UK citizens don't need a visa to visit Bulgaria,
Serbia, Hungary or Romania.
Page last
updated:
17 January 2012. Train times valid
from 11 December 2011 to 9 June 2012.
London to Bulgaria by train?
It's not difficult to travel to Bulgaria by train, in
fact it's a safe, comfortable and interesting journey. The
train ride
from London to Bulgaria takes two nights, using Eurostar to
Paris and excellent sleeper to Munich, a 'RailJet' express
to Budapest, then by direct sleeping-car from Budapest to Sofia via
Belgrade. Or
you can go via Brussels, Cologne, Vienna & Budapest.
The train times, fares, and how best to buy tickets are all
explained below.
On this
page...
London to Sofia by train: Train times,
fares & how to buy tickets. The quickest route,
via Budapest & Belgrade.
London to Sofia via
Paris, Munich, Budapest & Belgrade...
This is the fastest, most
comfortable & most affordable option for train travel from
the UK to Bulgaria.
London ► Sofia
Day 1, travel from London to Paris by Eurostar, leaving
London St Pancras at 16:01 (15:31 at weekends), arriving Paris Gare du Nord at
19:17 (18:47 at weekends).
It's then a
10 minute walk
from the Gare du Nord to the Gare de l'Est. By
all means take an earlier Eurostar if you'd like to spend
some time in Paris, or if it has cheaper seats available.
Day 1, travel from Paris to Munich
overnight on the excellent City Night Line sleeper train
'Cassiopeia', leaving
Paris Gare de l'Est daily at 20:05 (20:20 at weekends) arriving in Munich at
07:10 next morning.
It has a modern sleeping-car (1, 2 & 3 bed compartments,
either standard with washbasin or deluxe with shower),
4 & 6-berth couchettes & ordinary seats, see the photos & information
below.
More
pictures & information about this City Night Line train.
Day 2, travel
from Munich to Budapest by
air-conditioned Austrian 'RailJet' train
with bistro car, leaving Munich Hauptbahnhof at 09:27 and
arriving in
Budapest Keleti at 16:49. Treat yourself to
lunch in the bistro!
More pictures &
information about this RailJet train. Have
dinner in Budapest..
Day 2,
travel from Budapest to Sofia by direct sleeping-car,
leaving Budapest Keleti at 22:20 and arriving in Sofia at 17:47
next day (day 3 from London). This train travels
via Belgrade (arriving 06:06, departing 07:50). Just
one older Bulgarian sleeping-car runs direct from
Budapest to
Sofia, with 1, 2 & 3-berth compartments with washbasin,
please see the photos & read the update information
below about this sleeping-car. There is no
restaurant car, so take you own food, water and beer or
wine, and enjoy the scenic ride.
Sofia ► London
Day 1: Travel
from Sofia to Budapest by direct Bulgarian sleeping-car, leaving Sofia at
11:55 and arriving at Budapest Keleti at 06:04 the next
day (day 2). The sleeping-car
has 1, 2 & 3-berth compartments with washbasin, see the
photos below. There is
no restaurant car, so take you own food, water and beer
or wine. In the sleeping-car, it's a safe,
pleasant and scenic journey, going via Belgrade in
Serbia (arriving 19:47, departing 22:10). Spend the
morning in
Budapest.
Day 2, travel from
Budapest to
Munich by air-conditioned Austrian 'RailJet' train, leaving
Budapest Keleti at 13:10 and arriving in Munich at 20:34. The train has
a bistro car & bar.
More pictures &
information about this RailJet train.
Day 2, travel from Munich to Paris on
the excellent City Night Line sleeper train 'Cassiopeia', leaving
Munich daily at 22:47 and arriving at Paris Gare de l'Est
09:24 next morning. The train has ordinary seats, couchettes
(4 & 6-bunk) and a sleeping-car (1, 2 or 3-bed rooms,
either deluxe with shower or standard
with washbasin).
More pictures
& information about this
City Night Line sleeper train. Travel tip:
This train runs combined with the Munich-Amsterdam
sleeper for part of its journey, and is usually shown on
the departure boards at Munich as going to 'Amsterdam'.
In Paris, walk from the Gare de l'Est to the Gare du Nord.
Travel
from Paris to London by
Eurostar, leaving Paris Nord at
11:13 and arriving London St Pancras at 12:30.
Introducing
the City Night Line sleeper train from Paris to
Munich ...
The Paris-Munich overnight train is one of the German Railway's excellent
City Night Line sleeper trains. Called the
'Cassiopeia', it has a modern 'Comfortline' sleeping-car
(1, 2 & 3-berth deluxe rooms with private shower and
toilet and 1, 2 &
3-berth standard rooms with washbasin), modern
air-conditioned couchettes (choose between a berth in a
4- or 6-berth compartment), and ordinary seats (not
recommended). In the sleeping-car, there is a shower at
the end of the corridor for passengers in standard sleepers,
and all rooms have power-points for laptop computers. The sleeping-car fare includes
a light breakfast.
More pictures
& information about this train.
Travel tip: For a good meal in a
classic Parisian brasserie before boarding the sleeper
train in Paris, catch the earlier 14:04 Eurostar & try
the
Brasserie Terminus Nord directly across the road
from the Gare du Nord. For a cooked breakfast in
Munich (or evening meal before boarding the Paris-bound
sleeper on your return) try the
Mongdratzerl restaurant, located in the hauptbahnhof
itself.
1, 2 or 3 bed sleeper:
The most comfortable & civilised option, with proper
beds & washbasin.
4-berth couchettes:
Ideal for families, much more space per person than
6-berth couchettes.
6-berth couchettes:
A very economical option, far better than a seat for
just a few euros more...
"Night train to Munich": The
'Comfortline' sleeping-car of the Paris to Munich
sleeper train boarding at Paris Gare de l'Est...
RailJet is
Austria's brand-new high-speed train, linking Munich, Vienna
& Budapest, now also linking Zurich, Innsbruck &
Vienna. Designed to run at up to 230km/h (143 mph) on
sections of upgraded track, it currently reaches 200km/h on part of
the route, but in other parts snakes around beautiful
scenery at a more sedate pace. Look out for great
views of Salzburg citadel & castle on the right as you cross
the river Salzach approaching Salzburg. RailJet has
three classes, Economy (2nd class), First (1st class), and
Premium (25 euro supplement over normal first class, snacks
and drinks included).
It has a bistro car providing drinks, snacks and hot dishes,
which are served on proper china at your seat in first and
premium classes. TV screens in each car tell you the
train's speed & location, with a list of next station stops
and times. A great way to travel.
More pictures &
information about this RailJet train.
"The RailJet has landed..."
The morning RailJet train from Munich has arrived in
Budapest Keleti spot on time...
Premium class costs
25 euro more than normal 1st class...
Economy class on
RailJet, comfortable open saloons with large picture
windows. Some seats are arranged around tables,
some are unidirectional.
In
December 2010 the Bulgarians started
using 'new' (meaning second-hand German)
sleeping-cars on the Budapest-Sofia
service, replacing most of the
old communist-era sleepers. The 'new' cars have
old but classy 1, 2 & 3 bed compartments with washbasin, and are the
same as the ex-German sleepers used by the Romanians on
their Budapest-Bucharest & Bucharest-Istanbul trains. Take your own
provisions and maybe a bottle of wine (or two) and enjoy
a very scenic train ride across Hungary, Serbia & Bulgaria
in the privacy of a private sleeper compartment.
However, read the next paragraph, because it seems that these 'new' sleepers have
had problems and have been replaced again by
the old-style 1960s sleeping-cars...
Above: The
Bulgarians now have second-hand German
sleepers, a little dated but actually quite classy.
Panorama photo inside a sleeper compartment when in
German use. Photo courtesy of Malte Fuhrmann.
A sleeper, set up
here as a 1-berth, the same room can be used as
2 or 3-berth.
The same sleeper, in
evening mode with beds folded away, sofa folded out.
...or an
older 1960s sleeping-car.
Important update: Reports from travellers in late 2010 and early 2011
confirmed that the 'new' ex-German railways sleeping-cars
were at long last being used on this route, but later reports in
summer/autumn 2011 have confirmed that the old 1960s communist-era
sleepers are back again on some or all departures on this
route, see the photos below. I believe this is still
the case in 2012. It's not clear what's
happened to the second-hand German ones. If you use
this train, please let
me know. It's also been reported that this direct
sleeping car from Budapest to Sofia sometimes misses its
connection in Belgrade, so instead of being attached to the
morning train to Sofia arriving in the evening, it goes into
the sidings at Belgrade giving you some time to explore the
city, then it gets attached to the overnight train to Sofia,
arriving in the morning some 13 hours late. Just be aware that these sorts of things can
happen on this route, take plenty of provisions, take it
easy and enjoy the adventure of train travel by sleeping-car
through the Balkans! Once again, if you use this
train, please let me
know how you get on.
Above: A Bulgarian sleeping-car of
the old communist-era sort.
The sleeper corridor...
Photo courtesy of Helmut Uttenthaler.
3-bed compartment.
Photo courtesy of Helmut Uttenthaler
How much does it cost?
Each train is ticketed separately, so just add up the
price for each leg of the journey...
* If you have children aged 4- 5 or 12-14,
please read this note
before booking the City Night Line sleeper train.
Savings fare =
cheap fare, price varies, book in advance, limited availability,
no refunds, no changes to travel plans.
Full price =
fully flexible, refundable, buy any time.
Youth fares:
25% off full price (not Savings
fares) using
www.raileurope.co.uk
if you're under 26, but Savings fares usually cheaper!
Senior fares:
20% off full price (not Savings
fares) using
www.raileurope.co.uk
if you're over 60, but Savings fares usually cheaper!
3. Munich to Budapest
by
RailJet
Economy class
fares start at 39 euro (£34) one-way, 78 euro (£68)
return
First class fares
start at 69 euro (£60) one-way, 138 euro (£120) return
4.
Budapest to Sofia:
Approx £101 each way in
3-bed sleeper, £113 each way in 2-bed sleeper (all per
person)
How to buy tickets, the easy way...
Click the button (or
click here) and a booking form will appear which lists
all the
specific trains you
need to book. Fill in the form & email it to
sales@europeanrail.com. European Rail will make
the reservations and call you back to confirm the cost,
which you can then accept or decline. If you
accept, you can give them your credit card details over the
phone and they will send you
the tickets. European Rail is an experienced agency
whose staff are used
to making more exotic bookings like this. They are
equipped with the German Railways reservation & ticketing
system, so have access to all the cheap fares for travel via
Germany & Austria. They charge a £35 booking fee which includes
postage to any UK address, or they can send to any address
worldwide if you pay the courier fee. Seat61 gets some
commission if you buy tickets using this form.
You can book
from London as far as Budapest online, although
Budapest-Sofia needs to be booked by phone.
You may of course prefer to book all your tickets together
by phone, but at least you can go online and see what fares
area available for your dates of travel for the
London-Budapest part of the journey!
Step 1,
go to
www.raileurope.co.uk
, and book the overnight sleeper from Paris
to Munich.
Tickets can be sent to any UK address or can be collected at
the station. Only UK credit cards are accepted.
It's best to book the Paris-Munich sleeper
train first and double-check arrival an departure times before
booking the Eurostar connection, in case times vary from the
ones shown above.
Step 2, after booking
the Paris-Munich sleeper train, add it to your basket & click 'continue shopping'.
Now book
the Eurostar from London to Paris and back. Use the recommended Eurostar times above as a guide,
but by
all means book an earlier Eurostar outward or a later
Eurostar on the way back if these have cheaper seats
available or if you'd like to stop off in Paris.
Step 3, now go to the German
Railways website
www.bahn.de, use the journey planner to bring
up the connecting Munich-Budapest train shown in the train
times above, and buy the ticket. It will show if any
cheap special fares are available. Tickets can be sent to any address,
or in some cases printed out yourself. Note that you
can also buy
tickets for this train using
www.raileurope.co.uk,
but only full-price fares are shown, no special cheap fares,
that's why
www.bahn.de is better.
Unfortunately, you can't book the
Budapest-Sofia train online, this must be booked by phone,
call
Deutsche
Bahn's UK office on 08718 80 80 66 (lines open
09:00-17:00 Mon-Fri).
Sometimes
www.raileurope.co.uk
has the cheapest fares for the
Paris-Munich sleeper, sometimes
www.bahn.de
is cheaper, so it's worth checking both sites.
If you book the Paris-Munich sleeper using
www.bahn.de you'll need to book the
Eurostar separately at
www.eurostar.com, so do a 'dry run'
first on both sites to check prices and availability before
booking for real.
Step 1,
go to
www.bahn.de, the German Railways website, and book from Paris to
Munich and back on the direct overnight sleeper train.
Availability of cheap 'savings' fares and
fully-flexible fares will be shown, for each type of
seat, couchette & sleeper. You pay by credit card and print out
your own tickets in .pdf format. Easy! Note that
the prices shown on
www.bahn.de are in euro, and are the
total cost for all passengers selected, not per person. Always book the
sleeper first and check its actual arrival & departure
before booking the Eurostar connection, as times
occasionally
vary. I recommend registering when it asks you before
completing the purchase, so you can easily make the next
booking.
Step 2, still on
www.bahn.de,
now use the journey planner to bring
up the connecting Munich-Budapest train shown in the train
times above, and buy the ticket. It will show if any
cheap special fares are available. Tickets can be sent
to any address, or in some cases printed out yourself.
Step
3, go to
www.eurostar.com to book your connecting Eurostar
tickets between London and Paris. Used the Eurostar
times above as a guide, but by all means book an earlier
Eurostar outwards, or a later Eurostar on the way back, if
this has cheaper seats available of if you'd like to stop
off in Paris for a while. Eurostar tickets can be sent to any UK
address, self-printed, or picked up at the station.
Unfortunately, you can't book the
Budapest-Sofia train online so this must be booked by phone,
call
Deutsche
Bahn's UK office on 08718 80 80 66. Lines
are open 09:00-20:00 Monday-Friday, 09:00-13:00 Saturdays &
Sundays, no booking fee, 2% credit card charge, but no
charge for debit cards.
How to buy
tickets by phone...
You
may prefer to book the whole journey by phone. The
best agencies to call for this trip are either
Deutsche
Bahn's UK office on 08718 80 80 66 (lines
open 09:00-20:00 Mon-Fri, 09:00-13:00 Sat & Sun, no booking fee,
2% credit card charge, no charge for debit cards), www.europeanrail.com
on 020 7619 1083 (lines open 08:30-18:00 Mon-Fri,
09:00-13:00 Saturdays, £35
booking fee), or Ffestiniog
Travel on 01766 772050 (8% booking fee). Click
here for a list of
agencies and other useful information on how to book.
The
return journey can also be booked in advance from the UK,
except for the train from Sofia to Budapest. This is
because the European computer reservations system covers all of Western
Europe and much of Eastern Europe, but not trains
originating in Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Russia, etc..
You
will simply need to make the booking for the return Sofia to
Budapest leg
yourself at the reservations office when you reach
Sofia. This is unlikely to be a problem.
You
can, of course, still buy a travel ticket for the return
Sofia to Budapest section (i.e. a ticket without a
reservation) from your UK rail agent. This is a good
idea, as it is one less thing to buy when you get
there. It also gives you the flexibility to approach
the sleeping-car or couchette car attendant on the day and
ask if any berths are free. If one is available, you
will simply need to pay the couchette or sleeper supplement
to the attendant.
Update: www.europeanrail.com
say they can now get inward sleeper reservations from
Sofia to Budapest, so by all means ask.
The Thomas Cook European Timetable
The
Thomas Cook European timetable
has train & ferry times for every country in Europe plus currency
& climate
information. Published since 1873, it costs £13.99.
It's essential for any serious traveller
and an inspiration for armchair travellers. Still
not convinced you need one? More information
on what the Thomas Cook Timetable contains. You can
buy the latest monthly edition online at
www.thomascooktimetables.com with worldwide delivery or
buy it in person from any UK branch of Thomas Cook (ask at the
bureau de change), or from W H Smiths in Victoria or Kings
Cross stations in London.
Or
buy the twice-yearly independent traveller's edition with
laminated cover from Amazon.co.uk:
Winter/Spring 2011/12 edition (Dec 2011 to June 2012) or
(when available)
Summer/Autumn 2012 edition (June to Dec 2012)
The Thomas Cook Rail Map of
Europe is the best and most comprehensive
map of train routes right across Europe, from Portugal in the
west to Istanbul, Moscow & Ukraine in the east, from Finland
in the north to Sicily & Crete in the south. High speed
&
scenic routes are highlighted. Highly recommended!
Buy online
at
www.amazon.co.uk
(worldwide delivery).
See an extract from
the map.
To
get the most from your visit, you should take a good guidebook.
For the independent traveller, I think this means one of two
guidebooks, either the Lonely Planet or the Rough Guide. Both
series are excellent. You can buy an in-depth guide for Bulgaria
or a guide covering all the countries in Eastern Europe. Lonely
Planet Eastern Europe -
Rough Guide
Bulgaria.
My own book, an essential handbook for train travel to Europe based on
this website called "The
Man in Seat 61", was published in June 2008, and
is available from Amazon with shipping worldwide.
www.hotelscombined.com
is probably the best hotel search system I've seen, a free search tool
which checks all the main hotel booking sites (Opodo, Expedia,
Booking.com, Hotels.com, AsiaRooms, Travelocity, LateRooms and
others) to find the cheapest hotel rates. Set up in
2005, it's probably the best place to start for booking any
hotel online in any country, worldwide.
Backpacker hostels...
If you're on a tight budget,
don't forget the hostels. For a dorm bed or an
ultra-cheap private room in backpacker hostels in most
European cities use
www.hostelbookers.com.
Travel insurance & health card...
Get travel insurance, it's essential...
Never travel without insurance from a
reliable travel insurer, with at least £1m or preferably £5m medical cover. It should also cover loss of
cash (up to a limit) and belongings, and cancellation. An annual
multi-trip policy is usually cheaper than several single-trip
policies even for just 2 or 3 trips
a year (I have an annual policy myself).
Don't expect travel insurance to bail you out of every missed
connection, but European international rail conditions of
carriage (known as the 'CIV') contain consumer protection
provisions that entitle you to travel forward by the next
available train if you miss a connection because of a delay to
the first train, irrespective of who operates which train, and
even if your ticket is in theory train-specific and
non-changeable.
Feedback from using
insurance for rail & ferry travel is always welcome. Here are some suggested insurers.
Seat61 gets a small commission if you buy through these
links.
If you're a
UK citizen travelling in Europe, you should apply for a free
European Health Insurance Card, which entitles you to free or
reduced rate health care if you become ill or get injured in
many European countries, under a reciprocal arrangement with
the NHS. This replaced the old E111 forms
as from January 2006. The EHIC card is available from
www.ehic.org.uk. It doesn't remove the need for
travel insurance, though.
Get a spare credit card, one designed for foreign travel with no currency
exchange loading & low or no ATM fees...
It costs nothing to take out an extra credit card.
If you keep it in a different part of your luggage so you're
not left stranded if
your wallet gets stolen, this is a form of extra travel insurance in itself. In addition,
some credit cards are significantly better for
overseas travel than others. Martin Lewis's
www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-travel-money explains which
UK credit cards
have the lowest currency exchange commission loadings when you buy something
overseas, and the lowest cash withdrawal fees when
you use an ATM abroad. Taking this advice
can save you quite a lot on each trip compared to using your
normal high-street bank credit card! You can save money on ATM charges and exchange rates using a
Caxton FX euro currency Visa Card, or indeed the
multi-currency 'Global Traveller' Visa Card,
find out about these cards & sign up here.
Get an international SIM card
to save on mobile data and phone calls...
Mobile phones can cost a fortune to use abroad, and if you're
not careful you can return home to find some huge bills
waiting for you. I've known people run up over £1,000 in
data charges just by leaving their iPhone connected during a
simple trip to Europe. However, if you
buy a global SIM card for your mobile phone from a company
such as
www.Go-Sim.com you can slash the cost by up to 85% and
limit any damage to the amount you have pre-paid. Go-Sim
cuts call costs in 175 countries worldwide,
and you can receive incoming calls and texts for free in 75 countries. It's pay-as-you-go, so no nasty bills
when you get home. It also allows cheap data access for laptops
& PDAs. A Go-Sim account and any credit on it doesn't
expire if it's not used between trips, unlike some
others, so a Go-Sim phone number becomes your 'global phone
number' for life.
In
the UK, try
If you live in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland or the
EU, try
If you live in the USA or Canada, try
