The peninsula village of PRIMORSKO commands the northern approaches to another glorious curve of a beach , running along the bay to the south. It's a dusty place blighted by uncontrolled holiday-house construction, but its popularity as an inexpensive resort for Bulgarians and Czechs gives the place an appealing vigour. Most of the accommodation is in private rooms (available from a kvartirno byuro on the main square where Sozopol-Tsarevo buses stop), although there are a couple of smallish hotels in the grid of streets that form the village centre. The Flamingo , ul. Mart 8, at the eastern end of the peninsula (tel 05561/3031 or 2255, fax 2272, kopextravel@mail.orbitel.bg ; US$18-36), is small but modern and comfortable, while the Metropol (tel 0881/377634; US$18-36), is a stylish, modern villa containing smart rooms with TV. Paths lead downhill from the square to the beach, where you'll find a small cluster of bars and grilled-fish restaurants .

Two kilometres south of Primorsko lies the grandly titled International Youth Centre , a hotel complex that originally bore the name of Georgi Dimitrov and was intended as a holiday camp for Eastern bloc students. With the demise of fellow socialist regimes, the centre lost its raison d'être , and fell into stagnation for a few years before pulling itself together as a private venture. Despite commanding direct access to the southern end of Primorsko beach, the resort remains strangely lifeless, with a couple of uninspring hotels (book through Orbita in Sofia; tel 02/9862216, orbita@ttm.bg ; US$9-18) and a neighbouring bungalow settlement (US$9-18).