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Sofia is easier to navigate than most visitors expect. The metro connects the airport directly to the historic centre, fares are some of the lowest in Europe, and a handful of apps solve everything else. The main skill you need is knowing which options to trust — and which to walk away from.
This guide covers every practical way of getting around Sofia in 2026: metro, buses, trams, taxis, and shared electric cars. Prices are taken directly from official sources and are listed in euros throughout.
This is where most visitors either save money or get overcharged. Sofia Airport has two terminals — Terminal 1 for most regional and charter flights, Terminal 2 for international and low-cost carriers. They are not equal when it comes to transport.
Terminal 2 has a direct metro station immediately outside the arrivals hall. Walk through arrivals, follow the Metro signs, and you are at the platform in under three minutes.
Terminal 1 has no metro station. If you land at T1, take the free inter-terminal shuttle to Terminal 2 first — it runs continuously and takes about five minutes. Do not exit the airport grounds looking for a metro entrance at T1. There is none.
From Terminal 2, Metro Line M4 runs without transfers directly into the centre. Key stops heading inbound: Airport → Inter Expo Center → Business Park → James Bourchier → NDK → Serdika. The Inter Expo Center stop serves Sofia’s main conference and exhibition venue — a two-minute walk from the halls, useful for business travellers. Serdika is the main central interchange, sitting directly beneath the Largo and within walking distance of virtually every major sight in the historic core.
How to pay: Tap your contactless Visa, Mastercard, Apple Pay, or Google Pay directly on the reader at the metro barriers. No ticket purchase, no queuing at a machine. The €0.80 fare is deducted automatically — and this works on arrival, even before you have any Bulgarian currency.
The rogue taxi problem at Sofia Airport is well-documented and persistent. Drivers who approach you in arrivals, or who wait outside without official markings, routinely charge five to ten times the legitimate fare. Fares of €40 or more for a journey that costs €10–14 on the meter are not uncommon.
The safe approach: book through a named app before you leave the arrivals hall (see the Taxis section below), or walk to the official taxi desk inside Terminal 2. Yellow Taxi holds the official airport concession — their desk is signposted in arrivals, and drivers wait at the designated rank outside. OK Supertrans also operates at both terminals and has a desk in the arrivals hall. Legitimate metered fare from the airport to the city centre: €10–14, journey time 20–35 minutes depending on traffic.
Sofia’s metro has three lines and 47 stations. For visitors, two lines carry the most practical weight. Line M1 (Red) runs east–west from the airport through the business district to the National Palace of Culture and beyond. Line M2 (Blue) runs north–south, connecting Sofia Central Station through Serdika to the southern districts.
Serdika is where M1 and M2 intersect — the single most useful station in the city for tourists, sitting beneath the heart of the historic centre. From here, the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, the Largo, the National Archaeological Museum, and Vitosha Boulevard are all within a 10-minute walk.
The old paper ticket system has been substantially replaced. The modern and strongly recommended approach is to tap your contactless bank card or phone directly on the validators — at metro barriers, and on the blue readers inside buses, trams, and trolleybuses. Your bank handles the transaction; no app, no pre-purchased ticket, no Bulgarian currency required.
If you prefer to buy tickets in advance — for example, to manage a group budget — the yellow vending machines at metro stations accept contactless cards and cash. But for individual travellers, tapping your own card is faster, cheaper than paying cash to a driver, and works across the entire network from day one.
| Ticket | Price |
|---|---|
| Single ride, one vehicle (60 min validity) | €0.80 |
| 30+ ticket — transfers across all vehicles within 30 min | €0.80 |
| 60+ ticket — transfers across all vehicles within 60 min | €1.10 |
| One-day pass (no night transport) | €2.00 |
| 24-hour pass (including night buses) | €3.00 |
| 72-hour pass (including night buses) | €7.60 |
The 30+ ticket is the smart single-ride option — it covers a bus-to-metro connection or any combination of vehicles within 30 minutes, for the same price as a basic single. Validate in every vehicle you board. When paying by contactless card directly on validators, the system automatically applies a daily spending cap of €2.00 — so after four taps in one day, the rest of the day is free.
The surface network is extensive and covers areas the metro does not reach — including Vitosha mountain’s lower slopes and many residential districts. Fares follow the same structure as the metro, with one important distinction: paying cash to the driver costs €1.00 per ride. Paying by contactless card on the in-vehicle validator costs €0.80 — the same as the metro. Always use your card where possible.
The same 30+ and 60+ transfer tickets that work on the metro work here too — tap your card once, and transfers within the time window are included. Validate immediately on boarding.
Google Maps and Moovit both carry accurate, real-time Sofia public transport data. The SofiaBus app (Android) shows every bus, tram, and metro vehicle on a live map updated every three seconds — particularly useful when standing at a stop and wanting to know exactly when the next vehicle arrives.
Sofia’s legitimate taxis are affordable. The problem — and it is a real and well-documented one — is identifying them. Copycat companies deliberately mimic reputable operators, using similar names, similar colours, and rate cards designed to obscure the actual per-kilometre price. The solution is straightforward: always book through an app.
All three apps accept international phone numbers and foreign payment cards. Registering before you land takes two minutes and removes all taxi uncertainty for the rest of your trip.
A correctly operating taxi will have a rate card displayed on the side window. The per-kilometre day rate for reputable companies runs €0.40–0.56/km. A standard city-centre journey of 3–5 km costs €3–6. Airport to centre on the meter: €10–14. If the displayed rate exceeds €0.77/km, or if the driver suggests a flat rate without starting the meter, do not get in.
Important: Uber and Bolt are not available in Bulgaria. Do not rely on them. Use TaxiMe, Yellow Taxi, or OK Supertrans instead.
Spark is Sofia’s main car-sharing service and a practical option for visitors who want flexibility without the commitment of car rental. The fleet consists of electric city cars — Renault Zoe, BMW i3, and similar models — parked across the city and unlocked through the app.
What this costs in practice: a 15-minute city trip runs around €2.50. Airport to the centre (approximately 30 minutes driving) costs €5–8. A half-day of mixed driving and parking runs €15–25. Registration requires uploading your driving licence (EU and most international licences accepted) and a one-time verification fee of around €2.50.
This catches visitors every year. The Spark operating zone covers greater Sofia, but it does not extend to mountain destinations above the city — including Zlatni Mostove (the Golden Bridges), Aleko hut, and most of the Dragalevtsi and Simeonovo areas popular with hikers and day-trippers. If you drive a Spark car up Vitosha and try to end your session at a mountain car park, the app will refuse — you are outside the zone, the session cannot be closed, and the per-minute charge continues until you drive back down. For Vitosha trips, take a tram to the lower cable car station, or use a taxi for the mountain leg and Spark for city movement only.
Green Go is a second car-sharing operator with a comparable model and partially overlapping zone — worth checking alongside Spark if no vehicles are available near you.
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George is the founder of SoFun and has spent over a decade organising outdoor adventures and city experiences for tourists visiting Sofia. He uses Sofia’s public transport daily and works directly with all operators featured in this guide.
