Bulgaria

The Rhodope narrow-gauge railway from Septemvri to Dobrinishte is the standout — a five-hour, 125 km climb on 760 mm track over the highest railway station in the Balkans and down to the Pirin ski valleys. For a shorter, easier trip close to the capital, the Iskar Gorge line out of Sofia is wonderfully dramatic and served by everyday trains.

Yes. The Septemvri–Dobrinishte line is Bulgaria's last surviving 760 mm narrow-gauge railway, and it runs as an ordinary daily service — four trains each way — climbing through the Rhodope, Rila and Pirin mountains. A preserved steam locomotive, 609.76, also hauls occasional charter and special trains on the line.

Simply take any northbound train from Sofia toward Mezdra (or on to Vidin, Veliko Tarnovo or Varna): the line runs straight through the gorge. Fast trains take about 90 minutes; to stop at the Lakatnik rocks or Cherepish Monastery, choose one of the slower regional trains that call at the small halts.

Yes — the Sofia–Istanbul Express runs every night, jointly operated by BDŽ and Turkish Railways, leaving Sofia at 18:50 and arriving next morning at 09:56. It carries Turkish sleeping cars and couchettes and no ordinary seats, so a reservation is compulsory. One important thing to know: it terminates at Halkalı, about 27 km west of central Istanbul, and the last stretch is made on the Marmaray commuter line, which sets you down at Sirkeci.

It depends which coast. For Burgas, there are two railways and the mountain one is now the quicker: the Sub-Balkan line runs 418 km by way of Koprivshtitsa, the Koznitsa tunnel and the Rose Valley, and its fastest train covers Sofia to Burgas in 5 hours 49 minutes for somewhere around twelve to fourteen euros — BDŽ prices by the day rather than to a fixed tariff. The route via Plovdiv is 450 km and the quickest train that way takes 6 hours 42. For Varna, the main line north through the Iskar Gorge and Pleven is 543 km and takes about seven and a half hours, and there are overnight trains with sleeping cars by that route as well as by the Sub-Balkan and the Plovdiv one.

Yes, with one thing worth knowing first: Koprivshtitsa station is nine kilometres from Koprivshtitsa, over a ridge in a river gorge, and an electric shuttle covers the gap. The fast trains on the Sub-Balkan line take 1 hour 44 minutes from Sofia and cost about €5 — but only four of the six call there, so the departure matters more than usual.

Not at present. The railway down the Struma valley reaches Kulata on the frontier and the rails continue into Greece, but BDŽ's international pages list only three routes — Craiova, Halkalı and Bucharest — and none of them is Greek; the overhead wire stops at the border. The Struma valley line is still well worth riding for the Kresna Gorge itself, and its fast trains run through to Petrich, with a short connecting unit covering the last twelve kilometres to Kulata.

It is an 18-kilometre trench cut by the Struma between the Pirin and Maleshevo mountains, a Natura 2000 site where 232 bird species have been recorded, and the railway runs through the middle of it. The 07:30 from Sofia reaches Kresna at 10:51 and the 11:40 back from Sandanski calls there at 12:01, which makes the gorge a day trip from the capital for a €10.58 return.

Sofia to Varna on main line 2 — 543 kilometres, the longest railway line in the country, finished on 8 November 1899 and worked today by ex-German saloon carriages BDŽ bought second-hand in 2024. The fast daytime trains take about seven and a half hours and the through fare was €14.67 in second class when this page was written. One thing to know before booking: Sofia Central has been under reconstruction since May 2024, so most trains north start from Sofia North, five minutes up the line, with a shuttle built into the itinerary.

The Ruse–Varna line, opened on 7 November 1866 — twelve years before the Bulgarian state existed, and twenty-two before a train reached Sofia. An English company formed by the brothers Henry and Trevor Barkley built it on a 99-year concession from the Ottoman government, cutting across the neck of land between the Danube and the Black Sea to shorten the water route. Bulgaria was made to buy it under article 10 of the Treaty of Berlin, and the settlement of 44.5 million gold leva in 1886 came to more than the state's whole revenue for that year. It is still running: two direct trains a day each way, 226 km in under four hours for about €7.57.

Yes, and there are two quite different ways to do it. Two trains a day each way take the direct 1866 line through Razgrad and Pliska — 226 km, between 3 h 38 and 4 h 06, no reservation needed and no first class offered. Every other itinerary on the board loops south-west through Gorna Oryahovitsa, covers 360 km, takes from 5 h 42 to 8 h 51 and needs at least one change. The direct trains are the cheaper as well as the quicker.

Yes, but only in summer. The international working runs daily from 12 June to 12 October 2026, leaving Sofia at 07:00 and reaching Bucureşti Nord at 16:56; southbound, train 461 leaves Bucharest at 10:46 and is in Sofia at 20:41. Outside those dates there is no through service between the two capitals. The second-class through fare is €30.60 from BDŽ and €33.60 from CFR Călători — the two railways price the same seat differently. Northbound it is worth knowing that there is no Sofia–Bucharest train as such: a through carriage rides the Varna express as far as Gorna Oryahovitsa and only becomes an international train from there.

Not on a One Country Pass. Interrail's conditions state that a One Country Pass "cannot be used to enter or leave that country", and the only exceptions listed are the Benelux, German Rail Twin and six-day Greek Islands passes. An Interrail Bulgaria Pass therefore stops at Ruse and a Romania Pass begins at Giurgiu Nord, so neither covers the Danube crossing. The Global Pass, from €212, does cover it — though for a single crossing the ordinary through ticket at a little over thirty euros is far cheaper.

Yes — Bulgaria adopted the euro on 1 January 2026, and it has been the country's sole legal currency since 1 February 2026, replacing the lev at a fixed rate. Train fares that were once quoted in leva are now shown in euros, and Bulgarian rail remains among the best value in Europe: even a long mountain journey costs only a few euros.