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Turkey is surrounded by nation borders and sea in equal quantities, and one nation with whom it shares a border is gorgeous Bulgaria.
When you’re in a position to journey freely, then heading over the border and trying out a barely completely different lifestyle is a superb thought. After all, spending time in Istanbul and actually exploring this iconic and vastly historic metropolis is a serious must-do. If you’ve had sufficient, otherwise you assume you’ve seen as a lot you may soak up for one journey, why not make your subsequent cease Sofia?
Sofia is the capital metropolis of Bulgaria and it’s filled with much more historical past to see. Backed by the imposing Vitosha Mountain, you’ll get nature too. The drive between Istanbul and Sofia is fairly spectacular, however if you happen to don’t have time to go by yourself bespoke street journey, the excellent news is that there are different methods to get there too.
The space between the 2 cities is round 550km, so while it’s a good way, there are many methods to get there.
When crossing the border, bear in mind to have all of your paperwork prepared. This can be a managed border space, so you’ll need a passport, visas, and to point out your e-visa or residency allow from the Turkish aspect too.
When you’re undecided what you want for visiting Bulgaria in keeping with your nation of origin, you’ll want to examine issues out forward of time, to keep away from further time and stress on the border.
Let’s cowl one of the best methods to get from Istanbul to Sofia:
By Airplane
The quickest and best technique to get to Sofia from Istanbul is to fly. Istanbul has two principal airports at present functioning – the New Istanbul Airport and Sabiha Gokcen on the Asian aspect. Each function flights to Sofia direct and most are every day.
The flight time is 2 hours and 40 minutes and when you arrive at Sofia Airport you may take the shuttle into town heart. These run each half an hour and it takes round 35 minutes to get into town itself.
After all, if you wish to return to Istanbul, you merely reverse the directions – simple!
By Lengthy-Distance Bus
There’s a bus as soon as per day which runs between the 2 cities and it’ll take you eight hours to get there.
You’ll need to get to the primary Istanbul Otogar (bus station) within the metropolis after which hook up with your principal bus from there. It’s a good suggestion to guide your ticket properly upfront, to safe one of the best costs and to keep away from disappointment, as there is just one service every single day going on this path.
The bus is run by the Matpu service, which is a Bulgarian bus firm.
The bus additionally runs as soon as every day in the other way too, so once more, merely reverse the directions to get from Sofia to Istanbul in your return journey, and as soon as extra, guide properly upfront.
By Practice
If you wish to see one of the best of the surroundings, there’s a practice journey you may take between the 2 cities and the mixed time will take you virtually 11 hours. You’ll need to move to Halkali, which is positioned within the Küçükçekmece district of Istanbul. When you’re undecided the best way to get there it’s finest to leap in a taxi and ask the driving force to take you to the primary practice station in Halkali.
From there you’ll take a 4-hour journey to Kapikule, which is located in Edirne and is the border crossing between Turkey and Bulgaria.
Clearly there could also be a slight wait right here while paperwork are checked and also you board your ongoing practice which is able to then take you to Svilengrad, in round 20 minutes. From there you board your subsequent practice to Sofia, with the ultimate leg of your journey lasting round Four hours and 45 minutes.
Sure, it’s a tough journey by way of swapping trains, however if you wish to actually see the passing surroundings it’s an excellent choice to take.
By Automotive
After all, you may select to drive between the 2 cities however you have to make certain that if you happen to’re hiring a automobile, it covers you to cross borders. Some firms don’t permit this, some do, so examine this out on the level of hiring and if you happen to’re going a technique, examine the place you may return the automobile too. Typically you’ll solely be capable of rent a automobile for this journey if it’s a return journey, i.e. you’re going to drop the automobile off in Istanbul as soon as extra.
Clearly, if you happen to’re driving you’ll need to have the paper and card model of your driving license and an Worldwide Driving Licence too.
The excellent news is that driving between Istanbul and Sofia is the quickest possibility, and it’s potential to achieve there in simply over 5 hours. The roads are very top quality and the one delay you would possibly encounter is popping out of Istanbul, due to the visitors, and on the border crossing in Edirne. Once more, you’ll want to have all of your papers prepared and that features automobile paperwork too.
Journey secure and tell us the way you’ll select to get from Istanbul to Sofia.
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