Balchik Palace

Balchik, Bulgaria

The Balchik Palace  was constructed between 1926 and 1937, during the Romanian control of the region, for the needs of Queen Marie of Romania. The palace complex consists of a number of residential villas, a smoking hall, a wine cellar, a power station, a monastery, a holy spring, a chapel and many other buildings, as well as most notably a park that is today a state-run botanical garden.

Architectural complex

Marie of Romania, the wife of Ferdinand I of Romania, visited Balchik in 1921 and liked the location of the summer residence, ordering the vineyards, gardens and water mills of local citizens to be bought so a palace could be constructed at their place. Balkan and Ottoman Turkish motifs were used in the construction of the palace that was carried out by Italian architects Augustino and Americo, while a florist was hired from Switzerland to arrange the park. The main building's extravagant minaret coexists with a Christian chapel, perfectly illustrating the queen's Baháʼí Faith beliefs.

Today many of the former royal villas and other buildings of the complex are reorganized inside and used to accommodate tourists. Some of the older Bulgarian water mills have also been preserved and reconstructed as restaurants or tourist villas.

Botanical garden

In 1940, after the reincorporation of Southern Dobruja in Bulgaria with the Treaty of Craiova, the Balchik Botanical Garden was established at the place of the palace's park. It has an area of 65,000 square metres and accommodates 2000 plant species belonging to 85 families and 200 genera. One of the garden's main attractions is the collection of large-sized cactus species arranged outdoors on 1,000 square metres, the second of its kind in Europe after the one in Monaco. Other notable species include the Metasequoia, the Para rubber tree and the Ginkgo.

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    Details

    Founded: 1926-1937
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    More Information

    en.wikipedia.org

    Rating

    4.5/5 (based on Google user reviews)

    User Reviews

    Alina Popescu (8 months ago)
    A nice place to visit, a beautiful big, green garden next to the sea shore. There is also a shop where you can buy and taste a good and interesting wine. The castle is not as I expected. It's little with a few objects inside. As a big minus, you can pay only by cash.
    Alexandra Oprea (9 months ago)
    Wonderful park, subtle yet quite visible sense of history. One star was removed because I couldn't pay the tickets with the credit card. The exchange rate on local exchange was not good...
    Ondřej Buchta (9 months ago)
    Really nice and colourful botanic garden. The second largest in Europe. You can have a wedding here as well (there were 2 when we visited). You can also go inside of the Palace, but it is not big one, you are here primarily for flowers. The biggest flaw is amount of people visiting with you but not that bad in the time of our visit.
    Cristina Iancu (9 months ago)
    The place is beautiful and worth visiting, IMO. It’s easily accessible on foot as well as via car and the botanical garden is very pretty! But you’ll have to overlook some aspects: -lack of directions throughout the property -straight up rude staff -paying separately for both attractions, cash only The garden is very well maintained and it shows, the palace & its surroundings, not so much ?
    Ana-Maria Anghel (11 months ago)
    Such an amazing place to visit at the end of May- beginning of June when all the roses are in full bloom. This palace it's basically a huge garden on many levels, with some old, very well kept buildings. To just walk in here is a dream come true (especially when the air bears the odor of roses and other flowers). Also, the wine and sweets tasting completes the atmosphere and introduces you in such a relaxed atmosphere. I recommend the Botanical Garden entry so you don't have to climb the stairs twice and to enjoy the tasting at the beginning of this adventure. I also suggest you spend at least 2 hours here to properly explore all the paths.
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