Bucharest Travel Forum

Hello,

I will travelled to Bucharest on September 2009. Anybody can help me on the transportation from Bucharest to Sofia. How to booked the ticket and how much it cost? I do searching on the web, but I did't find any information about this matter. Your help needed. Thank you.

well, can't help u much but smtng.
The trains between Bucharest and Sofia go frequently n takes abt 11 hours. There are many via trains, i.e. from North (Russia, Hungary, Poland etc..) to the South (Bulgaria, Greece) via Bucharest.
The price of a 2-way ticket is abt 50 Euro in the 2nd class n abt 80 Euro in 1st class, plus u shud pay fr sleeping equipment abt 10 Euros. so a 1 way ticket shud be cost abt 30 Euros in the 2nd class.
direct trains to Sofia start from Nord Railway station in Bucharest (Gara De Nord, as i remember)... at abt 11.30 am n the 2nd abt 7 or 8.00 pm.
cheers,....

by the way, i have never booked train tickets in advance. simple, just walked to the Station n bought my tickets.
fr booking try www.raileurope.com but price might be expensive.
there are many buses as well.
finally if u get big layover in Bucharest u can travel to Georgiu (border city in Romania) n take taxi to Ruse (border city in Bulgaria) n then take ur train to Sofia.
cheers,...

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

will give you train times and details in English.

You may be able to find times and fares in English here:

http://www.cfr.ro/calatori/

although the timetable 'button' just links to the bahn.de site.

I am not sure whether you will be able to book online through this site: online booking was introduced in March this year.

You will not pay in euros if you buy your ticket at the station, of course; Romania has not adopted the euro.

If you are willing to pay commission fees, then you may be able to book the ticket online through www.raileurope.com The currency you pay in will depend on where you access Raileurope. I am quoted fares from 47GBP, for example.

Raileurope tickets are more expensive than those purchsed from country websites, or at stations. Also, the site does not list available trains. But if you want to book online in advance it may be your only option.

There is a bus from bucharest to Sofia.

www.eurolines.com is the portal. Hover your mouse over Romania on the map and click.

This will take you to http://rezervari.eurolines.ro/cat/DesktopDefault.aspx

which has an English version.

Buses seem to leave Bucharest at 0630, but only on Saturdays. One-way journey costs 25 euro.

There are two direct trains to get to Sofia from Bucharest. The first leaves in the afternoon around 1200. There is also a night train at 2000 arriving the next morning at 0600. Check bahn.de for up to date times

There are border controls at the frontier. You will need to show your passport on both sides of the border although you will not need to get off the train to do this.

In September I bought a seat on the night train for 104RON (24euro). Tickets needed to be bought from the international sales counter. If you want a sleeper ticket you need to buy that from the sleeper ticket desk. Both are well signposted.

There are daily buses to Sofia leaving from Bucharest around 4PM (they get to Sofia in about 7-8 hours). A one way ticket is about €25 and they can't be booked in advance.

Thank you for everyone.

I've took a train from Bucharest to Sofia for my trip. But the train is very slow and stop 1 hour at the Romania-Bulgaria border.