Bulgaria is the cheapest beach destination in Europe

A survey of popular beach destinations from the British Post Office portal showed that the Black Sea resort of Sunny Beach has become the least expensive option among all European beach cities and Bulgaria has been ranked first in the ranking of the cheapest popular sea destinations across Europe for the fourth year in a row. The review compared baskets of 10 travel essentials, including a bottle of beer, coffee, a three-course dinner for two with a bottle of wine, sunscreen and insect repellent, in 19 European resorts.

Sunny Beach, the favorite summer resort on the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria, is recognized as the best choice for budget travelers. The total bill for 10 travel items was €42.48. The same list of purchases in the most expensive place, Ibiza, amounted to almost €150.

Apart from low prices, what else can you expect from the Bulgarian Riviera? “It’s cheap and fun. Sometimes you can see a rather rude attitude and gray concrete structures from the communist era,” said Telegraph employee Adrian Bridge after visiting Varna. “But there are good cafes and restaurants. We drank a couple of beers (€1.47 for two) and ordered fish from the Black Sea. We also tried a salad from the store (tomatoes, cucumbers, olives and feta cheese), raki and fruit schnapps.”

Other highlights of Varna are the beautiful gardens, modeled after the baroque palace gardens of Schönbrunn and the Belvedere in Vienna, the sumptuous Assumption Cathedral, an open-air theatre, an aquarium, a zoo, a planetarium, the small Naval Museum of the Fleet, the well-preserved old town and of course, sea: “I took a dip and experienced the strange sweetness of the Black Sea,” says Bridge. "He has almost no salt."

Slightly more expensive seaside resorts, but potentially safer, are the Algarve, Costa del Sol (Spain) and Paphos in Cyprus. A basket of typical tourist goods in the Algarve will cost €66.43. On the Costa del Sol, pay €69.01 for a typical basket, and in the resort of Paphos, it will be €74.32. Resorts in Croatia and Greece are slightly cheaper than similar options in France and Italy.

The cheapest and most expensive holiday destinations in Europe are:

• Sunny Beach, Bulgaria (€42.48)
• Algarve, Portugal (€66.43)
• Costa del Sol, Spain (€69.01)
• Marmaris, Turkey (€77.52)
• Paphos, Cyprus (€74.32)
• Costa Blanca, Spain (€84.56)
• Porec, Croatia (€89.98)
• Limassol, Cyprus (€90.90)
• Crete, Greece (€93.12)
• Zante, Greece (€93.71)
• Kefalonia, Greece (€95.91)
• Mallorca, Spain (€101.25)
• Corfu, Greece (€102.46)
• Sliema, Malta (€108.45)
• Coast of Lisbon, Portugal (€113.02)
• Zadar, Croatia (€123.90)
• Nice, France (€132.72)
• Sorrento, Italy (€134,852)
• Ibiza, Spain (€149.08)