Албена

A modern resort complex with a wide beach, a pine forest and over 40 hotels near the village of Obrochishte.

Albena resort complex takes its name from the story of the same name by the writer Yordan Yovkov. The construction of the future resort began in 1966 in the then deserted area between Balchik and the mouth of the Batova River, about 8 km from the city of Balchik. In 1967, the first temporary bungalows were built, where a group of Czechoslovak female students stayed - the first vacationers of the future resort. The construction continues on an industrial scale — the hotels, restaurants and shops are designed as a single architectural composition, which makes "Albena" the first resort complex in Bulgaria built according to this model. The official opening of the resort took place on August 24, 1969 in front of the "Dorostor" hotel. During its first full tourist season, "Albena" welcomed about 8,600 vacationers and recorded over 100,000 overnight stays — the beginning of its rapid development as one of the leading sea destinations in Bulgaria in the 1970s and 1980s. The resort is located right next to the Baltata nature reserve — the northernmost longo (moist riverside) forest in Bulgaria, declared a reserve in 1978 at the mouth of the Batova River. The combination of a wide beach with a length of about 5 km and a width of up to 150 meters, dunes and a nearby forest turns "Albena" into one of the few resorts in our country with such a prominent natural character right next to the hotel area. After 1989, the complex went through a period of restructuring and privatization, with a large part of the hotel base remaining united in the company "Albena" AD — a model different from most other Black Sea resorts, which are divided between multiple owners. This allows relatively coordinated development of infrastructure, green spaces and internal free transport. Since February 1, 2005, "Albena" has the status of a settlement entity of national importance, being administratively part of Balchik municipality, Dobrich region. At the end of 2018, the resort was chosen as a European Sports Resort, and Cape Albena on the island of Brabant in Antarctica was also named in his honor. Today, "Albena" has dozens of hotels of various categories, a congress center, a water park, a golf course and SPA centers, maintaining its status as one of the most extensive and systematically managed seaside resorts in Bulgaria.