About Sozopol
Key facts about Sozopol — a town with 2,600 years of history and around 5,000 residents today.
Ancient Apollonia Pontica
Sozopol sits on a rocky peninsula linked to the mainland by a narrow isthmus. Founded in 610 BC by Greek colonists from Miletus as Apollonia Pontica, it is today one of the oldest continuously inhabited towns in Bulgaria. Sozopol, the municipal seat, is 34 km south of Burgas.
The town has two parts: the Old Town on the peninsula — an architectural reserve with cobbled lanes and distinctive Revival-era houses on stone foundations with wooden upper floors — and the New Town to the south, with hotels, restaurants and beaches. The municipality has about 13,000 residents; Sozopol itself about 5,000.
Sozopol was declared an architectural and historic reserve in 1974. The town hosts the international Apollonia arts festival every September — a major cultural event on the Bulgarian Black Sea, with concerts, theatre, cinema and literary meetings.