Nice Places in Bulgaria. Bulgaria Guide.

Bulgaria Transportation Tips by ger4444 - VirtualTourist.com


A lot of the railtracks make detours because of the mountains and require changing, which sometimes has durations of 2 to 3 hours! Accommodation in Sofia.Sofia HotelsDiscover Five Star Luxury Hotels Call Or Reserve Your Room Online! According to several sites the flight to Varna (from Brussels or Cologne) was 500 euro!!! Air France flies from Paris to Sofia and costs 290 euro. All these prices are the prices you pay for departure from Brussels/Antwerp and Li�ge. Also, consider that Eurolines goes via Yugoslavia to Bulgaria. And that this diffusion of busstation has to do with the different directions busses are heading for. And they know that; so bet they let you pay! Another thing is that not all places are connected to the railway net. At the border between Bulgaria and Turkey; you will be summoned to get out of the bus and go to the cusumsoffice. Be aware of the fact that larger cities often have more than one busstation. Both were � in the summer-season � about 130 euro. British Airways, flying from London to sofia, is 250 pounds for a return-ticket. Bulgaria is in one zone together with Romenia and Yugoslavia and Macedonia. Busses are less comfortable and they don�t have toilets on board. But if you are travelling around in other countries in the Balkan you can also buy a interrail pass. But its also a nice trip to hang all night around in the refreshment room with fellow backpackers in the same situation. Chas / zaminavane: means departure time. Finally; to get an idea of the costs: a ticket second class from Varna to sofia without reservation costs 13 lv 50! First you have the Bosphor express which leaves from the town of Ruse. For short distances its not necessary to have a reservation. Fourth: many of the budget-airlines (like Ryanair, easeyjet, german wings) don�t fly to Bulgaria. However it is only valuable for 2 weeks; so that if you want to stay moer weeks in Bulgaria, you also have to pay for a transit visa when you are returning; so that you pay 50 euro extra for the trip. I paid for a ticket from Sofia to Istanbul only 40 lv. If I am not wrong this visum costs 25 euro. If you are only travelling in Bulgaria, consider that Bulgarian trains are so cheap, that it does not pay back to buy a railpass for Bulgaria. If you however buy a ticket at the train station with a seat reservation, you will automaticly be out in the right compatment. If you want to go from there to the famous monastery you will have to take a taxi. If you want to go to Sofia, you pay for a return ticket the following prices: Adults: 210 euro, People under 26 or elder than 60: 189 euro; children between 4 and 11: 105 euro. In other cities and towns, there is only one central office where you only have one public bus service. Its good to know that at the moment of writing; Eurolines has cancelled all the other lines that are offered in their Eurolines guide or on the internet. Its nicer to travel around by train then by bus because then you can see beautifull landscapes in stead of the concrete of the highways. Kategoriya: means type of train (express train is marked by a T; a slow train is marked by a G). KLM flies from Amsterdam to Sofia and costs 230 euro for a returnflight. Less cheap (relatively) are Barcelona: 340 lv; Madrid: 370 lv. Let?s say that you want to go by nighttrain to Belgrado and you are sitting in the wrong compartment; you might end up in Sofia as you wake up, because they uncoupled all the compartments that were destined for Sofia. Many locals go to Rila in the holidays and they will pass the same route as the taxis do. Melnik or Belogradchic for example are not directly connected by railway. No booking fees.Boutique HotelsSuperb Photos, Independent Reviews And Exclusive Online Specials!5 Star Luxury HotelsAbsolute Luxury Luxury HotelsSofia apartments for rentShort term self catering serviced apartments. Note that there are some limits on the things you can carry out of the country: there is a max of 5 packages of cigarettes and you are only allowed to take 2 liter of wine with you. O.k: how does it work when you leave the country by bus? Of course Bulgarians on the other way around think it may not be safe for them to pick up hitch hikers. Of course its always safer to hitch in pairs. Of course you can always find other backpackers there, for it�s a quite toursitic, so that you can share a cab; but why not wait and look for a free ride? Often they have some space left in the car and they take you to the monastery. Ok; if you go by Bus from Brussels you must be able to stand a long journey for it takes 36 hours to get to Sofia. OK; when you arriving at the trainstation there are some Bulgarian words that are vital to know for a succesfull continuation of your journey. One of the most spectacular train trips qua views is along the Isk�r Gorge. One of the things you really ought to know is that it is, in case of long-distance journeys, a good thing to have a reservation for your seat in the train. Or, take the nighttrain from Varna to Sofia, so that you arrive in the morning at Sofia, without having lost a travelday. Other directions in Bulgaria are for these categories of travellers respectively 170, 153 and 85 euro. Second: Before you book a flight, check the cheap package tours that are offered on the net or at travelagencies. So don�t expect to bet a ride in a Benz. So if you are making a trip around the country just start your circle around the country at Varna or Burgas. So if you for example want to go to the north by bus; there might be a separate station in the north of that city with busses to the north, whereas you probably will think that all the busses are leaving from the central busstation! So, if you really want to go to Sofia in the firstplace, you can safe a lot of money by going to Varna and pick directly the train (13,50 lv) to Sofia. So, the Lines 333, 334, 335 and 336 are not riding anymore! So, when the train was leaving, I had to give my seat to a person who had a reservation and I did not find a free seat afterwards. That�s why it is not worth to go by bus!!! The Balkan Express is a train that rides between Belgrado and Istanbul, so Bulgaria is only ?a country in between? The country in Europe, where you can find the most flights (budget and normal prices) is Germany. The departures from Brussels are on sundays (9 pm) and return on thursdays (9 am) The office of Eurolines in Brussels is: Avenue Fonsnylaan 13 (tel: 02-5382049) And in Sofia it is: Boulevard Vitosha 106 (29541143) or at the Central Station (Bureau number 48; tel: 29819848). The former ones have aircondition which can be very helpful when the temperature is 30 degrees Celsius. The latter ones don�t have it and the windows often cant be opened so you are getting boiled inside. The reason why that is, is that there are more tourists heading for the black sea coast then to Sofia, so these lines are frequenter. Then you have the Balkan express, which departs from Sofia at about 5 pm (I wanted to take this one to Istanbul, but I just arrived 15 minutes too late at the station!!) This train is supposed to arrive in Istanbul at about 8 am the next day. There are charter flights from several cities that fly in summer on daily base. There are private busses, which are a bit more expensive and there are busses run by the state. There are several �systems� of ticket sales. There are three kinds of trains : the express (which do long distances: f.e. There is however of no extended check on your luggage as you leave Bulgaria by bus and a thing that is very nice, they don�t punish you for not having all your forms of all the hotels etc. These passes are only to be use in 2 class. They often offer very cheap one/two or three weeks at the Black sea resorts. They present their offers as being the lowest prices possible, whereas they are not in fact. Third: the cheapest flights I have found were Bulgarian Airlines and Jetair. This same train returns from Istanbul to Bulgaria at 11 pm. Tickets can not be booked; but that is no problem for the majority of the long distance busses don�t need to be booked in advance. What you can do however, is flying to Istanbul. When I went from Varna to Sofia I had the night express and I wanted to have the cheapest ticket; that is without a reservation on a seat. Which appeared to be overbooked) Normally, if you arrive at about half an hour before departure you get a bus. Yet, these are only for Europeans and cannot be bought in Bulgaria. Yet, they link all cities and villages so you can get to any place you want by bus. You can combine a week or a few days in Istanbul with your trip to Bulgaria. You can shop around and look for the best price and than take a bus. You can then get a very cheap flight and you can just decide not to stay at the hotel in these resorts and follow your own way by travelling around in the country. You can travel around for one month The interrail pass-system devides Europe (they are only for Europe) in zones. You can travel around there by an interrail pass that costs 200 euro. You will have to pay for a transit visa at the border in Yugoslavia. You will stand there for about one hour because there are many busses before you with in each bus dozens of passengers.