The lack of investment in public transport since the collapse of communism has left it in a dismal state. Bus and train stations are run down and dirty, trains are slow and often cancelled and buses are in poor condition.
The frequent floods of recent years have seen east-west train services cancelled or re-routed for days at a time. Many private bus companies are now filling the gap left by the collapse of centralised transport services but improvement is slow.
Sofia is the exception, with an excellent network of trams, trolleybuses and buses (and an impressive new bus terminal) and swarms of inexpensive taxis (with typical fares between around €1 and €3). Taxis in smaller cities and towns can cost as little as 1 lev (€0.50). Sofia is also an easy city to negotiate by bicycle, with no large hills and wide boulevards (although stray dogs are often a problem after nightfall).
In rural areas, on the other hand, there’s usually no public transport and locals often hitch a ride on the back of a neighbour’s tractor. Where it exists, public transport is extremely cheap and, unless you’re in a hurry, a good way to travel between the main cities.
The only domestic flight operator in Bulgaria is the privately-owned Hemus Air (www.hemusair-varna.com ), which operates a combination of BAe 146 and Russian-made Yakovlev and Tupolev aircraft between Sofia and Varna throughout the year and Sofia-Bourgas and Varna-Bourgas during the summer.
Prices are reasonable compared to the train, especially considering the train takes six to eight hours to reach the coast from the capital. One-way fares in summer 2005 were Sofia-Varna €97, Sofia-Bourgas €97 and Varna-Bourgas €25. At the time of writing Bulgaria Air was being privatised, which may affect some routes and fares.
The Bulgarian rail network is comprehensive and the state-owned railway company BDZ has services to most major towns and cities, the two main lines linking the capital with Bourgas and with Varna. However, trains are slow and delays or cancellations common, and rail travel is generally slower and less reliable than travelling by bus, although fares are comparable.
Despite being slow, Bulgarian trains are comfortable and a sleeper berth for longer journeys is excellent value (with an additional charge of just €3 or €4 for a first-class compartment for two!).
There are three types of train:
Express trains operate only on the main routes, while Fast trains operate on almost all lines and are preferable to Ordinary trains, which stop at every station and take forever to get anywhere. There’s usually a drinks and snacks trolley on intercity trains, although this rarely offers much more than peanuts and beer. Smoking is allowed only in designated carriages on all trains. BDZ has recently purchased new Siemens diesel trains to improve the quality of service on the Black Sea coast routes.
Booking is compulsory on all Express and Fast trains and if you want to travel in a sleeper compartment, you must book at least 24 hours in advance. Sleeper compartments are considered safe to travel in, although you should take the usual precautions and not leave valuables on display or unattended in your compartment.
BDZ has a surprisingly comprehensive website (www.bdz.bg ), with timetables for all destinations, information on ticket prices and discounts and a history of the company.
In Sofia railway tickets must be purchased from the Central Railway Station (the booking office is beneath the main hall) or from the travel agency in the basement of the National Palace of Culture. Outside Sofia, tickets can be purchased only at railway stations. If you arrive at a station too late to buy a ticket (there’s usually a queue) you can pay on the train, with a surcharge of around 30 per cent.
Competition from the private sector has seen a huge growth in the number of bus companies operating across Bulgaria. The bus is a comfortable and convenient option and it’s often easier to travel by bus in mountainous regions as few towns in the mountains are reachable by train.
Every town has a bus station, and sometimes two or three, as buses operated by private companies use different stations. The buses run by private companies are usually newer and more comfortable than those run by state-owned concerns. There’s no national timetable for bus services; each company publishes its own timetable (although these aren’t always easy to find) and services don’t always link conveniently.
Bus transport is very cheap, a three-hour cross-country journey costing as little as 12 lev (€6), for example. It’s usually easier to buy tickets either from the bus company office at the bus station or from a travel agent, as staff are more likely to speak English than bus drivers.
The private company ETAP runs one of the most modern and comfortable fleets of buses between the main cities and has timetables, fares and distance information on its website (http://etapgroup.com/etap/en ).
For services from Sofia’s gleaming new bus station, the Centralna Avtogara, you can check timetables and destinations on its website (www.centralnaavtogara.bg – use the menu at the top right to change the language to English).
To search for timetables from one place to another, you should also check out this easy-to-use and comprehensive service http://avtogari.info/index_en.php
This is an extract from Survival Books’ Living in Bulgaria.
This article is an extract from Buying a Home in Bulgaria
from Survival Books.