St. Ivan Island is the largest Bulgarian island in the Black Sea, with an area of 0.66 square kilometres. It lies off the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast near Sozopol, a town with rich history and a popular tourist place, and is separated by a strait several hundred metres long from the small neighbouring St. Peter Island. Standing at 33 metres above sea level, it is also the highest of the Bulgarian sea islands. It lies 920 metres from the Stolets peninsula, the location of Sozopol's Old Town.

The Bulgarian Black Sea Coast, also known as the Bulgarian Riviera, covers the entire eastern bound of Bulgaria stretching from the Romanian Black Sea resorts in the north to European Turkey in the south, along 378 km of coastline. White and golden sandy beaches occupy approximately 130 km of the 378 km long coast. The region is an important center of tourism during the summer season (May–October), drawing millions of foreign and local tourists alike and constituting one of the country's most popular tourist destinations. Prior to 1989 the Bulgarian Black Sea coast was internationally known as the Red Riviera. Since the fall of the Iron Curtain, however, its nickname has been changed to the Bulgarian Riviera.