Bulgaria (Bourgas probably) - advice please

[anonymous-user]

[redacted]

[cheburator]

Most of the tour operators - Thomas Cook, Thomson, Balkan Holidays, TUI etc will fly out to Burgas.

Air Bulgaria and British Airways fly to Sofia, not sure about Burgas. Both airlines fly out to Varna - 2h away from Burgas by car.

I would advise against driving from Sofia to Burgas. Southern Italy meets Istanbul is an understatement when it comes to describing the driving style of the Bulgarians...

Burgas is a major port city, but I would stay in Nessebar - a UNESCO heritage town 3 miles to the South of Sunny Beach and 20 miles North of Burgas.

Drop me an email if you need more info...

Alex

P.S. I would watch out for the typical english football fan vs. the local fuzz in the aftermath of the Michael Shields incident...

[cheburator]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

You can get a train from Sofia to Burgas, but I would rather look at flying to Varna on a regular flight with BA, Austrian Airlines via Vienna or Bulgaria Air.

If the worst comes to worst, rent a car from Sofia Airport and slug it out to Burgas. The trains are slow and inconvenient (a bit like here

The drive is bad, but if you have any Eastern European experience you should manage it safely. It is 400km - of which around 160km is motorway in good condition. The rest is A roads, which are fine, but it's the sheer volume of traffic that is dangerous. I have mates who do Sofia to Burgas in 2h 30min ... You should do it in 5h...

Varna to Burgas

[url]www.bgmaps.com/routing/result/routemap.asp?sid=6fee6ac8ed43887ec78ca92336778a44&pID=1[/url]

Sofia to Burgas

[url]www.viamichelin.co.uk/viamichelin/gbr/dyn/controller/ItiWGPerformPage?E_wg=210505243iS505242172843957085ITIWG4m10133gbr004a102o1017101111100u110710253400007U29maWE0000110001018101112100v110710253400008QnVyZ2Fz00001100010010010072005242039.004-1.00110001001001001001001003gbr011&pim=true&strStartAddress=&strStartCP=&strStartCity=Sofia&strStartCityCountry=1025340&strDestAddress=&strDestCP=&strDestCity=Burgas&strDestCityCountry=1025340&strStep1City=plovdiv&strStep1CityCountry=1025340&strStep2City=&strStep2CityCountry=1025340&strStep3City=&strStep3CityCountry=1025340&dtmDeparture=30%2F08%2F2005&intItineraryType=1&intOneCountryCheck=true&unit=km&vh=CAR&conso=9&carbCost=1.15&devise=1.0%7CEUR&devise2=Other&image.x=32&image.y=7[/url}

[mikef]

cheburator said:

I would watch out for the typical english football fan vs. the local fuzz

I'd be more concerned about this lot www.ultra-botev.com/

I'm up for following Big Sam on his European Adventure, but Plovdiv is a few potholes too far

[puggit]

Booked skiing in Borovets 20 months ago, flying via Plovdiv.

Ended up flying to Burgas, followed by a 7hr overnight coach journey through freezing fog and snow drifts.

Ever been in a coach overtaking another coach on a snowy mountain road? I have, and I'm not going back to Bulgaria!

And back to the thread

Burgas airport is a sh!thole - don't use the bureau de change there, the rates are quite incredibly bad!