Corbu Beach, Southeast Romania, Romania

4dfs346 5:00 PM Jul 27, 2014

Still undeveloped ... no longer wild ...
Corbu Beach is still one of the last undeveloped beaches on the Romanian Black Sea coast, outside the protected areas of the Danube Delta. It's undeveloped in the sense that there are no hotels, no permanent residences on or near the beach, and only one restaurant. It's no longer exactly a wild beach. On a typically weekday in summer, you can expect up to 100 cars and a few dozen tents and caravans. Probably there are many more on weekends. There's also a makeshift beach bar which serves beer and plays headbanger music throughout the day. But compared to the commercial resorts at Mamaia and south of Constanta, it's quiet and not at all crowded. From Corbu village (some 30km north of Constanta), the beach is accessible via a concrete single-lane road about 4km long, through flat farmland, with passing places for cars at convenient intervals. Near the sea, the road becomes a gravel track which leads to a magnificent lookout point marked by a gazebo and a Christian inscription, and then turns into a sand track which descends steeply, winding between thorn bushes, to the beach. On a weekday in July, we found the weather hot and windy, becomng cloudy in the afternoon; the water calm and cool; the beach mainly shelly rather than sandy but for the most part clean; the beachgoers quiet and well-behaved. The northern end of the beach was cordoned off (apparently it's a military area), and during the morning we were treated to an impromptu air show by MiG-21s of the Romanian Air Force. Negatives (referring to the northern half of the beach, where the road meets the sea): there's nowhere to eat (the Cherhana restaurant is at the south end), so you need to bring your picnic. There are no toilets, and people do their business in the bushes (be careful where you tread). Although the municipality has provided large and clearly visible skips, the parking area is somewhat strewn with garbage (we spent a quarter hour doing a voluntary clean-up). Overall, it's still a unique and relaxing beach experience that you can rarely find in Romania.

3andreea_ang 5:00 PM Jul 31, 2014

Not worth the hype...
Corbu Beach is a fairly wide, wild beach, covered by beautiful shells and not so fine sand. Unfortunately, the beach gets invaded every summer by the campers and caravans, leaving lots of garbage behind them. The water is nice, no rocks or algae, but that depends on the weather, I suppose. The only place close to the beach where one can have something to eat is a restaurant called "Casa Veche", which boasts to specialize in fish courses. Don't be fooled, the place is a trap, with very bad food and unreasonably high prices. We ordered some grilled fish ("chefal") which was served almost raw, sushi style. In addition, during the entire meal, we had some very friendly companions, in the form of tens of flies, flying around the table and sitting on our food. The polenta ("mamaliga") was stale (not freshly made), full of lumps. On the bright side, the view was spectacular, as the beach, as I said, is very beautiful. The price for a 2-person meal was almost 30 EUR, but we were hungry when we left the table.