Sulina Beach

About Sulina Beach

Where the Sulina branch runs out into the Black Sea, the Danube has left a beach unlike any other on the Romanian coast: alluvial sand so fine that it clings to the skin, in a strip far wider than those of the resorts further south. The water stays shallow for tens of metres and deepens over gentle sandbars, and a few hundred metres beyond the terraces at the end of the road you meet nobody at all. This is the eastern edge of the country: the sun rises here before anywhere else in Romania.

The beach belongs to Sulina, a town with no road link to the rest of the country, reached only by water. In the second half of the 19th century the European Commission of the Danube moved its headquarters here and turned a fishing village into an international free port, cosmopolitan enough for the writer Jean Bart to call it "Europolis". From those years remain the commission's palace, the old lighthouse in the middle of town and the maritime cemetery, where people of 21 nationalities are buried.

The way from the town to the beach is two or three kilometres eastwards, done on foot, by bicycle or by moto-taxi, past the cemetery and the last houses. As this lies inside the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve, the beach stays a wild one, with no promenade and no hotels on the sand.

Good to know before you go

Getting there

By car: you cannot get here. Sulina has no road link to the rest of the country, so the car stays in Tulcea: it is about 270 km and four hours from Bucharest, on the A2 and then the DN22A through Măcin or the DN2A through Slobozia and Hârșova, and around 125 km from Constanța.

Public transport: the Navrom Delta ships leave the port of Tulcea and run up the Sulina branch, calling at Partizani, Maliuc, Gorgova and Crișan. The classic boat takes three and a half hours to Sulina, the semi-rapid two and a half. From Sulina's harbour it is two or three kilometres east to the beach: 20–30 minutes on foot along a surfaced road, by bicycle hired in town or at the beach entrance, or by local moto-taxi.

Where to park

You need no car park here, because the car stays on the mainland, in Tulcea, where the boat leaves from. Very few cars move around Sulina; at the end of the road towards the beach there is a small car park, used mostly by locals. Driving and parking on the sand and the dunes is forbidden, and the reserve's vehicle permit is valid only on the public roads inside its perimeter.

Fees & discounts

The beach has no ticket, but you pay for the boat and for the reserve access permit. The Tulcea–Sulina crossing costs 66 lei per person each way on the classic boat and 76 lei on the semi-rapid; tickets bought online at navromdelta.ro are charged at the classic fare whichever boat you take. Delta residents pay a subsidised fare, 18 lei on the classic boat and 27 lei on the semi-rapid. Children under 7 and school pupils travel free, pensioners get 50% off, and people with severe or accentuated disabilities travel free; all of these are issued at the ticket office or on board, on production of documents. The visitor access permit for the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve costs 5 lei for one day, 15 lei for seven days and 30 lei until the end of the year, and is free for pupils, students, pensioners, war veterans, people with disabilities and anyone living inside the reserve or in the neighbouring communes. It is bought online at ddbra.ro, by SMS to 7494, at SelfPay terminals or, in cash, at the reserve's information centre in Sulina. The recreational fishing permit is free but is issued separately, again by the reserve administration. Commercial photography costs 100 lei, filming for educational purposes 50 lei, and flying a small drone 50 lei.

Rules

The beach lies inside the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve, so you need an access permit, children included. Tents and caravans are banned everywhere in the reserve outside authorised campsites, as are open fires. Driving and parking cars or ATVs on the sand and the dunes is not allowed. The reserve administration classes this as a wild beach and provides no lifeguards, so you swim at your own risk; the tower on the sand is usually empty. Trading on the beach is restricted by the administration, and the dune vegetation, including the sea bindweed, is a protected species and must not be trampled. Drones and commercial photography need separate permits, and fishing needs the recreational fishing permit, with catch limits set for the Delta.

Facilities

No lifeguard on duty, although there is a tower · a few fish terraces, open in summer only · toilets, showers and wooden walkways over the sand, from the beach works · a children's playground · reed parasols and loungers for hire in season · no natural shade · accommodation, shops and restaurants only in the town, 2–3 km away · a reserve information centre in Sulina