Interested? Then on the way...

İğneada is 230 kilometres away from the Turkish metropolis Istanbul, in the beautiful region of European Turkey, called Trakya. It is only about 500 kilometres away both from Sofia and Bucharest.

You might travel from Istanbul, Sofia, or Bucharest, but you will always have to pass through İstranca Mountains, to reach finally the bay and town of İğneada that will welcome you sleepy and serene in the afternoon.

Obviously as you are told that the small town is not like Antalya or Kemer, you have strongly reduced your criteria. And so, you are pleasantly surprised - a new four-star hotel perched on the picturesque Black Sea coast, four or five mini-markets, several typical Turkish fast food joints with wonderful soup and stew – not serving alcohol, of course.

In İğneada guests are mostly Turkish families from Istanbul. The more affluent ones have their own villas, others come to local guest houses. The few foreigners - mostly environmentally-oriented intellectuals and young backpackers come mostly to see with their eyes, that there still exists an untouched seaside paradise here in Europe.

This would bring you to the sad thought that just a few years after the inevitable opening of a border checkpoint to near Bulgaria with its numerous Black Sea Resorts İğneada might not be the same.