The idea of building a large Bulgarian Black Sea resort is dating from mid-1950s. Quite naturally the choice falls on Uzunkum (from Turkish - Long Sand) district north of Varna. The place combines a virgin forest and a spacious beach in a unique way. One of the most remarkable natural landmarks here which is only a memory today was the great freshwater lake just a hundred yards from the seashore where water turtles lived. Today this is the central attraction area of the resort with the model of the Eiffel Tower, the Vienna Wheel and the International Hotel.
The first dig of Golden Sands was made in 1956. The construction of almost all major hotel complexes and amusement facilities included in the original plan of the resort took about 10 years. According to the idea at that time the resort should combine the possibility of family tourism by the sea with the potential of one of the most famous balneotherapy centers in Bulgaria. The project of the resort was assigned to a team of 30 Bulgarian architects, and its construction went through three stages. During the first were built small, mainly two-floor hotels on the beach. Later on appeared the hotel complexes and the places of entertainment on the second and third lines.
The final stage of the construction of Golden Sands was completed in 1966. Practically in Bulgaria began the development of a large program for advertising the country as a European destination for sea tourism.
A real boom in the development of the resort was experienced in the late 1990s when the former state property was privatized. Since 2000 Golden Sands has been an entirely private resort thus entering its "second life". Today the number of hotels in the complex exceeds 70 and the number of beds is more than 30,000.
The serious investments made by the new owners - over 500 million EUR in building new high category hotels, new reconstruction, improvement of the infrastructure made out of the resort an attractive European destination and preferred place of many Bulgarian and foreign tourists.