Flights to Bulgaria. Travelling around and exploring your new Bulgarian home.
The number of flights to Bulgaria has increased in recent years in direct response to the number of Brits buying Bulgarian homes or visiting the country as tourists. Once in Bulgaria, travelling around is reasonably easy, but not necessarily speedy.
Flights to Bulgaria for Bulgarian home owners
British Airways has a daily flight to Bulgaria´s capital, Sofia, from Heathrow, and a three-per-week schedule from Gatwick. A year-round Gatwick flight to Bulgaria´s main Black Sea airport, Varna, was launched in 2006.
Another provider of scheduled flights to Bulgaria from the UK is Bulgarian Air. A flight to Bulgaria leaves Gatwick daily bound for Sofia, but in the summer the capital is also served from Manchester. Summer flights to Bulgaria´s coastal cities of Varna and Bourgas also operate from Gatwick.
The first low-cost flight to Bulgaria took off with Wizz-Air in 2006 from Luton airport bound for Sofia. Bourgas was later added as a summer destination. More no-frills flights to Bulgaria are expected to be launched by other carriers when Bulgaria joins the EU, which will make owning a Bulgarian home even more attractive to Brits.
Seats on charter flights to Bulgaria allow owners of Bulgarian homes to flit back and forth to Blighty for often very little outlay during the summer months. Even more conveniently, these flights land in regional aiports in the UK.
Getting around Bulgaria. Travel by road
Driving is on the right hand side of the road in Bulgaria. Travelling around by car means learning to avoid potholes. Speed limits (120km/h on dual carriage, 90km/h on rural highways and 50km/h in built up areas) are strictly enforced by police and the largely congestion-free main routes are littered with radar traps. Front and rear seatbelts are compulsory.
As everyone with a Bulgarian home soon discovers, road conditions are variable. Between the main centres, dual carriageways are generally well-maintained. But on all other roads, and especially in rural Bulgaria, travelling by road requires caution. Animal drawn carts and wandering livestock are a constant distraction. And outside the cities, road signs are written only in the Cyrillic alphabet.
In Bulgaria, travelling by car is a fairly cheap option. Car rental, however, is more expensive than in the UK.
After 12 months in your Bulgarian home, you need a new driving licence
Officially, all UK nationals need an International Driving Permit to drive in Bulgaria but a UK driving licence is valid in practice. However, after twelve months of living in your Bulgarian home, you need to take the local (practical and written) test for a Bulgarian driving licence.
Getting around Bulgaria. Travel by bus
Comfortable and modern private buses in Bulgaria travel cheaply and reliably between most of the main towns (see www.businfobg.com/en for routes). They tend to be preferred over train travel by Bulgarian home owners.
Example ticket prices: Sofia to Varna 9 GBP (six hours); Plovdiv to Burgas 8 GBP (over four hours). Advance reservations are recommended.
If travelling locally to your Bulgarian home, you will enjoy very cheap (but often grubby) state-run bus services. Tickets cost 0.20 GBP each and are bought from the driver (except in Sofia where they are bought from street kiosks).
Getting around Bulgaria. Travel by train
Although slower and less reliable than the bus, the state train network (see http://bdz.creato.biz/en) can prove more convenient for some Bulgarian home owners than road travel. A first class two-bed compartment on the overnight Sofia to Varna or Burgas services adds only 2 GBP to ticket costs (which are similar to the bus).
Getting around Bulgaria. Travel by taxi
Cheap and convenient in the towns and cities, the average rate is less than 0.25 GBP/km and many drivers speak a little English. Overcharging is common, however. Some Bulgarian home owners find longer intercity journeys can be negotiated at reasonable rates.
To, from or around Bulgaria, travel safely
A flight to Bulgaria may speed up your arrival but, as everyone who moves to a Bulgarian home soon discovers, the best way to see Bulgaria is to travel at Bulgaria´s pace.
