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ABOUT BULGARIA: Transport

GOOD NEWS!

Fron 6 November Easy jet will have a regular service from London Gatwick to Sofia on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.  Prices start at £27.99 each way (plus airport tax, plus baggage tax, plus credit card surcharge, plus anything else they can think of.  How is it that air conpanies can get away with such dishonest pricing?  Never mind, it's great to see the budget airlines engaging with Bulgaria at last!

The best way to get to Bulgaria is to fly. Both British Airways and Bulgarian Airways operate scheduled flights from London Heathrow throughout the year. Charter flights direct to Bourgas operate in the summer season from Gatwick, Stanstead, Manchester, Cardiff, East Midlands and Glasgow. Wizzair flies on a regular basis during the summer to Sofia, Bourgas and Varna.

Driving to Bulgaria takes about three days. The route is complicated since the recent Balkan wars, which have made the journey through Serbia problematic. Alternatives include entering through Hungary and Romania or taking the ferry from Italy to Patras in Greece and driving from there. A new motorway is currently under construction to link Bourgas with Sofia.

Rail links are a possibility if you don’t mind the rather basic sleeper accommodation and the grumpy guards. We don’t know of any company that does a direct bus service.

Internally, railways between the main cities are reasonably cheap if not quite up to express standards. Very few villages are served by railways, so buses are the main forms of transport here. In towns you should buy a book of bus tickets, enabling you to get around quickly and easily. During the day buses are frequent on most routes but very full at peak periods. Taxis (generally painted yellow) are cheap but rackety and hire cars are available. These are probably the best way of getting around outside of the towns and allow you to explore the parts of the countryside that public transport does not reach. We would recommend using the international companies rather than local Bulgarian ones.