Get your card
Reading time: 8 minutes
Tap your contactless bank card or phone on the metro gate or on the validator inside any bus or tram. A ride costs €0.80, and tapping stops charging once you reach €2 in a day. From the airport, metro M4 runs from Terminal 2 to Serdika in about 30 minutes. There's no Uber in Bulgaria, and Bolt only does scooters and food delivery here, so book taxis through the TaxiMe or Yellow Taxi apps or the official airport desk.
Landing late, carrying ski bags or travelling as a group? A driver can wait for you in arrivals with your name on a sign.
💬 Ask about a transferSofia Airport has two terminals, and which one you land at decides your first move. Most international and low-cost flights use Terminal 2, and the metro station is right outside arrivals. Follow the Metro signs and you're on the platform in a couple of minutes.
Terminal 1 has no metro. If you land there, take the free shuttle bus to Terminal 2 (about five minutes) and catch the metro from there, or take a taxi from the official desk. Your boarding pass tells you the terminal, so check it before you fly.
Line M4 goes from the airport straight to Serdika, the central station under the old town, with no changes. It takes about 30 minutes and runs roughly from 05:30 to midnight. A licensed taxi to the centre costs around €10 to €15. We compare all the options in our airport to city centre guide.
Sofia has four metro lines, and for most visitors the whole system comes down to one station. Serdika sits under the old town, where lines M1 and M4 meet and M2 is connected underground. From there, the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, the Largo, the Rotunda and Vitosha Boulevard are all within a 10-minute walk.
Trains are clean, frequent and air-conditioned, and the signs are in both Cyrillic and Latin letters. Google Maps and Moovit both have accurate Sofia routes, so plug in your destination and follow the line colour.
You don't need a ticket machine. Tap your contactless Visa or Mastercard, Apple Pay or Google Pay on the metro gate, or on the validator inside every bus, tram and trolleybus, and €0.80 is charged. Use the same card or phone all day and the system stops charging once you reach €2, the price of a day card. Tap once for each vehicle you board.
If you prefer tickets, the machines at metro stations sell them too. These are the official fares:
For a short stay, tapping your card is the easiest and usually the cheapest option. The 72-hour card only makes sense if you'll use night buses a lot.
The surface network reaches everywhere the metro doesn't, including the villages at the foot of Vitosha like Boyana, Dragalevtsi and Simeonovo. Prices are the same as the metro, and so is paying: tap your card on the reader inside the vehicle, straight after you get on.
Trams and trolleybuses get crowded at rush hour, roughly 8:00 to 9:30 and 17:30 to 19:00. Keep your phone and wallet in a front pocket, as you would in any big city.
Licensed taxis in Sofia are cheap by European standards. The problem is lookalike cars with similar colours and names, and a rate sticker on the back window that's several times the normal price. Book through an app instead, or take one from the official desk at the airport.
If you do hail a car on the street, look at the rate sticker on the rear window before you get in. If the driver won't start the meter or offers you a fixed price, find another car.
Spark runs a fleet of shared electric cars around the city. You unlock them with the app and pay by the minute, with fuel and insurance included. It's handy for cross-town trips, but the zone covers the city, not the mountain: you can't end a trip up on Vitosha, and the meter keeps running until you drive back down.
Electric scooters from Bolt and others are everywhere in the centre. They're fun on the wide boulevards, less so on the cobbled yellow bricks around the old town.
The metro is hard to beat for one or two people with light bags. For families, groups, heavy luggage or a flight that lands after midnight, a fixed-price transfer is simpler. Your driver tracks the flight and waits in arrivals, and the price doesn't change if the plane is late.
No. Uber doesn't operate in Bulgaria, and Bolt only offers scooters and food delivery here, not rides. Use the TaxiMe, Yellow Taxi or OK Supertrans apps instead. You see the price estimate before you confirm, just like Uber.
No. A contactless bank card or your phone works on every metro gate and on the validators inside buses, trams and trolleybuses. Bulgaria uses the euro, so if you do need cash for anything else, an ATM at the airport will sort you out.
€0.80 for a single ride. With a contactless card you never pay more than €2 in a day. A 24-hour card costs €3 and a 72-hour card €7.60, both including night buses.
Check your boarding pass. Most international and low-cost flights use Terminal 2, which has the metro. If you land at Terminal 1, take the free shuttle to Terminal 2 first.
TaxiMe for taxis, Google Maps or Moovit for routes, and Spark if you want to drive yourself. That's enough for the whole trip.
Yes. The metro is clean, well lit and busy until late. It closes around midnight, so for later trips book a taxi through an app.
More for your trip: is Sofia safe?, 48 hours in Sofia and things to do in Sofia this weekend.
Message us on WhatsApp. A real person in Sofia answers, usually within minutes.
💬 Message usSince 2018 I've been helping visitors get from the airport to their first adventure in Sofia without overpaying on the way. This is the advice I give friends before they land.
