• Burgas International Airport (55 km), which functions throughout the whole year: by bus or car (app. 1 hr).
• Sofia (400 km) - the capital of Bulgaria having an international airport: by bus or car (app. 6 hrs);
• Varna (140 km)- the largest Bulgarian city on the Black Sea Coast having an international airport and harbor: by bus or car (app. 2 hrs);

Archaeological finds indicate that the peninsula has been inhabited for more than six thousand years. The earliest site is dated to the Neolithic (5250-5000 B.C.) During underwater archaeological excavations in the waters of the modern harbor, archaeologists have found the remains of settlements from the Copper age and Bronze age (4200-2500 B.C.). During the Early Iron Age (end of the 2^nd – beginning of the 1^st millennium B.C.) the region was occupied by the Thracians. Herodotus mentions the name of the Thracian tribe, Skirmiani, as the first to inhabit the peninsula and its surroundings. The Thracians were the first seafarers and miners who created a noteworthy culture in the region.

By the end of the 7^th century B.C. settlers from Asia Minor, from the city of Miletus, founded on the Sozopol peninsula, one of the most impressive city-states on the western Black Sea coast. The city, founded around 610 B.C., was named Apollonia Pontica, in honour of the patron-deity of Miletus – Apollo. The Ancient authors identify, as the founder of the city, a philosopher named Anaximander. Apollonia flourished as a city very early in its existence. It became an autonomous democratic polis possessing a large coastal territory. The city was an intermediary in economic exchanges between Ancient Greece and Thrace. With its flotilla and  easily defended ports, Apollonia took control of the merchant road Via Pontica. By the end of the 6^th century B.C. Apollonia started to produce its own coinage.

Ancient Apollonia had the likes of the classical urban center with monumental public buildings, defended by strong city walls. Ancient authors mention, as an example, the temple of Apollo which stood at the center of the city, decorated with a 13 meters high statue of the god, unique outside of the territory of the Greek city-states. Epigraphic monuments testify that there were in the city temples dedicated to Dionysus, Poseidon, Gaya, Syrian Aphrodite and Hecate.

During the 5^th and 4^th centuries B.C. the town flourished because of its political links with Athens and with the Odryssian kingdom of Thrace. Apollonia preserved its independence during the campaigns of Phillip II (342-339 B.C.) and Alexander the Great (335 B.C.). During 72 B.C., the city was conquered, pillaged and burned by the Roman legions of Marcus Luculus. The victors took back to Rome a most prised trophy : the statue of Apollo. The Apollonians were able to shake off the terrible consequences of the destruction of their city and rebuild its walls and temples under the patronage of a rich Thracian called Metok, son of Tarulas. Despite its determination, the city was unable to return to its former glory which had made it famous around the Ancient world as Apollonia Magna.

The necropolis of the Ancient city is positioned outside its walls, along the sea coast. The high ground nearby is covered by funerary tumuli. This part of the coast of Sozopol is its most important archaeological site today, dating to the 5^th – 2^nd centuries B.C. Here archaeologists have discovered many Greek vases, funerary reliefs and ceramic statuettes. The most substantial collection of Greek vases is kept at the local museum of Sozopol. Some decorated vases from Apollonia are part of the exhibitions of the Louvre, the Hermitage Museum and the Museum of Pergamon.

The city of Apollonia continued its existence as an important sea port after the conquest of Thrace by the Romans. Its geographical proximity to the eastern Roman provinces was favourable to the spread of Christian ideology. As early as 170 A.D. the sources mentioned the name of Apollonia’s bishop. With the establishment of Christianity as the state religion (313 A.D.) and the division of the Roman Empire (395 A.D.), the name of the city is changed to Sozopolis (city of salvation). It becomes a major administrative center in the region. The Barbarian invasions during the 5^th century A.D. caused the city to build new defensive walls. Sections of these walls are still fragmentarily preserved at the south-eastern part of the peninsula. After the founding of the Bulgarian state, Sozopol, together with other coastal cities, remained in Byzantine territory. It was included in the limits of the Medieval Bulgarian Empire when it was taken by the Bulgarian Khan Krum in 812 A.D.

The significance of Sozopol as a cultural and administrative center grew during the 8^th and 9^th centuries A.D. In the Byzantine chronicles it is described as a “rich” city with “many people”. Monasteries grew inside the limits of the city and outside its walls. The most imposing of these monasteries is Saint Ivan (John) Precursor, situated on the island of Saint Ivan. In 1352 and 1366 the city and the monastery were pillaged by the Venetians and by the knights of Amadeus of Savoy. Forty-five codexes from the library of the monastery have survived destruction by the Ottomans in the 17^th century. Most of these are preserved today at the library of the Vatican.

The medieval town of Sozopol had more than 20 churches. The names of two bishops from Sozopol, chosen as Constantinople patriarchs – Ioan XII Kozma and Nil – testify to the importance of the town as a cultural and religious center during that age. The cultural, economic and political revival of the town continued under the rule of the Bulgarian Tsar Ivan Alexander (1331-1371), as indicated by the large number of coins minted by this ruler found in archaeological excavations in Sozopol. To this day the ruins of the monumental buildings of the monastery are preserved on Saint Ivan’s island, as well as a basilica in the center of the city and the town’s walls.