver is essential to get between the three courses.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best golf course in Bulgaria?

Thracian Cliffs, designed by Gary Player and opened in 2011 near Kavarna, is ranked number one in the country by Top 100 Golf Courses. It hosted the 2013 World Match Play Championship.

How many golf courses are there near Balchik?

Three eighteen-hole courses: Lighthouse and BlackSeaRama, about ten minutes from Balchik, and Thracian Cliffs, around half an hour away, near Kavarna.

When is the best time to play golf on Bulgaria's Black Sea coast?

From May to October, ideally in May, June and September. July and August are hot and busy; October is wetter.

Which airport is best for a golf trip to Balchik?

Varna airport (VAR), about fifty minutes from Balchik and around an hour from Thracian Cliffs. Direct flights from Western Europe are mainly seasonal.

How many nights do you need for a golf trip to Balchik?

Four to six nights: enough to play all three courses, replay one, and visit the palace at Balchik and Cape Kaliakra.

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Green guarded by a bunker beside a pond, willows and poplars, a dome-shaped wooded hill at sunset
Western Bulgaria

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