Where to live in Varna: six neighbourhoods, measured in numbers

From the centre of the Greek Quarter it is 27 metres to the nearest school, 34 metres to a shop, 39 metres to a cash machine, 176 metres to the Sea Garden. Central Beach is 376 metres away. Within the 1,200 metre radius the measurement found 229 cafés, restaurants and places of entertainment, 77 health and education facilities and 81 shops. This is the highest overall score of the six: 95.

The price reflects it. The median is €3,277 per sq m for a one-bedroom from 44 listings and €3,046 per sq m for a two-bedroom from 42 listings, which is about twice as much as Mladost and Asparuhovo.

Notice what is actually being bought: not a view and not prestige, but a radius. Everything is a minute away on foot. What the measurement does not show is what it costs to keep up an address like that: the age of the building, the arrangements for the common areas and parking do not enter any of the numbers above.

The Sea Garden is 255 metres from the centre of Chaika, Bunite Beach 597 metres, Zahari Stoyanov Primary School 133 metres. The overall score is 91. The weak point is transport: the nearest stop (Delfinariuma-2) is 207 metres away, and the category scores 79, its lowest value among the first four neighbourhoods in the table.

On price, Chaika almost catches up with the Greek Quarter for two-bedroom apartments: €3,028 against €3,046 per sq m, from 54 against 42 listings. For one-bedroom apartments the gap is more noticeable, 2,968 against 3,277.

And one trap in the source table that is not in this one. The median for a studio in Chaika is €1,733 per sq m, but it is calculated from 5 listings, and the source itself puts a warning on cells like that. The number is not wrong. It is simply not about a neighbourhood, but about five apartments.

Briz is the neighbourhood where the name and the measurement diverge the most.

The overall score is 77, the lowest of the six and the only one not in the top category. The nearest stop is 445 metres away, the nearest café or restaurant 527 metres, the nearest post office 594 metres. The Sea Garden, which the name promises, is 742 metres away, about 9 minutes on foot. The high school is 315 metres away.

Even so, the median is €2,432 per sq m for a one-bedroom from 180 listings and 2,488 for a two-bedroom from 218 listings, which is above Levski, Mladost and Asparuhovo.

The number worth holding on to: the median price of a two-bedroom in Briz (€285,500) and in the Greek Quarter (€286,664) differ by €1,164, about 0.4 per cent. Per square metre, however, the gap is €558. For the same money, Briz buys noticeably more floor space, further from everything.

The nearest place to the centre of Levski is Building 2 of the University of Economics (Икономически университет), 105 metres away. The overall score is 88, and the health and education category hits the ceiling with 94 facilities within the radius.

The beach and sea category is missing altogether. It does not have a low score, it is simply not there: within 1,200 metres the measurement found no beach, no coastline and no seaside park.

The median is €2,000 per sq m for a one-bedroom from 134 listings and 2,035 for a two-bedroom from 130 listings.

A kindergarten at 34 metres, a shop at 76, Mladost Park at 59. The overall score is 91, level with Chaika. Transport is good: 49 stops within the radius and the nearest one 209 metres away.

One number stands out. The nearest playground is 689 metres away, about 9 minutes on foot. In the other five neighbourhoods it is between 124 and 607 metres.

On price, Mladost is the cheapest of the six for a one-bedroom: €1,660 per sq m from 189 listings, at a median price of €121,900.

And here is the contrast that deserves attention. Levski and Mladost have one thing in common, namely that in neither of them did the measurement find the sea within 1,200 metres, and yet they differ by about 20 per cent per square metre. The sea does not explain the difference.

A stop at 22 metres. A shop at 25. A school at 86. A post office at 95. The coastline at 409 metres. The overall score is 88, the same as Levski, with the best transport of the six.

The median is €1,703 per sq m for a one-bedroom from 188 listings and 1,527 for a two-bedroom from 180 listings. The two-bedroom in Asparuhovo is the cheapest per square metre of the six, and with almost twice as many listings behind the number as the Greek Quarter and Chaika put together.

In other words, the neighbourhood with the lowest price per square metre measures better on everyday distances than Briz, which is about 63 per cent more expensive for a two-bedroom.

Ranked by measured score, the six neighbourhoods go like this: Greek Quarter 95, Chaika 91, Mladost 91, Levski 88, Asparuhovo 88, Briz 77.

Ranked by median price per square metre for a two-bedroom, the order is different: Greek Quarter 3,046, Chaika 3,028, Briz 2,488, Levski 2,035, Mladost 1,641, Asparuhovo 1,527.

Only the first two places match. From there on the two lists part ways, and the clearest divergence is Briz: last by measurement, third by price.

The reason is not that one of the lists is lying. The reason is that they measure different things. The first describes what is around the address today. The second describes what sellers are asking today, which is a function of expectations, of fashion and of who has built there in recent years.

Both tables are about a neighbourhood. Nobody buys a neighbourhood.

Here is a short list of things that do not enter any number above, and any one of which can cost more than the whole difference between two neighbourhoods:

• Landslides. Part of Varna’s northern coast falls within registered landslide areas. This is not a technical footnote: a bank may refuse or severely limit a loan there, and the deal falls through at the valuation stage, even if you already like the property. Whether a specific address falls within one or not is checked address by address, not by the name of the neighbourhood.
• Floor and orientation. In the same building, the difference between a north-facing second floor and a south-facing fifth floor is real and does not show up in any average price.
• The year of construction and the condition of the common areas. An upcoming roof or lift repair is a cost the new owner inherits along with the key.
• Parking. The measurement does not count parking spaces, and they are one of the few things you feel every day.
• Who buys there. This determines how quickly you can get back out of the property if you need to.

The price source itself says so in its own words. Under its table, alo.bg writes that the average prices by neighbourhood are indicative and are no guarantee of the actual market value of the property, and recommends a professional valuation.

So the table answers the question of what range the neighbourhood moves in. It does not answer the question of whether this apartment is worth this money, and it is not designed to. The difference between the two questions is paid by the buyer, usually once and all at once.

If you are at this stage, the most useful thing is a valuation of the specific address, not one more average. Related reading: housing affordability in Varna, what buyers miss before the deposit and mortgage rates after the ECB decision.

The distances. Measured on 22 August 2026 with BulGhar Homes’ own script. The source of the places is OpenStreetMap via the Overpass API, the radius is 1,200 metres, and the starting point is the neighbourhood’s official entry in OpenStreetMap, not an arbitrary address. The distance to area features (parks, beaches, coastline) is measured to the nearest point of their outline, not to the centre: the Sea Garden is several kilometres long and its centre gives an error of more than a kilometre. Times in minutes assume 80 metres per minute.

What this means in practice. The numbers describe the centre of the neighbourhood, not your front door. An apartment at the northern end of Chaika and one at its southern end are not the same distance from the Sea Garden, and the difference between them can be bigger than the difference between two neighbourhoods in the table.

The prices. Median of active listings on alo.bg for the city of Varna by neighbourhood, as of 21 August 2026. The number of listings behind each median is written next to it, because a median from 5 listings and a median from 218 listings are not the same claim.

A note on the names. The price source lists the neighbourhood as “Gratski kvartal”, and the map lists it as “Gratskata mahala”. It is one and the same place.

Our current listings in Varna, with filters by neighbourhood, type, floor area and price, are in the property list.