2 Mai

About 2 Mai

At a glance: Seaside in 2 Mai, Constanța County. Opening hours: daily open 24 hours. Ticket: Free. The visit takes 3½ – 4 hours. Information verified on 28 September 2026.

2 Mai is a village in the commune of Limanu, on the Black Sea shore between the breakwater of the Mangalia shipyard and Vama Veche. It was founded in the late 1880s (sources give 1887 or 1888), on the site of an old Turkish settlement called Kecege, on the initiative of Mihail Kogălniceanu, who owned an estate nearby. The name recalls 2 May 1864, the day Alexandru Ioan Cuza dissolved the Legislative Assembly so that he could push his reforms through.

The first inhabitants were Russian Skoptsy, a sect of Old Believers who had fled Russia. Around the First World War their place was taken by Lipovan fishing families from Tulcea County, and after the land reform of 1921 Romanian settlers arrived too. The Lipovans stayed fishermen, and sea fishing, with the boats hauled up on the sand beside the fish station, is still part of village life.

From the 1950s, 2 Mai became the holiday spot of writers, actors and intellectuals from Bucharest, who lodged with local families or in tents on the beach, far from the official resorts. The village was hard to reach, and once the shipyard cut the direct road to Mangalia, the detour through Limanu isolated it even more. That sense of freedom also left behind the tradition of naturism on the southern beach.

Good to know before you go

Getting there

By car: 2 Mai is on the DN39 (E87), ~5 km south of Mangalia and before Vama Veche, ~50 km from Constanța and ~290 km from Bucharest (the A2 to Constanța, then the coast road south). On summer weekends the road down from Mangalia gets congested.

Public transport: the nearest station is Mangalia; the line from Constanța was closed at times in 2025–2026 for engineering work, so check that trains are running before you set off. Minibuses to 2 Mai and Vama Veche leave from Mangalia, more frequently in summer.

Fees & discounts

Access to the beach is free. You pay only for a sunbed and umbrella where there are leased sections, at the rates displayed by each operator; in summer 2025, because of the work, the beach had no sunbeds at all. There is no entry fee for the marine reserve.

Rules

The waters between 2 Mai and Vama Veche belong to the 2 Mai – Vama Veche marine reserve (Natura 2000 site ROSCI0269). Zone A, strictly protected, may be entered only for research, rescue and official missions; zone B allows swimming on the equipped beaches, traditional and sport fishing, diving and small leisure boats. Spearfishing, trawling and taking anything from the seabed are banned. The village has a tradition of camping in tents by the beach; in 2026 campers were still allowed in, but on a smaller area because of the work, so ask on the spot where you can pitch a tent. Do not cross the fenced-off areas of the sand replenishment site.

Facilities

Lifeguard posts in season · sunbeds and umbrellas only on leased sections, which vary from year to year because of the work · terraces and bars on the beach · the fish station restaurant, serving fish and mussels, at the southern end · guesthouses and houses to rent in the village · difficult access on the sand with a pushchair or wheelchair