Getting There By Rail

Rail Services
The Bulgarian State Railway runs cheap and extensive services throughout the country, although trains can be very slow. The monumental, concrete Tsentralna Gara, Sofia's main station, is located at bulvard Maria Louiza 112, a 20-minute walk north of the city centre. Tickets for lines covering the northern half of Bulgaria are sold on the ground floor - all others are sold in the basement. International tickets are bought down the left-hand passageway from the entrance hall, from Rila (tel: (02) 832 3346). Tickets can also be purchased from the Transport Service Centre (TsKTON) in the National Palace of Culture (NDK) underpass (tel: (02) 932 4280) or from Rila Tours, ulitsa Gurko 5 (tel: (02) 987 0777).

Rail Operators
The Bulgarian State Railway, Balgarski Darzhavni Zheleznitsi (tel: (02) 931 1111; www.bdz.bg) runs six main routes from Sofia – to Varna or Bourgas on the Black Sea coast, to Plovdiv and beyond on the Turkish border, to Kalotina on the Yugoslavian border, to Kulata on the Greek border and to Ruse on the Romanian border. There are also daily services to Belgrade (journey time – 8 hours), Bucharest (11 hours), Budapest (16 hours), Istanbul (15 hours), Kiev (38 hours), Moscow (45 hours), St Petersburg (65 hours) and Thessaloniki (10 hours).