About Lake Siutghiol
Siutghiol is a liman: a former bay of the Black Sea, closed off by the sand spit on which the resort of Mamaia was built. It is about 7.5 km long and 2.5 km wide, covers almost 20 km² and is around 18 m deep at its deepest point. Unlike Techirghiol, its water is fresh, fed by karst springs that rise from the lake bed and along the western shore. The name comes from the Turkish Sütgöl, "the lake of milk", and appears on maps as early as 1722.
The lake has three very different shores. To the east, on the Mamaia side, hotels and apartment blocks have gone up in recent years, with small beaches and water sports bases. To the west lies the town of Ovidiu, with a promenade laid out by the town hall, and to the south the lake joins the smaller Lake Tăbăcărie, already within Constanța. The whole lake has been a special protection area for birds since 2007 (Natura 2000 site ROSPA0057), with 62 protected species, among them cormorants, egrets, spoonbills and terns.
What you can see
On the Mamaia shore, the lake is the place for water sports: it has a cable wakeboard park billed as the largest in the country, and private bases offer windsurfing and water-ski lessons, kayak hire and motorboat rides. The water is calmer than the sea, which makes the lake a favourite with beginners. In the evening, from the eastern shore, you can watch the sun set over the lake behind the town of Ovidiu.
In the west, a few hundred metres off the Ovidiu promenade, lies Ovidiu Island, a limestone outcrop of about two hectares, with reeds and trees. Locals say that two old oaks on it were planted by Publius Ovidius Naso, the poet Ovid, exiled by Emperor Augustus to Tomis, and that the poet is buried on the island; these are legends, not established facts, but the town took its name from the island in 1930. For years the island has had a tourist complex with a fish restaurant, reachable only by boat.
Good to know
The boats to the island, the restaurant on it and the water sports bases are private businesses, each setting its own hours and prices, mostly in the warm season; we could not find official 2026 hours for any of them, so ask at the jetty before you set off.
- Ovidiu Island, seen from the Ovidiu promenade or up close from a boat, with the oaks that legend credits to the Roman poet.
- The cable wakeboard park on the Mamaia shore, where you can get on a board for the first time under an instructor's eye.
- Sunset over the lake from the eastern shore at Mamaia, with the sun going down behind the town of Ovidiu.
- The waterbirds for which the lake is protected, cormorants, egrets and gulls, seen on the water and in the reed beds along the shores.
Good to know before you go
- Getting there
By car: Ovidiu is ~10 km north-west of Constanța on the E60, and the promenade is on the eastern edge of the town, facing Ovidiu Island. The other shore, with the water sports bases, is in the resort of Mamaia, on the lake side of Bulevardul Mamaia; to get from one shore to the other you drive round the lake via Constanța or Năvodari.
Public transport: from Constanța railway station, CT Bus route 100M runs through Mamaia, from where the lakeshore is a few minutes' walk. County buses run from Constanța to Ovidiu, leaving about every two hours.
- Fees & discounts
Walking along the promenade and the lakeshore is free. Boat transfers to Ovidiu Island, kayak hire, boat rides and wakeboard or water-ski sessions are offered by private companies, each setting its own prices, which change from one season to the next; ask the price before you get in the boat.
- Rules
The lake is a special protection area for birds: do not approach the flocks and do not take boats into the reed beds. At the wakeboard park, you ride only with the park's equipment and under the instructors' supervision. Fishing requires a permit and is allowed only in designated areas.
- Facilities
Promenade with paths, benches and terraces in Ovidiu · water sports bases, small beaches and hotels on the Mamaia shore · cable wakeboard park with equipment hire · restaurant on Ovidiu Island, reachable only by boat
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