How to get to Bulgaria

No matter from which part of the world you are coming, there are so many ways to get to our beautiful country. Take a look at the links on the page below – we hope we can help you a little bit and also to orientate you. Don’t forget that the Symposium starts on 3rd of August (Sunday), this is the day of your arrival and welcoming, and on 4th of August (Monday) is the official open ceremony of the meeting. If you haven’t planned to stay after the Symposium and to travel, its official closure is on 16th of August (Saturday) and you can leave from Bulgaria the next day – on August 17 (Sunday). We recommend you to make a reservation for your trip from 3rd to 17th of August including. Remember – the Symposium starts and ends in Sofia.

Regardless of the way you’ve chosen to trip to Bulgaria, we ask you in the shortest term after you have made a reservation to send us the form - AFC (Accommodation and Flight Confirmation). It will be sent to you in the beginning of March and the final date to send it back is 1st of July. Only with AFC form, sent by you we can officially include you as participants in the Symposium even if you have already made a registration.

By plane

During the summer tourist season there are many ways to come to Bulgaria by plane. One of the main reasons is the frequent charters in most cases of small and also of some larger airline companies to Bulgarian Black sea coast and Sofia. International airports are Sofia www.sofia-airport.bg, Plovdiv www.plovdivairport.com, Bourgas www.bourgas-airport.com and Varna www.varna-airport.bg.

One of your possible final destinations is of course the capital Sofia – where the Symposium will begin. It has only one airport with two terminals. The traveling is easy and comfortable thanks to the more than 60 regular flights from most of the European countries. If you fly directly to Sofia, use the opportunities of the low-budget airline companies like Rainair, Easy Jet, and Wizzair. If you make a reservation long time forward enough before your traveling date, you can receive a really good offer. Except these flights you can travel by the regular routes of the large airline companies like British Airways, Air France or Lufthansa. From airport Sofia every half an hour there is a bus № 84 и № 284 to the centre of the town but if you send us exact information about the time of your arrival, we will wait for you at the airport.

Another possible option is your plane travel to finish in our sea capital – Varna or in the smaller town of Bourgas which stands at no more than 150 km away. If you like to delight the beauty of the Black sea coast - http://www.bulgariansearesorts.com/ for a few days, this is the ideal possibility before the start of the Symposium. Usually there are very good offers during the summer that you can find exactly to these two destinations, because of their direct closeness to the sea, the nice beach and resorts, visited mainly by foreign tourists. Once you land on these airports you can orientate very easy to Sofia. This can happen by bus, train or like renting a car and even with an internal flight. It’s well to look at all the different opportunities and to choose the best one for you. Of course, the cheapest way is by bus or a train and the duration of the trip is no more than 8-9 hours.

Unfortunately there are no direct transoceanic flights to Bulgaria. At first you have to fly to another European country and after that to move to Bulgaria. A good variant is when you travel from another continent to turn to Athens (Greece) - http://www.athensairport-2001.gr/ and there are good enough transport connections and even flights to our country.

Generally the opportunities to get by plane to Bulgaria are many, especially now when we are a part of the European Union, but don’t forget the most important, the earlier you reserve your plane ticket, the better price you will take and also you will make it all easier for us - the organizers.

By bus

It’s desirable if you travel by bus your final station to be Sofia. It’s not a good option if you travel by a bus to another Bulgarian town and then to turn to Sofia , well of course if you do not intend to travel before the Symposium. There is just one international bus station in Sofia so there is no way to get confused. As a reference point you could use its close position to the train station. The main international bus company you may look for is Eurolines. They have routes almost in whole Europe, as in Turkey, except some north European countries like Norway, Estonia and Finland. If you take a decision to travel from these countries by bus, you will have to change the bus at least once till you get to Bulgaria.
http://www.centralnaavtogara.bg/

By train

You can travel by train http://bdz.bg/ but there are just few international lines that go to Sofia. They often set off from Central Europe and the travel prolongs more than 24 hours, but if you wish to go through a great experience, the travel is well worth.

By car

The easiest way is to drive directly to Sofia by crossing the Romanian or Serbian borders. If you are coming from Italy there is a convenient way to go to Greece by ferry and then – going directly to Sofia.

By ship

For now there are no tourist ships to travel to one of the two big harbors – Varna and Bourgas. If there is a change of this option till the commencement of the Symposium we assure you that we will inform you on time.
http://www.port-varna.bg/?language=en&id=

You need a visa?

More information concerning the visa conditions and limitations for the particular countries you can find on:
http://www.mfa.bg/
http://www.bulgarian-guide.com/about-bulgaria/bulgaria-visa/
http://www.bulgarianembassy.org.uk/visa/visainfo.htm

If you need invitations for a visa or another kind of help, just write us on e-mail - office@ifssbulgaria.com. Do not forget that sometimes the extraction of a visa is a long and not a very easy process. When obtaining a visa, make sure that you have a valid passport for a long period of time and a trip reservation, preferably with a round-trip ticket. In case of need give our coordinates to whom may concern and we will be glad to try to help you if we have the chance, of course.

We wish you a nice and safe travel to Bulgaria and if you need help, just write to us!