Sofia Travel Forum

Hi there,

My location is in Sophia.
Is there any advice relating the weekend trip to Namur, Belgium.
I prefer to visit Namur city via train. ( Transitting Bruxelle is no problem).
Would you please help me : the time schedule, fair.

Highly appreciate that.

Cheers,

Ly

http://www.bahn.de/international/view/en/index.shtml

will give you train times in English (type 'Sofia').

It is a very long journey with changes and long waits (34+ hours), not feasible for a weekend trip.

Budget airlines Whizzair and Skyeurope have flights from Sofia to Brussels.

From Brussels you can get a train to Namur. Journey takes around 1.5 hours. Times and fares here:

http://www.b-rail.be/main/E/

I don't see any reason for you to prefer the incredibly long (and subject to delays) train journey than a flight. Wizzair.com flies from Sofia to Brussels-Charleroi on Dec. 30th in the morning. From there (I guess without going to Brussels itself) you can easily make it to Namur. The fare at the moment is 100 euro, add 10 more for a baggage fee and credit card withdrawal fees.
You might also check Bulgaria Air (www.air.bg), but I guess the flight will cost a fortune.
It is true that Sofia during the winter is prone to fogs and flight cancellations. Still, the trains in the Balkans are 100% prone to delays and you might not be able to make a key connection somewhere in Eastern Europe, where we have only a couple of international trains per day.
If you are concerned about the fogs, a bus/train ride to some neighboring place might work (Thessaloniki, Istanbul). However, I cannot give you more precise information now, as I don't know your exact plans.
Btw, if you consider the trains, do have in mind that depending on your nationality, you might need a transit visa for Serbia. And that in general Sofia-Namur is not really a weekend trip, you will need slightly more time than that.

Hope that helps,
Venelin

If indeed landing at Charleroi it is better to take the local bus to the Charleroi train station, rather than traveling to Brussels first. There are frequent direct trains from Charleroi to Namur, and the trip takes only about 40 minutes.

http://www.seat61.com/Turkey.htm#via%20Belgrade

See this

Thanks so much for your helpful guidelines.
Cheers
Ly