Bulgaria: Getting there & around

Bulgaria Air (www.air.bg) took over as national carrier from the thankfully defunct Balkan Airlines in November 2002, merging with Hemus Air in 2007. It has flights to most major European capitals but as yet there are no direct flights linking Sofia with the major Asian hubs or North America. Travellers from Australasia will usually have to connect through more popular European destinations. Buses and trains are the easiest way to get to Bulgaria from Europe and Turkey, with frequent services from Greece, Yugoslavia, Macedonia, Albania, Istanbul, Prague and Western Europe. The only Romania connection is a scrappy maxi-taxi service from Ruse, Bulgaria (on the Danube River) to Bucharest. The train from Greece is usually a hassle (take the bus).

When you enter Bulgaria by car you must state which border crossing you'll be using when you leave and pay a road tax accordingly. There's also a 'disinfection fee' for your vehicle. Route restrictions apply if you're only in transit through Bulgaria. A regular car ferry crosses the Danube from Vidin to Calafat in Romania. Crossing the 'Friendship Bridge' from Romania to Ruse in Bulgaria is painfully slow, though outbound travellers are not usually delayed. Bus services to Istanbul usually reach the border in the middle of the night, when Turkish customs go through every bag vigorously.

Buses link all cities and major towns and connect villages with the nearest transport hub. In some places, buses are run by the government. These buses are old, uncomfortable (when compared with city buses) and slow. Newer, quicker and more commodious private buses often operate in larger towns and cities, and normally cost little more than the fare on a ramshackle public bus.

There are also numerous private companies running services all across the country, the biggest of which are Etap-Grup (tel: 02 945 3939; www.etapgroup.com) and Biomet (tel: 02 963 1366; www.biomet-bg.com), which operate from Sofia and link up with most major towns and cities.

All timetables are listed (in Cyrillic) inside the bus stations and all buses have destination signs (in Cyrillic) in the front window.

For a public bus, you normally buy a ticket from the counter marked kasa (каса) inside the station. This way you're guaranteed a seat and you know the correct departure time and platform number. However, in some cases the cashier will tell you to buy a ticket on the bus.