Travelling from Bulgaria to Other Parts of Eastern Europe
Travelling from Bulgaria to Other Parts of Eastern Europe
What’s the simplest way to travel to Bulgaria? Well, that depends from where you’re travelling from. If you’re travelling from Ireland, you can pick from a number of cheap Bulgaria flights. You can, for example, go on a flight Dublin to Bourgas.
So what if you want to travel from Bulgaria to other countries in Eastern Europe? You can very easily visit Bulgaria’s neighbouring countries, such as Greece and Turkey, using Bulgaria as a base. Here’s how to do it.
Travelling from Bulgaria to Turkey
You can always pick up a flight from Sofia to Istanbul that would cost around €300. Your other options are to pick a night train from Sofia that arrives at Istanbul at around 9 in the morning.
This would cost you €75 if you go on a first class sleeper, for a return trip. The only problem is that you will be woken up in the middle of the night by officials to check your passport.
You can also board the many buses that travel from Sofia, Plovdiv, Bourgas, and Varna to Istanbul. A bus ticket from Sofia to Istanbul would cost €50 and the journey is 10 hours long.
Travelling from Bulgaria to Greece
It’s very easy to go from Bulgaria to Greece. There are a number of buses and trains that go from Sofia to Thessaloniki. From there you can pick up a local bus or train to Athens or to any of the Greek Islands.
You could also take a plane from Sofia to Athens. The flight ticket would cost about €200, which is reasonable.
The train journey from Sofia to Thessaloniki takes six hours and costs between €15 and €30. There are a number of buses that go from Sofia to Greece as well and they are affordable options.
Travelling from Bulgaria to Macedonia
Macedonia is Bulgaria’s next door neighbour. The distance between Sofia and Skopje, the capital of Macedonia is only 170km. The easiest way to get here is by bus.
There are 3 or 4 buses that run every day between Sofia and Skopje, so you can board that easily. A bus ticket between the two cities would only cost you €30. This is pretty cheap.
There is no train connection between Bulgaria and Macedonia, unfortunately.
Travelling from Bulgaria to Serbia
Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, is around 500km from Sofia. You can pick up a plane from Sofia to Belgrade, and that would set you back by around €300 for the return trip. Going by train or bus from Sofia to Belgrade would cost substantially less, at around €60.
Travelling from Bulgaria to Romania
Bucharest, the capital of Romania is similar to Sofia in a lot of ways. Indeed, Romania is a beautiful country, which is a delight to visit. You can go by flight from Sofia to Bucharest for just €200. Going by train or bus is cheaper. The journey by train from Sofia to Bucharest costs around €60 and takes 9 to 10 hours. You can also pick up the train to Bucharest from Varna. There are many buses that go every day from Bulgaria to Romania.
