The town of Balchik has a population of 12 000 inhabitants and is situated at a distance of 37 km east of the district town of Dobrich. The town is a centre of a municipality with 21 component settlements. The town is situated on the northern part of the Black Sea Coast in a terrace-like manner.

There has been a settlement on this site ever since Thracian times. In V c. Greek settlers come to the area and found their own town calling it Dionysius. After the Thracians come the Romans, followed by the Byzantines. During the Middle Ages the town is a dominion of the boyar Balik from where its present name originates.

After 1912 Dobrudzha falls in the limits of Romania and the Romanian queen Maria captured by the beauty of Balchik builds a summer residence in the town. After 1940 the town enters the limits of Bulgaria again.

The tourist sights of the town are: the history museum, the art gallery, the churches "St. Nikola" (1866) and "Sveta Bogoroditza" /Holy Virgin/ (1873), Maria's Castle, The Balchik Tuzla/ a lake/, the "Albena" resort.

Tourist sights

The Castle in Balchik is built in 192. It is built for the Romanian Queen Maria by Italian architects. In the complex there is a castle with its accessory buildings, villas, gardens with springs, a lake and a waterfall. The whole complex is amphitheatrically located facing the sea.

Albena is a beautiful seaside resort at a distance of 12 km southwest of the municipal centre. The hotels in the complex have a unique architectural composition. The resort has a vast beach line, fine sand, shallow coastal sea bottom and healing mineral waters.