Black Sea coast

The land that stretches between the Danube and the Black sea has had an adventurous history. It was conquered by the Turks in the 14th century and remained as a part of the Ottoman Empire until 1877, when it was given back to Romania as a compensation for losing a part of Moldavia. Beautiful, sandy beaches stretch to the South, while the inland valleys and rocky meadows host Greek, Roman or Christian ruins, also providing best conditions for some of the best vineyards in Romania. We shall try to make a brief presentation of the beach resorts on the Romanian coast. The coast going Southwards from Constanta is filled with beach resorts that lie in line; these beach resorts were built and developed in the 60-70s and their tourist offer has generally remained in that period. Few new hotels have opened and also few improvements have been done ever since. Most resorts look the same way, with concrete square hotels and identical camping sites or fun parks.

The Romanian “Riviera” benefits from the Black Sea charm (low salinity: 17-18 ‰ on the shore line, summer water temperature: 20-25°C). There are no maritime streams on the Black Sea or dangerous species of plants and fishes. The coastal platform goes smoothly down from the beach line (from the shore to the sea center, on a 100-200 m. distance, the water is only 1-3 m. deep); this way most risk factors have been cut off.

The climate on the beaches is mild and dry: in summer the days are long and hot. The daily sunshine lasts for 10-12 hours in July. The average temperature of July is 24°C and the annual average is 11°C. In the hot season the temperature at the beach surface raises to 45°C, but the marine breeze, rich in aerosols, make even the hottest days livable and enjoyable. The seaside resorts lie between Mamaia (North) and Mangalia (South).

3 km. Northwards from Constanta, Mamaia is the biggest tourist resort in Romania and it has developed on a sand stretch between the sea and Siutghiol Lake. The day and night breezes can be always felt, due to the excellent positioning of the resort. In the high season, the resort benefits from 10-12 hours sunshine a day. The beach is 100-200 m. wide and 8 km. long. 1-4* hotels exist here, but only a few of them have succeeded to bypass the mediocrity where most of them still lie.