Nessebar

Nessebar is a town on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast, in the province of Burgas, whose old town occupies a peninsula, once an island, joined to the mainland by a narrow man-made isthmus. It was a Thracian settlement and, around the 6th century BC, Dorian settlers from Megara turned it into the Greek colony of Mesembria; it passed into Roman hands in 71 BC and from the 5th century was a Byzantine stronghold, contested with the Bulgarians, until the Ottoman conquest of 1453. That long history has left some forty churches, whole or in part, from the 5th-6th-century St Sophia to the temples of the 13th and 14th centuries, and the Ancient City of Nessebar has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1983. With just over 13,000 inhabitants, it is both a historic town and a beach resort, with its newer part spreading across the mainland.

Its sporting life revolves around PFC Nesebar, a football club that has competed in the Bulgarian Second Professional League and plays in a 6,000-capacity stadium, and around tennis, with clubs offering both indoor and outdoor courts. The town has also stepped onto the stage of international cycling: on 8 May 2026 the first stage of the Giro d'Italia set off from Nessebar, a 147-kilometre route to Burgas with which the race opened its Grande Partenza in Bulgaria.

ACES has designated Nessebar Black Sea Capital of Sport 2027, a distinction dedicated to the towns and cities of the Black Sea coast. The town reaches this capital year, which it will hold throughout 2027, with a UNESCO-listed old town and the recent experience of hosting the start of the Giro, and with it joins the Bulgarian representation in the ACES network.