About Ahtopol
Key facts about Ahtopol — around 1,300 permanent residents, part of Tsarevo municipality, the southernmost town on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast and the oldest established settlement in the region.
The town of Agathopolis
Ahtopol is Bulgaria's southernmost Black Sea town, set on a small rocky peninsula framed on three sides by the sea. It lies 80 km south of Burgas, 8 km south of Sinemorets and 21 km north of the Turkish border at Rezovo. Administratively it is part of Tsarevo municipality.
The town was founded in the 5th century BC by Greek colonists from Apollonia Pontica (today's Sozopol) under the name Agathopolis — literally "the Good City". It is one of the oldest established settlements on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast. Today Ahtopol has around 1,300 permanent residents and grows to nearly 30,000 in August.
Ahtopol is pressed between the Black Sea and the Strandzha mountains — Bulgaria's largest protected area. That gives the town a rare blend of sea and mountain nature: a morning on the beach, an afternoon in the Strandzha forests, an evening of fresh fish at the harbour. Historically it was an important Christian centre with a Greek school and three major churches; much of the old architecture was destroyed by the great fire of 1918.