Fancy A Swim?
The photo above shows what our swimming pool at Compass looked like in the first week of February 2010! We found a very cheap flight with wizzair – think it was about £80 each return from Luton airport – yes, return! Wish it was that sort of price in the Spring and Summer. We knew the weather wasn’t going to be that special but as it wasn’t going to cost us too much, we decided it was worth the risk.
Weather Forecast
Ok, we all know what February’s weather in the UK can be like and Bulgaria by the sea is pretty similar, although their weather does tend to be more intense. We’d been looking at the weather forecast for St Vlas over the previous weeks and they had had quite a lot of snow but we were optimistic that it would have all gone away by the time we went. How wrong were we! Although we definitely missed the worst of the bad weather, the bright sun during the daytime had caused the snow to melt and had formed layers and layers of ice under any fresh fallen snow. I think the temperature dropped to about -25 degrees if not colder at times before we arrived. The main roads were fine (piles and piles of snow had been snowploughed onto the verges), but the other areas were very tricky to walk on. Saying that, we were very glad we went as it was a really lovely, if not chilly break and during the day the sun and blue sky was glorious – we just made sure we got back to our apartment and battened down the hatches before it got too late.
Snow piled high on Vlas Marina
One of the roads to Vlas square
The road down to Compass and Watermill was ok if you kept to the tarmac – until it snowed again
The view towards Triumph and Lazur 2
I’ve also put some photos under Sunny Beach stvlaslife.com/snow-sea – it’s strange to see a beach covered in snow …
Bulgarian Lev Converter
Hi I am off to St. Vlas on the 14th, only for a few days but wondered if there were any supermarkets of restaurants open at that time of the year? This will be our first winter break there and not too sure what to expect. We won’t have a car hoping the busses will run and we plan just to walk up to the old town. Any helpful tips would be very welcome !! Thank you Irene
Hello Irene. Thank you for your question. I presume you mean the 14th of February when you’re going? It will be a quiet time to visit and will definitely give you a different experience than going in the spring or summer. Although the majority of shops and restaurants are closed in St Vlas at the moment, Gloria Mar supermarket stays open throughout the year and is usually open 24 hours a day which is really useful. Also, the supermarket on the opposite side of the road to Gloria Mar should be open during the day. You haven’t said whereabouts in St Vlas you’ll be staying but both of these supermarkets are just off the main road towards the end of the village close to the the casino and bus stop and the turning down to the marina (there’s a huge Dinevi signpost at the junction directing you to some of the complexes so they shouldn’t be hard to find if you don’t already know them). Some of the smaller shops will no doubt be open too.
You could go to Central Restaurant in the village square, and Siana Restaurant, just down from the main Vlas road is generally open throughout the year. You may also find one or two of the bars around the village open by then and maybe one of the restaurants on the marina.
There should be a bus service from St Vlas to Sunny Beach and Nessebar but they won’t be as regular at this time of year. The times are usually posted on the bus stop (I think it will only be bus number 5 running when you go). If you do go into Sunny Beach, you can always get a bus to Bourgas or Varna if you decide to venture that far.
You’ll need to pack some warm clothes too. They’ve got snow at the moment – check out the webcam on the dineviresort.com website. Hopefully it will all be gone by the time you go but it will no doubt still be cold.
I’d be interested to know where you are staying and how your first winter break experience goes so please get in touch on your return. In any case have a lovely time.