Mamaia Beach

About Mamaia Beach

Mamaia sits on a narrow sand spit some three hundred metres wide, caught between the Black Sea and Lake Siutghiol. The beach runs for eight kilometres, from the entrance on the Constanța side almost to Năvodari, and is the longest developed stretch of sand on the Romanian coast. The shore faces east, so the sun rises out of the sea and sets over the lake a few hundred metres behind you.

The resort opened in 1906, with a handful of pavilions and wooden cabins put up at the water's edge, and the royal family made its summer residence here after the First World War. The casino of 1935 survives from that period; the line of hotels along the boulevard comes from two waves of building, between 1959 and 1965 in the south and between 1982 and 1985 in the north.

In 2020–2021 the Dobruja–Littoral Water Basin Administration renourished almost seven kilometres of shore and pushed the waterline more than a hundred metres eastwards. In places the beach is now 200–250 m wide, but the sand dredged from the sea bed is coarser and full of shell fragments, and the walk to the water has become much longer.

Good to know before you go

Getting there

By car: the resort begins 6–7 km north of Constanța's old centre and is crossed end to end by Bulevardul Mamaia; you reach the beach down the lanes and footbridges running off the boulevard. From Bucharest it is ~230 km on the A2, about two and a half hours. On Saturday mornings and Sunday evenings the entrance to the resort jams up.

Public transport: from Constanța railway station, CT Bus route 100M runs up through Lăpușneanu into the resort, and in summer the CiTy Tour sightseeing line also stops in Mamaia; route 5-40 has a stop at Aqua Magic, at the southern entrance. Trains from Bucharest reach Constanța in two to three hours.

Where to park

The resort's car parks are paid and run by the city. Between 1 June and 31 August four sites in Mamaia are classed as Zone 0 and charged around the clock, including at weekends and on public holidays: the Albatros multi-storey car park by the casino, Promenada 2 (from the Castel to the Iaki hotel), the area by the Rex hotel footbridge and the Summerland area. The Zone 0 tariff is 4 lei/hour including VAT, with the first 30 minutes free, 30 lei for 24 hours and 100 lei for seven days. For the rest of the year the same places revert to Zone 2, at 1 leu/hour and charged only Monday to Friday, 08:00–20:00. In July and August the car parks fill up early in the morning.

Fees & discounts

There is no admission ticket for the beach: access is free along its whole length, including the sectors run by hotels and clubs, which may only charge for the furniture. In the summer of 2026 the Romanian press reported rates of about 50 lei a day for a sunbed on weekdays and up to about 80 lei at weekends, and in Mamaia Nord about 100–150 lei for a set of two sunbeds with an umbrella and over 200 lei for a canopy bed. Prices vary a great deal between sectors and go up from 1 July.

Rules

The beach is public property, and under Emergency Ordinance 19/2006 sector operators must leave access and movement free. No cars, quad bikes or motorcycles on the sand, no camping and no street trading. Pets are admitted only with the beach operator's agreement, kept on a lead and muzzled if they are of a dangerous breed. Watch the flags at the lifeguard posts: red over yellow means the beach is supervised, red means bathing is forbidden, yellow that swimming is not advised, and black and white chequered marks an area reserved for craft.

Facilities

Showers, changing cabins and toilets in the developed sectors · dozens of bars and restaurants on the beach and the promenade · over 100 lifeguards and first aid points in season · cable car between the casino and the Perla hotel · the Aqua Magic water park at the southern entrance · the promenade is flat and paved, but the sand is hard going with a pushchair or a wheelchair