Visit in August 2024. The history and individual sights of Nessebar have already been described by the other reviewers. I will base my review on two other aspects; one is a warning, and the other concerns the practicalities of visiting Nessebar from Varna with a guided tour.

First of all, DO NOT VISIT NESSEBAR IN SUMMER. Even though Nessebar is right up my alley (I am very interested in the medieval period in Eastern and Southeastern Europe), and even though the many churches, their architecture and frescoes impressed me very much (pay special attention to the use of coloured brick patterns and other decorative elements), the visitor experience of this WHS is highly affected by the fact that Nessebar is very close to (and in practice even an integral part of) the Sunny Beach resort town that is immensely popular with tourists from Western Europe (mostly Brits, Germans and Dutchmen). These tourists mostly come to Sunny Beach as a ‘cheaper’ version of Ibiza, Mallorca, or other infamous places infamous for being popular among (mostly young) people who ‘like to drink’.

Don’t get me wrong, I am in the same age category as most of them and as a Dutchman I enjoy my beer, too. However, when all lovers of alcohol convene in one large resort town and in practice colonise the full extent of this part of the Bulgarian riviera, this has an extreme influence on the livability and visitability (especially for tourists wanting to visit a historical site as Nessebar). When I visited, the town was flooded with loud and obnoxious tourists (for example burping out loud in the souvenir shops). All I could see and hear were tourists, souvenir shops, and bars and restaurants. The people working at those places were very visibly annoyed with the mass tourism, resulting in a lot of security cameras to prevent stealing and very rude customer service. Additionally, Bulgarian summers can get very hot, which obviously did not improve the experience.

Nonetheless, trying really hard to remove the mass tourism part from my memory of the visit, I was impressed by the history of Nessebar and I am glad that I visited. However, I was also glad to leave. I saw my churches and architecture and got my WHS tick which was satisfying on a WHS level, but as a tourist I was ashamed of my fellow Western Europeans. In conclusion, Nessebar is worth a visit, but I strongly recommend not going in the Summer but during the off-season. I would hope that it isn’t that crowded throughout the whole year. 

I visited Nessebar with a guided tour from Varna. The tour company (VIP Tours Varna) collects the participants from their respective hotels/resorts in the Greater Varna region around 8 AM. The drive takes a bit more than 2 hours. The roads are not the best and not the worst. Especially the part driving through the mountains is quite bumpy. The tours are offered in Bulgarian, English, German and Dutch (as the tour guide is Flemish). I was only able to book a spot on the German tour, which in the end did not affect the experience much. The guide knows his German very well and I could follow his explanations and jokes. After a short city walk, we had around 2,5 hours to walk around freely and enjoy some lunch. The tour costs around 30-50 EUR per person, which I found reasonable. Renting a car for the day would have been more expensive and the anticlimax of driving 2 hours myself only to arrive in Mass Tourism Central would have been disappointing. I was dropped off at my hotel in Varna around 17:00. 

In conclusion: Do go to Nessebar as it is a worthy WHS (and is an ‘easy’ visit from Varna, a very enjoyable city), but try to avoid visiting during Summer if possible. If not possible, be warned to be amazed about how obnoxious Western European tourists can be.