The cheapest way to get to your beach holiday on the Bulgarian coast is by train or driving a car that runs on gas. This is according to a check by The Sofia Echo.
Train tickets from Sofia to Varna cost 28 leva return, Sofia to Bourgas is 23.20 leva. If travelling from Plovdiv to Varna or Bourgas it would cost you 22.30 or 17.50 leva, respectively. The trip takes between seven and eight hours.
Driving your own car could be an expensive way to get to your chosen resort, mainly if you travel alone or with just one other person.
The cost of your trip to Bourgas depends on whether you drive a gas, petrol or diesel-fuelled car. In the first case it would be about to 70-80 leva there and back including the vignette sticker for a week. In the second case, it would cost 120 leva if you drive economically at 100km/h for most of the trip. If you use air-conditioning, or drive faster, then the cost will be higher. Diesel is also cheaper than petrol. Thus, if there are more than two people splitting the cost, driving would be not just the cheapest but also one of the fastest ways to reach your beach holiday.
Travelling by bus, on the other hand, could be quite expensive. Bus ticket prices have increased by one lev since last year. High petrol prices was given as the reason the majority of bus companies have raised their ticket prices to the seaside this summer. “We simply had no choice but to increase prices as the price of diesel and petrol has reached 1.90 leva and 2 leva a litre, respectively,” Slav Monev of Biomet told The Sofia Echo.
A ticket to Varna, with Biomet, is 25 leva for a single or 48 for a return ticket from Sofia. To Bourgas the price is 19 leva and 36 leva, respectively. Biomet also has buses to the southern resorts of Primorsko and Kiten for 22 leva for a single and 42 leva for a return.
From Sofia to the northern resort of Albena a ticket costs 25 leva for a single and 46 for a return.
The united bus company that includes the buses of Etap and Group, have the same prices from Sofia to Varna 25 leva for a single and 48 for a return, and to Bourgas 20 leva and 36 leva, respectively.
The bus company Union Ivkoni currently has the lowest bus prices to the seaside. The route Sofia-Varna costs 18 leva for single ticket and 36 leva for a return. A trip to Bourgas will cost you 18 and 32 leva, respectively. These, however, are promotional prices that the company has been offering since January to mark its 15th anniversary. Ivan Dobrev, responsible for domestic routes, told The Sofia Echo that Union Ivkoni would keep the low prices at least until the end of June. A price increase similar to those of other bus companies is currently being discussed. If the prices are changed, Dobrev said, we will simply bring back the normal prices of 24 and 45 leva to Varna, while the price to Bourgas is likely to remain the same as now.
Passengers should bear in mind that if they travel by bus to Varna or Bourgas, but wish to carry on to smaller resorts, the entire trip price will be higher. Normally at train or bus stations there are companies that offer transportation to other resorts. When you get off the bus or the train, look around for buses or smaller van-type cars with signs (normally in English) to other locations.
Last but not least, you can also get to the seaside by airplane, which is the most expensive but fastest way to travel. Bulgaria Air has four daily flights to Varna and one to Bourgas. Flights to Bourgas are currently being offered at a promotional price of 200 leva including taxes. Bulgaria Air, however, could not specify how long the promotion is running.
Normally a ticket to Bourgas is 237 leva with a five-day stay in Bourgas. The price increases to 257 leva for an open-return. To Varna the price is 257 leva with a five-day stay and 277 for an open ticket.
The price for a single ticket to Varna currently is 160 leva, and to Bourgas 119 leva. Tickets cannot be booked online and can only be bought from the company’s ticket desks.
