Sfantu Gheorghe a Village in the Danube Delta, Romania

Sfantu Gheorghe is a fishing village in the Danube Delta region of Romania. The village is located where the Sfantu Gheorghe branch of the River Danube meets the Black Sea.

Fishing Boats at Sfantu Gheorghe

Sfantu Gheorghe is the southern branch of the mighty Danube river. It is geographically located in the Dobruja region of Romania. I have enjoyed a few trips to the village. All were great stays and looking forward to the next.

Sfântu Gheorghe in The Danube Delta, Romania

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The village of Sfântu Gheorghe is on the side of the River Danube. Fishing and tourism are its two core industries. The harbour area of Sfântu Gheorghe is full of small river fishing boats. These are often in and out and practise traditional fishing methods. There are a few resorts in Sfântu Gheorghe, including Green Village Resort, and many holiday rentals for self-catering.

Sfantu Gheorghe Accommodation

We stayed in a variety of houses during our visits to the village. The first was a rather nice 2 bedroom home with an extensive garden and veranda as a dining area. They had nicely decorated the house and even had an open roof area to sit can chill out in. The host/owner provided us with traditional local food. They cooked this daily mid afternoon. This was a different fish meal served daily, starting with soup.

The second was another home in another part of the village. It also had the same arrangement with food, but also to include breakfasts. The garden in this one was smaller, but had a kitchen and another bedroom in the outhouse. All local accommodation.

Green Village Resort

Green Village

The Green Village Resort in Sfantu Gheorghe is one of the most popular places to stay. It is a lovely complex with private grounds and lots of facilities. Green Village resort has a restaurant, bars, sauna and much more for a luxurious experience. Options of where to stay!

Casa Mihaela

Casa Mihaela shade

We also stayed in Casa Mihaela, a lovely place in the villages heart with easy access to the river. They had a variety of rooms for rent which are suitable for families and can sleep between 2 and 4 people.

Casa Mihaela

Casa Mihaela also has a lovely garden with seating and a covered dining area for meals and socialising. They also provide meals if ordered in advance. They have a resident cat and dog which are friendly. You need to book directly to stay here.

Casa Aura Home Stay

Casa Aura home stay

Casa Aura is another lovely place to stay who also provides daily meals if arranged. They have a few rooms set around theor beautiful garden.

Fish Soup Danube

They are a fantastic place if a larger family group is visiting Sfantu Gheorghe. Their food and hospitality are great. You also need to book directly with the host here too.

Stray Dogs of Romania

Stray dogs of Sfantu Gheorghe

There were loads of stray dogs in the village, they were friendly enough. But the numbers have put me off, taking my little one to avoid any problems. Most were pretty friendly but spotted the occasional mean one picking on the smaller dogs.

Most of these were used to people being about and minding their own business. That was unless you gave them a treat, then you gained a shadow for the day. Well, until the dog gets bored or spots a better prospect.

Sfantu Gheorghe strays

I had a few pleasurable experiences with the stray dogs. Including three of them sitting with me, watching the sunrise alone early one morning. Another followed us as we were departing from the village to sit on a jetty and watch us leave. This was cute as hell.

Shops and supplies in Sfântu Gheorghe, Romania

The village has limited options for shopping, including a supermarket, bakers, fishing boats and some bars with mini shops. The bakery was in a thatched house near the riverside and sold one type of bread, handy for me ordering with very limited Romanian. All that I required was a few fingers for numbers and a mulțumesc (Thank You).

Sfantu Gheorghe Supermarket

The supermarket was a small one that sold the basics, meat, cheese, dairy, bread, tins and confectionery. It had a substantial supply of drinks, both alcoholic and soft drinks that we regularly loaded upon. The staff here were friendly, one or 2 had very basic English, but we communicated easily enough and shopping got done.

The fishing boats landing were an excellent source of fresh fish, buying straight off the dockside as a fishing boat lands.

Sfantu Gheorghe Bars and Restaurants

There were a few bars in the village and all with outside seating areas. These were all good value, even by Romania standards. These were friendly places, but people mainly stuck to their groups. The stray dogs sometimes popped in to say hello.

Terasă a Bar

Terasă is a bar just near to the supermarket with lots of parasols on a patio and a micro-shop at the bar area. This one opened at 7:30 am for coffee, beer or food, eventually closing up at 11:30 pm. We often got a few bottles at last orders and sat int he garden enjoying the holiday.

Cherhanaua Veche Bar & Restaurant

Cherhanaua Veche is a bar near to the riverfront and was a great place to watch river life go by. The pub has inside and outside seating and had a barbeque grill cooking food for guests. They also served nice ice cream as an afternoon snack.

Restaurant La Sfatoi

Restaurant La Sfatoi Pork

In the heart of Sfantu Gheorghe, near to Green Village Resort in the Danube delta, is Restaurant La Sfatoi, a lovely place to dine out. They have a covered terrace, thus handy if it rains or the sun is strong. They have an interesting menu for food that includes both fish and meat main courses. I enjoyed their pork steaks served with rustic potatoes which were delicious. For drinks, they are quite cheap and sell the popular Romanian beers like Ursus.

Restaurant La Sfatoi

There were plenty of other bars that we popped into. Most were tiny, but had the important ingredients like Ursus and Cuic.

How To Get To The Village?

Sfantu Gheorghe is not easily accessible by car due to the lack of roads and lots of channels to cross. Some of which have ferries, but I’ve heard it is a challenge to arrive by car. We arrived for the first time on a private speedboat loaded up with our bags and had a fun journey down the river from Tulcea.

On another occasion, we arrived on a boat by Navrom from Tulcea as well. This is a boat that you can get tickets on the dock or online in advance. Other options to arrive include other small private boats from Tulcea. These often do Delta tours too. Sadly, we could not identify any options to travel by sea from Constanta on the Black sea.

The Village of Sfantu Gheorghe is very remote and not easily accessible by car. This is due to lack of any roads and the requirement to use ferry’s to cross channels on the way.

Looking at google maps, the only other viable way to reach the remote village is on foot. That would entail hiking 84km with some wading or swimming mixed in. I’m sure this would be a lovely walk through the UNESCO World Heritage Site. For nature lovers, the bird and wildlife watching would make this a splendid adventure, albeit a long one.

Book a Danube Delta Boat Tour

Danube Delta Tourist Boat

There are many options for tours of Sacalin, the shipwreck, and the rest of the area. Some are available from the village, there are many signs up advertising these.

You can also plan and book day trips or multi-day tours from either Bucharest or Tulcea. These cover some of the nicest parts of the Danube Delta region and have experienced tour guides.

Sfantu Gheorghe Church

Orthodox Church in Sfantu Gheorghe

There is a small but pretty church in the village of the Orthodox denomination. It is on the main sandy road in the village near to the supermarket.

Sfantu Gheorghe Beach

Sfantu Gheorghe Beach

The beach is a nice but long walk from the village along the sand road, crossing a river channel and sand dunes on the way. The walk took about 35 minutes at an average pace when I timed it, so I knew what time I would need to leave to see the Black Sea Sunrise.

Getting to the Black Sea beach

Enterprising locals have 4×4 vehicles with trailers with seats in which you can skip the walk to the beach and ride in discomfort. They ensure a quick but bouncy ride if boarding these buses. They are happy for people to flag them down anywhere as there was not an identifiable “bus stop”.

Walk to the beach Sfantu Gheorghe

If walking, once you exit the village, you pass by a small army base, cross over a river channel with lots of reeds, you are in the sand dunes. This area has a few trees, it looks like sandy wetland and is home to many wild birds, cattle and other wildlife. We had the privilege of seeing baby adders or European vipers crossing in front of us.

Bars at the beach

Once at the beach, there are 2 bars selling beer and snacks, including ice cream. These both had covered seating areas and were a nice place for shade just off the beach. Serenity On The Beach was my favourite of the two and had much more comfortable seating and the staff spoke very good English.

The Sand and Black Sea

Drift Wood in the Black Sea

Sfantu Gheorghe Beach had fine sand and had plenty of space to sit near the sea to sunbathe or have a swim. The sea was shallow, with average waves, and was warm in both June and late September. The shoreline god lots of driftwood, probably due to it being near to the end of the very long River Danube.

I very much enjoyed daytimes at the black sea. It was boiling hot, but the bars provided a pleasant refuge for shade. The beach is long. You can walk to where the Sfantu Gheorghe branch meets the sea in one direction and goes on for miles to the north, possibly to Sulina, possibly a future walk for me.

Black Sea Sunrise

Black Sea Sunrise

The sunrise on the black sea on Sfantu Gheorghe beach was absolutely stunning and thoroughly enjoyable. I got up most mornings and made the 35-minute walk to see the sun come up. Sometimes the beach was quiet, other times there were a few photographers with tripods and a few taking Instagram shots of themselves.

I usually had a shot of tuica before leaving to wake me up and put me in a spiritual mood for the occasion. To accompany that, I took a diet cola drink or Ursus can with me to watch the spectacle. I attended on my own except for the one occasion I had some company which was eventful.

Sadly, Serenity On The Beach wasn’t open for the sunrises, as would be great to have a coffee and sit on their comfy chairs in the aftermath. This became the favourite part of the day for me on my stay in the village, but often led to a siesta later in the day.

Review of My Danube Delta Holidays in Sfantu Gheorghe

I throughly enjoyed my holiday here because of its remote location, nice beach and the food of the region. Visiting the Danube Delta was a real privilege and loved that I got to explore it from base camp in Sfantu Gheorghe. However, this type of destination might not be for everyone. There are plenty of other options for beach holidays in Romania.

3 thoughts on “Sfantu Gheorghe a Village in the Danube Delta, Romania”

  1. I cruised from Tulcea to Sulina once years ago (Ceacescu was still in power). Fantastic trip, and fascinating to have a small boat trip through the delta. We kept meeting other boats and passengers were happlit introducing themselves as German, Russian, French etc.

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