Via Pontica

The Via Pontica was an ancient Roman road link on the western shore of the Black Sea (ancient Greek Pontos Euxeinos) and led from Byzantium (Istanbul) to the Danube Delta. It connected Byzantium via the Danube (Via Istrum) and Via Militaris with Rome.

Understand


Today, the Via Pontica is from a touristic point of view a part of a Balkan roundtrip, if you start for example from Belgrade, take the Danube or Via Istrum and then take the Via Pontica towards Istanbul and follow the Via Egnatia or Via Militaris for the return journey. On this tour, culture, nature and beach holiday can be well combined and is ideal for motorhome drivers. The Via Pontica passes by the best and most famous beaches and seaside resorts of Bulgaria and Romania (Black Sea).

Today, a north-south migration route of migratory birds along the ancient road also bears the name Via Pontica.

Get around
Because of the many border crossings, it is important to inform yourself in advance about customs and traffic regulations when traveling with your own vehicle. A few basic knowledge of the Cyrillic script facilitates much on the ground, as not all signs are also available in Latin script, especially off the main roads.
 * Car or RV: It is recommended to drive this tour with your own car. Because of the many border crossings, it is very problematic with a rental car, as few companies allow border crossings.
 * Bus or train: You can take the train bus to the larger towns and drive from there with a rental car to the outlying attractions and nature parks. Intercity buses connect all major towns in Bulgaria and also drive along the coast.

Turkey Flag of Turkey.svg
The path goes along the coast past many beautiful seaside resorts. There are few visible relics of Roman times on this route because most have been replaced by new buildings and there is low esteem of the Greek-Roman antiquarians in Turkey anyway.



Past Podima, the route often retreated inland to avoid many headlands steeply rising right from the coastline. Even today, you will not find many roads following the coastline north from here.



While the narrow Rezve/Rezovo River north of İğneada marks the border between Turkey and Bulgaria, for crossing the border (legally), you should head inland to the Dereköy/Malko Tarnovo border crossing, a detour of more than 200 km if you follow the main highways.

Stay safe
see corresponding country article: Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania.

Go next
Just off the route of Via Pontica are some very well-known sights or nature reserves.