2 Mai – Vama Veche Marine Reserve

About 2 Mai – Vama Veche Marine Reserve

The 2 Mai – Vama Veche Marine Reserve, officially the "Vama Veche – 2 Mai Coastal Marine Area", covers the waters off the shore between the shipyard breakwater at 2 Mai and the border with Bulgaria. It runs from the waterline to about 9 km out to sea, down to a depth of around 40 m, over an area of roughly 5,000 hectares. It was declared a protected area in 1980 by Constanța County Council, confirmed by law in 2000, and since 2007 it has also been a Natura 2000 site (ROSCI0269). Its current management plan and regulations were approved in 2016.

Unlike the rest of the coast, where the seabed is mostly sand, the shore here is rocky, with limestone shelves that continue under the water. They are covered in brown seaweed of the genus Cystoseira, red coralline algae and dense mussel banks, and a small boring shellfish, the common piddock, lives in the soft rock. This small area holds almost every type of marine habitat found in Romanian waters and more than 250 species of plants and animals. Dolphins and harbour porpoises pass through, and seahorses hide among the seaweed, the creatures most divers come looking for.

The reserve is split in two. Zone A, strictly protected, takes in two sectors with the most valuable reefs and a wreck, with a safety perimeter around it. The rest of the water forms zone B, where swimming, authorised diving, small boats without combustion engines and traditional fishing are allowed.

Good to know before you go

Getting there

By car: take the DN39 (E87) south from Mangalia: 2 Mai is ~5 km away and Vama Veche ~10 km, ~50–55 km from Constanța and ~300 km from Bucharest (the A2 to Constanța, then the coast road). The rocky shore begins at the southern end of the beach at 2 Mai, past the fish station; the beach at Vama Veche is at the other end of the reserve.

Public transport: the nearest railway station is Mangalia, from where minibuses run to 2 Mai and Vama Veche, frequently in summer.

Where to park

The reserve has no car park of its own: you park in the two villages. In Vama Veche the car parks by the beach are paid (~35 lei a day in 2026); at 2 Mai the space by the beach is reduced by the coastal protection work. On August weekends the spaces fill up by morning.

Fees & discounts

There is no entry fee for the reserve. Scuba dives are run by the local dive centres, at the rates each one displays; the regulations allow the custodian to charge a fee for the diving permit, paid by the operator.

Rules

Anything not explicitly allowed by the regulations is banned. In zone A there is no swimming, sailing or diving, except for research, lifeguards and vessels on official missions. In zone B swimming is allowed under the lifeguards' rules, and scuba diving only for certified divers (NAUI, PADI etc.), through operators holding an annual permit from the custodian, at most 20 divers a day and never at night. Anchoring is allowed only for the duration of a dive. Only boats up to 12 m with oars, sails or electric motors and pedalos may go on the water: jet skis and boats with combustion engines are not allowed. Spearfishing, catching or picking any plant or animal (mussels and seahorses included), taking stones from the seabed and dumping any kind of waste are banned. Sport fishing is allowed only in zone B.

Facilities

No visitor centre or facilities of its own · lifeguards, terraces and toilets on the beaches at 2 Mai and Vama Veche in season · dive centres in Vama Veche · fish station with a fish restaurant at 2 Mai · the rocky shore is not accessible with a pushchair or wheelchair