Bulgaria trip

[yorkie]

Does anyone have any suggestions for a trip to Bulgaria? We are there for two full days, all day Saturday and Sunday this weekend, plus Friday afternoon. We are staying in Sofia.

On one of the day swe are thinking of a round trip via the Black Sea, if that's doable?

And on another day we may visit Kulata near the Greek border.

If anyone has any recommendations for trains we could aim to catch, places we could aim to visit, and also any tips regarding ticketing that would be much appreciated

 

[U-Bahnfreund]

Trains in Bulgaria are quite slow, when I went from Sofia to Varna on the Black Sea, it took quite long (around 8 hours to Varna one-way, and it's around 6-7 hrs to Burgas). Plovdiv is a nice city and not that far, so maybe that's an idea to just head there. The Septemvri-Dobronishte line is a 760 mm narrow-gauge railway with passenger service, that's interesting as well I think. Here's a good map of the railway system: http://www.bulgaria-rail-map-2.truenorth.bg/ and the national timetable can be found here: https://p.bdz.bg/www/p/t/ptevoditel-2022-2632.pdf

I bought tickets on the BDZ website which was super eazy (pay by credit card, print-at-home), £10 from Sofia to Varna on the express.

 

[MarcVD]

I have done two lines in 2016 that were really interesting :

1) from Vidin to Sofia, or, if you want, even from Craiova (Romania) to Sofia with a change in Vidin. When I did it, there was an international train from Budapest to Sofia for that trip but if has now disappeared. It gets you on the new international bridge Calafat - Vidin over the Danube River. The Romanian part of the trip is a time machine that brings you almost to austro-hungarian railways time, with jointed rail, mechanical signals, and hand-operated points. The Bulgarian part is less romantic but with more varied scenery and a good feel of down to earth railway practices of this part of the world.

2) from Sofia to Kulata (Greek border), a line with an incredibly beautiful scenery. The line follows a river valley for most of the route, and the valley banks are often very steep, which makes the landscape quite spectacular. I had the chance to do it at a time the through trains to Greece were still operating, so I ended up in Thessaloniki. On the other hand, with Bulgarian carriages, you'll get windows that open and at the speed of this line, plenty of time to enjoy it. Curiously enough, the old signage that still subsists in the station is bilingual Bulgarian-French, no idea why.

 

[superalbs]

Septembri to Dobrinishte, a narrow gauge railway taking 4-5 hours each way, all loco-hauled.

Also there's plenty of beautiful Ukrainian-made diesels, they run a few branches, such as to Dobrich in the east.

 

[30907]

Septembri to Dobrinishte, a narrow gauge railway taking 4-5 hours each way, all loco-hauled.

On my bucket list, and do-able in a long day (0600-2200). There appears to be a direct bus Bansko-Blagoevgrad which is on the line from the Greek frontier mentioned by MarcVD and might cut the total travel time.
Plovdiv looks worth a tourist visit.

 

[Austriantrain]

On my bucket list, and do-able in a long day (0600-2200).

When I did it - and it was very worthwhile- I only did it in one direction. It was very easy to get a bus back to Sofia from Bansko, and very much faster too.

 

[yorkie]

I bought tickets on the BDZ website which was super eazy (pay by credit card, print-at-home), £10 from Sofia to Varna on the express.

Are tickets issued as PDF barcode e-tickets which can be shown on any device or do they have to be printed?

 

[U-Bahnfreund]

Are tickets issued as PDF barcode e-tickets which can be shown on any device or do they have to be printed?

You can also show the pdf on your phone or laptop or whatever

 

[dutchflyer]

More votes for the narrow gauge-it mostly serves Bansko which (when I stayed there quite off season) was very much aimed at visiting Brits. The bus to Bl-gr from there always goes on to Sofia=much quicker and more comfy as wait and change to vlak=train. But up to you. Plovdiv has a fairly nice antique centre.
For coast: use an overnite-either to go there or come back if you indeed want so see a splash of black sea. Some sleeper cars have been rebuilt using IKEA modern stuff.

 

[yorkie]

.....from Sofia to Kulata (Greek border), a line with an incredibly beautiful scenery. The line follows a river valley for most of the route, and the valley banks are often very steep, which makes the landscape quite spectacular...

I understand @Mag_seven got a through train from Kulata at 1050 which was loco hauled and had opening windows etc.

However when I search for a return trip from Sofia to Kulata, most of the itineraries involve a change of train at Blagoevgrad:

Sofia - Kulata, Train timetable | BDZ Passengers

Timetable, Domestic lines. BDZ Passengers

razpisanie.bdz.bg

Does anyone know if the itineraries that involve a change (e.g. departing from Sofia at 0730 or 1230) would be loco hauled the whole way... or not?

 

[Jamesrob637]

It's dirt cheap there even at 2022 prices: you'll have a blast. I dated a Bulgarian briefly as a student and the women are hot too.

 

[Richard Scott]

Depends what you want to do, the run to Levski is scenic and there are a couple of diesel hauled trains on the branch lines from Levski (only done them weekdays so not sure if they run weekends).

 

[delt1c]

Does anyone have any suggestions for a trip to Bulgaria? We are there for two full days, all day Saturday and Sunday this weekend, plus Friday afternoon. We are staying in Sofia.

On one of the day swe are thinking of a round trip via the Black Sea, if that's doable?

And on another day we may visit Kulata near the Greek border.

If anyone has any recommendations for trains we could aim to catch, places we could aim to visit, and also any tips regarding ticketing that would be much appreciated

We go to Bulgaria regularly ( other half Bulgarian). If you are looking at a day trip from Sofia I can recommend Plovdiv. Check the time table as some services are loco hauled ( last time we had a Vectron) with 1st class compartments. The timetable tells you if loco or unit. However don’t trust if it says catering as have never had that on any service. If you want to go further I can recommend Varna although really a 2 day trip. Fares are cheap and I recommend 1st class. When you get to your compartment more than likely you find find someone with a 2nd class ticket in your seat but just ask them to move and when conductor comes round they will send them to the relevant coach. Take food and drink with you. As an extra if you walk to the rear of the train you will find large glass windows in the gangway doors for a wonderful view.

 

[yorkie]

Thanks all for the advice.

Does anyone have any suggestions regarding a possible choice between visiting Berkovitza or Lom?

We have got spare time to visit either of these places, and much of the route is the same, but if anyone can advise if either branch has more interesting stock/locos or anything else to help us make a choice that would be great.