Sofia is a well and cheaply accessible city thanks to low-cost airlines Wizz Air and Ryanair, which have large bases at the local airport with dozens of destinations.
There are many bus routes from all over Bulgaria and Western Europe to Sofia, with plenty of connections around the country.
Trains to Sofia can be used especially from the Bulgarian cities of Varna, Plovdiv or Stara Zagora.
By air
The Bulgarian capital is connected to the world via the international airport Sofia SOF located 10 km east of the centre.
Bulgaria Air, Wizz Air and Ryanair have bases at the airport.
Direct flights from Sofia are mainly to Western and Southern Europe, as well as Dubai and Qatar.
Where to buy tickets to Sofia:
- ryanair.com - Over 60 destinations across Europe
- wizzair.com - around 45 destinations mainly in Western and Southern Europe
- air.bg - direct flights mainly to major European hubs or to Varna
- airserbia.com - Cheap flights via Belgrade to Europe or New York
- lufthansa.com - via Frankfurt to all over the world
- qatarairways.com - via Doha to the whole of Asia, Australia and Africa
- and many more
Compare prices of all airlines in 1 click
You can easily combine a trip to Sofia with the beautiful historic city of Plovdiv, 147 km to the east. The local airport Plovdiv PDV is served by several Ryanair and Wizz Air routes.
By bus
Bus services are popular in Bulgaria on both international and domestic routes.
International routes
Most international buses run from Serdika Bus Station, which is located right next to the train station and about 150 metres from the central national bus station.
Although the bus station has the same name as the Serdika metro station, it is located in a different part of the city near the "Tsentralna Gara" metro station.
From where to get to Sofia by international buses? And where to buy tickets? Take a look at our selection of the busiest and most useful connections.
The timetables displayed on the centralnaavtogara. bg bus station website are not frequently updated and do not correspond much to reality. In the case of Sofia, even search engines like Omio are not reliable, as they also do not show many lines at all.
The websites of the individual bus operators always provide more accurate information.
The table below shows the busiest connections from Sofia to other countries.
| Destinations | Price from | Travel time | Carriers | Frequency |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Turkey - Bursa | 70 bgn | 12 hrs | Arda Tur Metro |
1x daily 1x daily |
| Turkey - Istanbul | 60 bgn | 8,5 hrs | Flixbus Arda Tur Metro Alpar Huntur |
2x daily 6x daily 5x daily 1x per day 1x per day |
| Turkey - Izmir | 85 bgn | 15 hours | Arda Tur | 1x daily |
| Turkey - Edirne | 50 bgn | 6.5 hrs | Arda Tur | 4x daily |
| Greece - Thessaloniki | 15 bgn | 5,5 hrs | Flixbus Arda Tur Union-Ivkoni Tourist |
2x daily 3x daily 3x daily 1x per day |
| Greece - Athens | 40 bgn | 12 hours | Flixbus Arda Tur Union-Ivkoni |
1x daily 1x daily 2x daily |
| Greece - Kavala | 70 bgn | 5.5 hours | Flixbus Union-Ivkoni |
1x daily 5x weekly |
| Greece - Patras | 100 bgn | 15,5 hrs | Union-Ivkoni | 4x per week |
| Greece - Serres | 12 bgn | 4.5 hrs | Union-Ivkoni | 2x daily |
| Northern Macedonia - Skopje | 55 bgn | 5,5 hrs | Flixbus Matpu |
2x daily 2x daily |
| North Macedonia - Kumanovo | 50 bgn | 4 hrs | Flixbus Matpu |
2x daily 2x daily |
| Serbia - Niš | 34 bgn | 4 hrs | Flixbus | 2x daily |
| Serbia - Belgrade | 72 bgn | 5 hrs | Karat - S | 1x daily |
| Serbia - Dimitrovgrad | 20 bgn | 2,5 hrs | Flixbus | 2x daily |
| Romania - Bucharest | 45 bgn | 7 hrs | Flixbus Union-Ivkoni |
1x daily 1x daily |
| Albania - Tirana | 77 bgn | 11 hrs | Flixbus | 1x daily |
| Croatia - Zagreb | 70 bgn | 12,5 hrs | Flixbus Union-Ivkoni |
2x daily 1x daily |
| Slovenia - Ljubljana | 50 bgn | 13,5 hours | Flixbus Union-Ivkoni |
2x daily 1x daily |
| Hungary - Budapest | 115 bgn | 14,5 hours | Flixbus Arda Tur |
1x daily 1x daily |
| Austria - Vienna | 89 bgn | 14,5 hrs | Flixbus Arda Tur Union-Ivkoni |
1x daily 1x daily 1x daily |
| Austria - Salzburg | 74 bgn | 19 hrs | Flixbus Union-Ivkoni |
2x daily 1x daily |
| Slovakia - Bratislava | 100 bgn | 13 hours | Flixbus Union-Ivkoni |
1x daily 1x daily |
| Czech Republic - Prague | 107 bgn | 17,5 hours | Flixbus Arda Tur Union-Ivkoni |
1x daily 1x daily 1x daily |
| Czech Republic - Brno | 100 bgn | 15 hours | Flixbus Arda Tur Union-Ivkoni |
1x daily 1x daily 1x daily |
| Germany - Berlin | 150 bgn | 23 hrs | Flixbus Arda Tur Union-Ivkoni |
1x daily 1x daily 1x daily |
| Germany - Munich | 75 bgn | 21,5 hours | Flixbus Union-Ivkoni |
1x daily 1x daily |
In particular, the Union-Ivkoni bus company also runs direct services to more distant cities in Germany, Switzerland, France and even Spain.
Domestic routes
You can reach many more Bulgarian destinations by bus than by train, and even on lines where the train runs (Burgas, Varna) the buses are similarly fast and frequent.
National lines are served from 5 bus stations.
- Central bus station
- Most long-distance lines throughout Bulgaria
- Location on the map
- Metro M2 (Tsentralna Gara); Tram 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 12, 27; Bus 78, 85, 213, 285, 305, 404, 413
- Serdika (same building as for international connections)
- Lines direction Pernik, Kyustendil, Dupnitsa
- Location on the map
- Metro M2 (Tsentralna Gara); Tram 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 12, 27; Bus 78, 85, 213, 285, 305, 404, 413
- Sofia-Yug (Sofia-South)
- Samokov (in this town you change to minibuses towards Borovets), Velingrad, Vetren Dol, Dospat (16:30)
- Location on the map
- Metro M1, M4 (Joliot-Curie); Buses 67, 413
- Sofia-Zapad / Ovcha Kupel (Sofia-West)
- Rila Monastery (10:00), Blagoevgrad (small minibuses - large buses run from Central Station),
- Location on the map
- Tram 4, 5, 11; Buses 107, 260
- Sofia-North
- Slivnitsa, Godech
- Location on the map
- Tram 3, 27
Timetables for most regional and long-distance services, including the name of the bus company, can be found on the website: bgrazpisanie.com. The data is not synchronized online with all carriers, so the timetables on this site may not always be exactly the same as reality, but at least they give you an idea of which stations the buses run from and how often.
In addition, bgrazpisanie.com only lists companies with their own websites and does not include smaller regional minibus routes.
For clarity, the table below gives examples of popular destinations from Sofia, average prices and where to book online tickets.
| Destinations | Average price | Travel time | Online Tickets |
Frequency |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ahtopol | 45 bgn | 7.5 hours | Union-Ivkoni | 3x daily |
| Balchik | 45 bgn | 8.5 hours | Union-Ivkoni | 1x per day |
| Bansko | 17 bgn | 3.5 hours | Union-Ivkoni Kar-Trans |
2x daily 1x daily |
| Belogradchik | 17 bgn | 4 hours | Not available online | 1x per day |
| Blagoevgrad | 12 bgn | 2 hrs | Union-Ivkoni Kar-Trans |
2x daily 1x daily |
| Burgas | 30 bgn | 5.5 hours | Union-Ivkoni | 11x daily |
| Kardzhali | 25 bgn | 4 hrs | Union-Ivkoni | 1x per day |
| Montana | 13 bgn | 3 hrs | Union-Ivkoni Karat-s Montana AT |
1x per day 1x per day 3 times a day |
| Horizon | 50 bgn | 6 hours | Flixbus | 1x daily |
| Pleven | 17 bgn | 3 hrs | Union-Ivkoni | 7x daily |
| Plovdiv | 15 bgn | 2 hrs | 6 times a day 4 times a day 2x per day |
|
| Pomorie | 35 bgn | 6.5 hours | Union-Ivkoni Flixbus |
7x daily 1x daily |
| Primorsko | 40 bgn | 6.5 hours | Union-Ivkoni | 6x daily |
| Razgrad | 33 bgn | 5.5 hours | Union-Ivkoni | 1x per day |
| Ruse | 28 bgn | 4.5 hours | Union-Ivkoni | 9x daily |
| Samokov | 6 bgn | 1.5 hours | Not available online | 30 minutes |
| Sandanski | 15 bgn | 4 hours | Union-Ivkoni | 4 times a day |
| Sozopol | 35 bgn | 6 hours | Union-Ivkoni | 6x daily |
| Stara Zagora | 25 bgn | 3.5 hours | Union-Ivkoni Doris |
6x daily 3 times a day |
| Sunny Beach | 35 bgn | 6.5 hours | Union-Ivkoni Flixbus |
9x daily 1x daily |
| Varna | 32 bgn | 7 hours | Union-Ivkoni Biomet |
7x daily 11x daily |
| Veliko Tarnovo | 22 bgn | 3.5 hours | Union-Ivkoni Biomet |
9x daily 11x daily |
| Velingrad | 8 bgn | 1.5 hours | Not online | 7x daily |
| Vidin | 24 bgn | 4 hrs | Karat-s Alexiev |
1x per day 5x per day |
By train
Use the railway especially when travelling from Sofia to Bulgaria.
Tickets can be purchased only from the only carrier BDZ - Bulgarian State Railways.
Most trains run from the main station "Centralna Gara Sofia".
- Location on the map
- Metro M2 (Tsentralna Gara); Tram 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 12, 27; Bus 78, 85, 213, 285, 305, 404, 413
Some regional or stopover services run from Sofia-North Station (see map), which can be reached by tram lines 3 and 27.
International trains
At present, trains from Sofia only run to Turkey and Romania without changing trains
Sofia - Istanbul train
A night train from Sofia to Halkali station in Istanbul runs daily with sleeper and couchette cars only. Seating cars are not available.
Tickets can only be bought in person at the international ticket office in Sofia. Online ticket sales for the train to Istanbul are not possible.
- Basic fare - 52 bgn
- Sun lounger - 20 bgn
- Sleeper - 30 bgn
The train journey time is 12.5 hours, almost 4 hours longer than the significantly busier buses.
Detailed information can be found on the official website of Bulgarian Railways: bdz.bg/en/a/sofia-istanbul-sofia.
Sofia - Bucharest train
Direct trains currently run every day from Sofia-North station once a day.
There are daily trains in both directions: there is a train from Sofia at around 7:00 am and a train back from Bucharest at around 10:45 am.
Tickets can only be bought at the international ticket office in Sofia in person. Online ticket sales for the train to Istanbul are not possible.
- Basic fare - 58 bgn
Travel time is 10 hours, 3 hours more than by bus.
Detailed information can be found on the official website of Bulgarian Railways: bdz.bg/en/a/sofia-bucuresti-sofia.
Trains to Serbia and Greece
Although there are tracks running across the border from Bulgaria to Greece, and trains used to run from Sofia to Niš in Serbia and Thessaloniki in Greece, none of these trains are currently in service.
National trains
Frequent long-distance trains run mainly from Sofia to the sea - to both Burgas and Varna via major inland cities.
Long-distance trains are usually made up of carriages bought in Germany or Austria, which are quite comfortable and air-conditioned.
Regional trains run a mix of modern units and very old non-air-conditioned cars.
Where to buy tickets?
You can buy tickets online for all trains from Sofia around Bulgaria via the official website bileti.bdz.bg.
To buy you need to register on this website. Online ticket sales are always launched about 5-7 days before departure. Before that, the vast majority of trains cannot be bought. For some regional trains, tickets cannot be bought online.
Once purchased, your ticket will be emailed to you in pdf format. You don't need to print the ticket, just save it on your mobile, laptop or tablet and show it to the conductor on the train.
Routes and timetables
Where can I get to from Sofia by train, how long and how much will the ticket cost?
| Destinations | Price | Travel time | Frequency |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blagoevgrad | 8,40 bgn | 2,5 hours | 5x daily |
| Burgas | 24 bgn to 32 bgn | 6-7.5 hrs | 8x daily |
| Dragoman | 3,80 bgn | 1 hour | 4 times a day |
| Charles | 10,40 bgn | 2.5 hours | 9x daily |
| Kazanlak (Buzludzha) | 14,10 bgn | 3.5 hrs | 7x daily |
| Pernik | 2,80 bgn | 1 hour | 60 minutes |
| Plovdiv | 11 bgn | 2.5 hours | 9x daily |
| Sandanski | 12,70 bgn | 3,5 hrs | 3 times a day |
| Stara Zagora | 15,60 bgn up to 17,20 bgn | 5 hours | 6x daily |
| Svilengrad | 21,10 bgn | 7 hours | 1x per day |
| Varna | 28,70 bgn | 8.5 hours | 8x daily |
| Veliko Tarnovo | 18,70 bgn | 5.5 hours | 7x daily |
| Vidin | 16,40 bgn | 6 hours | 1x per day |
| Vratsa | 8,30 bgn | 3 hours | 1x daily |
You can buy tickets with transfers to other places around Bulgaria.
