UK citizens don't need a visa to visit Bulgaria, Hungary or Romania.
Page last
updated:
15 August 2010. Train times valid
from 13 June to 11 December 2010.
London to Bulgaria by train?
It's not difficult to travel to Bulgaria by train, in
fact it's a safe, comfortable and interesting journey. The
train ride
from London to Bulgaria takes two nights, using Eurostar to
Paris and excellent sleeper to Munich, a 'RailJet' express
to Vienna, then direct sleeping-car to Sofia via Belgrade. Or
you can go via Brussels, Cologne & Bucharest. Each of these
options is explained below.
Option 1: London to Sofia via
Paris, Munich, Vienna & Belgrade...
This is the fastest, most
comfortable & most affordable option for train travel
from the UK to Bulgaria. It runs daily
most of the year, 4 times a week in winter. For a
daily all-year alternative via Brussels & Cologne,
see option 2.
Train times London ► Sofia
Day 1, travel from
London to Paris by Eurostar, leaving
London St Pancras at 16:02 (15:32 at weekends), arriving Paris Gare du Nord at
19:17 (18:47 at weekends).
It's then a
10 minute walk
from the Gare du Nord to the Gare de l'Est. By
all means take an earlier Eurostar if you'd like to spend
some time in Paris, or if it has cheaper seats available.
Day 1, travel from Paris to Munich
overnight by the City Night Line sleeper train
'Cassiopeia', leaving
Paris Gare de l'Est at 20:20 and arriving in Munich at
07:16 next morning. This
excellent train runs daily for most of the year, but only
4 times a week in winter. It runs on Mondays,
Fridays, Saturdays & Sundays until 18 March 2010, then daily for the summer until
8 November 2010, then on Mondays, Fridays, Saturdays &
Sundays again until March 2011.
It has sleeping-cars (1, 2 & 3 bed compartments,
standard with washbasin or deluxe with shower),
4- & 6-berth couchettes & ordinary seats, see the photos & information
below.
More
pictures & information about this City Night Line train.
Day 2, travel
from Munich to Vienna by
air-conditioned Austrian 'RailJet' train
with bistro car, leaving Munich Hbf at 09:27 and
arriving in
Vienna Westbahnhof at 13:40. Treat yourself to
lunch in the bistro!
More pictures &
information about this RailJet train. Spend
the afternoon in Vienna.
Alternatively, you can travel from London to Vienna
daily all-year via Brussels & Cologne,
see the London to
Austria page.
Day 2, travel
from Vienna to Sofia by direct sleeping-car, leaving Vienna at
18:50 and
arriving in Sofia at 17:37 next day (day 3 from London). This train
travels via Budapest & Belgrade (Hungary & Serbia).
Just one sleeping-car runs
direct from Vienna to Sofia, with 1, 2 & 3-berth compartments
with washbasin, see
the photos below. There is no restaurant car,
so take you own food, water and beer or wine, and enjoy
the ride...
Train times Sofia ► London
Day 1: Travel
from Sofia to Vienna by direct sleeping-car, leaving Sofia at
11:40 and arriving at Vienna Westbahnhof at 08:58 the next
day (day 2). The sleeping-car
has 1, 2 & 3-berth compartments with washbasin, see the photos below. There is
no restaurant car, so take you own food, water and beer
or wine. In the sleeping-car, it's a safe,
pleasant and scenic journey. Spend the day in
Vienna.
Day 2, travel from
Vienna to
Munich by air-conditioned Austrian 'RailJet' train, leaving Vienna
Westbahnhof at
16:20 and arriving in Munich at 20:34. The train has
a restaurant car & bar.
More pictures &
information about this RailJet train.
Day 2, travel from Munich to Paris by
the City Night Line sleeper train 'Cassiopeia', leaving
Munich at 22:43 and arriving at Paris Gare de l'Est
09:23 next morning. This
excellent train runs daily for most of the year, but only
4 times a week in winter. It runs on Thursdays,
Fridays, Saturdays & Sundays until 17 March 2010, then
daily until 7 November 2010, then on Thursdays, Fridays,
Saturdays & Sundays again until March 2011. The trains has ordinary seats, couchettes
(4- & 6-bunk) and
sleeping-cars (1, 2 or 3-bed rooms, deluxe with shower or standard
with washbasin). More
pictures & information about this City Night Line train.
Walk from the Gare de l'Est to the Gare du Nord.
Day 3, travel
from Paris to London by
Eurostar, leaving Paris Nord at
11:13 and arriving London St Pancras at 12:29.
Alternatively,
you can travel between Vienna & London daily all-year
via Cologne & Brussels, see the London to
Austria page.
Introducing
the City Night Line sleeper train from Paris to
Munich ...
The Paris-Munich overnight train is one of the German Railway's excellent
City Night Line sleeper trains. Called the
'Cassiopeia', it has modern 'Comfortline' sleeping-cars
(1, 2 & 3-berth deluxe rooms with private shower and
toilet, 1, 2 &
3-berth standard rooms with washbasin. There is a shower at
the end of the corridor for passengers in standard rooms,
and all rooms have power-points for laptop computers),
modern air-conditioned couchettes
(choose between a berth in a 4- or 6-berth compartment),
and ordinary seats (not recommended).
Inclusive fares are charged covering travel plus
sleeping accommodation. The sleeping-car fare includes
a light breakfast.
More pictures
& information about this train.
Travel tip: For a good meal in a
classic Parisian brasserie before boarding the sleeper
train in Paris, catch the earlier 14:04 Eurostar & try
the
Brasserie Terminus Nord directly across the road
from the Gare du Nord. For a cooked breakfast in
Munich (or evening meal before boarding the Paris-bound
sleeper on your return) try the
Mongdratzerl restaurant, located in the hauptbahnhof
itself.
1, 2 or 3 bed sleeper:
The most comfortable & civilised option, with proper
beds & washbasin.
4-berth couchettes:
Ideal for families, much more space per person than
6-berth couchettes.
6-berth couchettes:
A very economical option, far better than a seat for
just a few euros more...
"Night train to Munich": The
'Comfortline' sleeping-car of the Paris to Munich
sleeper train boarding at Paris Gare de l'Est...
RailJet is
Austria's brand-new high-speed train, linking Munich, Vienna
& Budapest. It will soon also link Zurich, Innsbruck &
Vienna. Designed to run at up to 230km/h (143 mph) on
sections of upgraded track, it currently reaches 200km/h on part of
the route, but in other parts snakes around beautiful
scenery at a more sedate pace. Look out for great
views of Salzburg citadel & castle on the right as you cross
the river Salzach approaching Salzburg. RailJet has
three classes, Economy (2nd class), First (1st class), and
Premium (25 euro supplement over normal first class).
It has a bistro car providing drinks, snacks and hot dishes,
which are served on proper china at your seat in first and
premium classes. TV screens in each car tell you the
train's speed & location, with a list of next station stops
and times. A great way to travel.
More pictures &
information about this RailJet train.
"The RailJet has landed..."
The morning RailJet train from Munich has arrived at
Vienna Westbahnhof spot on time...
Premium class costs
25 euro more than normal 1st class...
Economy class on
RailJet, comfortable open saloons with large picture
windows. Some seats are arranged around tables,
some are unidirectional.
By
sleeping-car from Vienna to Sofia...
The Vienna-Sofia sleeping-car is an elderly
Bulgarian sleeper with 1, 2 & 3 bed compartments with
washbasin. It's basic by western European
standards, but comfortable enough. Take your own
provisions and maybe a bottle of wine (or two) and enjoy
a very scenic train ride across Hungary, Serbia & Bulgaria
in the privacy of a private sleeper compartment...
Above: A Bulgarian sleeping-car, as used
between Vienna & Sofia.
The sleeper corridor...
Photo courtesy of Helmut Uttenthaler.
3-bed compartment.
Photo courtesy of Helmut Uttenthaler
Note: It's reported that the Bulgarians
will introduce 'new' (meaning second-hand German)
sleeping-cars onto the Vienna-Sofia & Budapest-Sofia
services soon, replacing these
old communist-era sleepers. The 'new' cars are
the same as the ex-German sleepers used by the
Romanians on their Budapest-Bucharest &
Bucharest-Istanbul trains,
see here
&
see here.
How much does it cost?
Each train is ticketed separately, so just add up the
price for each leg of the journey...
Savings fare =
Special cheap fare, book in advance, limited availability,
no refunds, no changes to travel plans.
Normal fare =
fully flexible, refundable, buy any time.
Youth fares:
There is a 25% discount on normal fares (but not Savings
fares) for anyone under 26 years old. Savings fares
usually cheaper!
Senior fares:
There is a 20% discount on normal fares (but not Savings
fares) for anyone over 60 years old. Savings fares
usually cheaper!
3. Munich to Vienna
by
RailJet
Economy class special fares
start at 29 euro (£25) one-way, 58 euro (£50) return
Economy class full
price is 80 euro (£70) one-way, 160 euro (£140)
return.
First class special fares
start at 39 euro (£34) one-way, 78 euro (£68) return
4.
Vienna to Sofia:
£131 each way in
3-bed sleeper, £144 each way in 2-bed sleeper (all per
person)
.
How to buy tickets, the easy way...
Click the button (or
click here) and a booking form will appear which lists
all the
specific trains you
need to book. Fill in the form & email it to
sales@europeanrail.com. European Rail will make
the reservations and call you back to confirm the cost,
which you can then accept or decline. If you
accept, you can give them your credit card details over the
phone and they will send you
the tickets. European Rail is an experienced agency
whose staff are used
to making more exotic bookings like this. They are
equipped with the German Railways reservation & ticketing
system, so have access to all the cheap fares for travel via
Germany & Austria. They charge a £35 booking fee which includes
postage to any UK address, or they can send to any address
worldwide if you pay the courier fee. Seat61 gets some
commission if you buy tickets using this form.
You can book
from London as far as Vienna online, although
Vienna-Sofia needs to be booked by phone.
You may of course prefer to book all your tickets together
by phone, but at least you can go online and see what fares
area available for your dates of travel for the
London-Vienna part of the journey!
Step 1,
go to
www.raileurope.co.uk
, and book the sleeper from Paris
to Munich
.
Tickets can be sent to any UK address or can be collected at
the station. Only UK credit cards are accepted.
It's best to book the Paris-Munich sleeper
train first and double-check arrival an departure times before
booking the Eurostar connection, in case times vary from the
ones shown above.
Step 2, after booking
the Paris-Munich sleeper train, add it to your basket & click 'continue shopping'.
Now book
the Eurostar from London to Paris and back. Use the recommended Eurostar times above as a guide,
but by
all means book an earlier Eurostar outward or a later
Eurostar on the way back if these have cheaper seats
available or if you'd like to stop off in Paris.
Step 3, now go to the German
Railways website
www.bahn.de, use the journey planner to bring
up the connecting Munich-Vienna train shown in the train
times above, and buy the ticket. It will show if any
cheap special fares are available. Tickets can be sent to any address,
or in some cases printed out yourself. Note that you
can also buy
tickets for this train using
www.raileurope.co.uk,
but only full fares are shown, no special cheap deals,
that's why
www.bahn.de is better.
Unfortunately, you can't book the
Vienna-Sofia train online, this must be booked by phone,
call
Deutsche
Bahn's UK office on 08718 80 80 66 (lines open
09:00-17:00 Mon-Fri).
Sometimes
www.raileurope.co.uk
has the cheapest fares for the
Paris-Munich sleeper, sometimes
www.bahn.de
is cheaper, so it's worth checking both sites.
If you book the Paris-Munich sleeper using
www.bahn.de you'll need to book the
Eurostar separately at
www.eurostar.com, so do a 'dry run'
first on both sites to check prices and availability before
booking for real.
Step 1,
go to
www.bahn.de, the German Railways website, and book from Paris to
Munich and back on the direct overnight sleeper train.
Availability of cheap 'savings' fares and
fully-flexible fares will be shown, for each type of
seat, couchette & sleeper. You pay by credit card and print out
your own tickets in .pdf format. Easy! Note that
the prices shown on
www.bahn.de are in euro, and are the
total cost for all passengers selected, not per person. Always book the
sleeper first and check its actual arrival & departure
before booking the Eurostar connection, as times
occasionally
vary. I recommend registering when it asks you before
completing the purchase, so you can easily make the next
booking.
Step 2, still on
www.bahn.de,
now use the journey planner to bring
up the connecting Munich-Vienna train shown in the train
times above, and buy the ticket. It will show if any
cheap special fares are available. Tickets can be sent
to any address, or in some cases printed out yourself.
Step
3, go to
www.eurostar.com to book your connecting Eurostar
tickets between London and Paris. Used the Eurostar
times above as a guide, but by all means book an earlier
Eurostar outwards, or a later Eurostar on the way back, if
this has cheaper seats available of if you'd like to stop
off in Paris for a while. Eurostar tickets can be sent to any UK
address, self-printed, or picked up at the station.
Unfortunately, you can't book the
Vienna-Sofia train online, this must be booked by phone,
call
Deutsche
Bahn's UK office on 08718 80 80 66 (lines open
09:00-17:00 Mon-Fri).
How to buy
tickets by phone...
You
may prefer to book the whole journey by phone. The
best agencies to call for this trip are either
Deutsche
Bahn's UK office on 08718 80 80 66 (lines
open 09:00-20:00 Mon-Fri, 09:00-13:00 Sat & Sun, no booking fee,
2% credit card charge, no charge for debit cards), www.europeanrail.com
on 020 7619 1083 (lines open 08:30-18:00 Mon-Fri,
09:00-13:00 Saturdays, £35
booking fee), or Ffestiniog
Travel on 01766 772050 (8% booking fee). Click
here for a list of
agencies and other useful information on how to book.
The
return journey can also be booked in advance from the UK,
except for the train from Sofia to Vienna. This is
because the European computer reservations system covers all of Western
Europe and much of Eastern Europe, but not trains
originating in Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Russia, etc..
You
will simply need to make the booking for the return Sofia to
Vienna/Budapest leg
yourself at the reservations office when you reach
Sofia. This is unlikely to be a problem.
You
can, of course, still buy a travel ticket for the return
Sofia to Vienna section (i.e. a ticket without a
reservation) from your UK rail agent. This is a good
idea, as it is one less thing to buy when you get
there. It also gives you the flexibility to approach
the sleeping-car or couchette car attendant on the day and
ask if any berths are free. If one is available, you
will simply need to pay the couchette or sleeper supplement
to the attendant.
Update: www.europeanrail.com
say they can now get inward sleeper reservations from
Sofia to Vienna or Budapest, so by all means ask.
Option 2: London to Sofia via
Brussels, Vienna & Bucharest...
This isn't quite as fast, but runs
daily all year. By all means stop off in Vienna if you
like!
Train times London ► Sofia
Day 1, travel
from London to Brussels by
Eurostar,
leaving London St Pancras at 12:57 (11:57 on
Sundays), arriving in
Brussels Midi at 16:03
(15:03 on Sundays).
Day 1, travel from Brussels to Cologne by high-speed
Thalys
train, leaving Brussels
Midi at 16:28 and arriving in
Cologne Hauptbahnhof at 18:15.
Day 1: Travel
from Cologne to Vienna by EuroNight sleeper train, leaving
Cologne Hauptbahnhof at 20:05 and arriving in Vienna
Westbahnhof at 09:04 next morning. This Austrian
sleeper train has
modern sleeping-cars (1, 2 & 3 berth deluxe sleepers with
toilet & shower, 1
& 2 berth standard sleepers with washbasin), couchettes
(4 & 6 berth compartments) & ordinary seats.
The train travels along the famous Rhine Valley
between Koblenz and Frankfurt, so if you are in a
sleeper and your compartment happens to be on the
left-hand side of the train, switch off the lights and
watch the Rhine pass by, mountains and castles lit by
moonlight, while sipping a glass of Riesling.
Wonderful!
More pictures & information about this EuroNight train.
Day 2: Travel
from Vienna to Budapest by air-conditioned
Railjet
train, leaving Vienna at 09:50 and
arriving in Budapest Keleti station at 12:49. Refreshments available.
Day 2: Travel from
Budapest to Sofia in a direct
sleeping-car,
leaving Budapest Keleti station daily at 19:13, arriving
Sofia at 21:30 next day (day 3 from London). The
sleeping-car
has 1- 2- & 3-bed rooms with washbasin. It is routed via Romania,
being detached from the EuroNight 'Ister' and attached
to the Bucharest-Thessaloniki 'Romania' in Bucharest. In
the comfort of a sleeper, even a basic Bulgarian one, it's a safe, pleasant and scenic journey,
but there's no restaurant car so take you own food, water
and beer or wine.
Train times Sofia ► London
Day 1: Travel from Sofia to Budapest
by direct sleeping-car, leaving Sofia at
09:05 and arriving at Budapest Keleti station the next
day at 10:47 (day 2). The
sleeping-car
has 1, 2 & 3-bed compartments with washbasin. There is no restaurant car, so take
you own food, water and beer or wine.
In the sleeping-car, it's a safe, pleasant and scenic
journey. This sleeping-car is switched between
trains at Bucharest.
Day 2:
Travel from Budapest to Vienna by air-conditioned
Railjet
train, leaving Budapest Keleti station at
13:10 and arriving Vienna Westbahnhof at 16:08. There
is another Railjet
train at 15:10 arriving Vienna at 18:08.
Day 2: Travel
from Vienna to Cologne overnight, leaving Vienna
Westbahnhof at 19:54 and arriving at
Cologne at 08:42 next morning. This train is an
Austrian Railways EuroNight train,
with sleeping-cars (1, 2 & 3-bed deluxe
sleepers with en suite shower & WC, 1 or 2-bed
standard sleepers with washbasin), couchettes (4-berth
or 6-berth) & ordinary seats.
More pictures & information about this EuroNight train.
Day 3, travel from Cologne to Brussels by high speed
Thalys
train, leaving Cologne at 10:45 and arriving
Brussels Midi
12:32.
Day 3, travel
from Brussels to London by
Eurostar.
On Mondays-Fridays,
leave Brussels
Midi at 14:29 and arrive London St Pancras at
15:26. On Saturdays & Sundays, leave Brussels
Midi at 13:59 and arrive London St Pancras at
15:03.
Introducing the Austrian Railways EuroNight train from Cologne to
Vienna...
This was originally a German Railways' City Night Line train, but
on 13 December 2009 it became an
Austrian Railways (ΦBB) 'EuroNight' sleeper train,
with sleeping-car, couchettes & seats. The
sleeping-car has compact 1 & 2 bed
compartments with washbasin, plus two deluxe
compartments with 1, 2 or 3 beds
plus private shower & toilet. The
sleeper berths come fully made up with sheets and
duvets, and all sleeper passengers get mineral
water in the evening and a light breakfast served
in their compartment next morning. Towels & toiletries are
provided, including shampoo and shower gel in the
deluxe sleepers. In the more economical
couchettes, you can book a couchette in a cheaper
6-berth compartment or a less-crowded 4-berth
compartment. Each couchette is provided with
sheet, blanket and pillow, and couchette passengers get
a small bottle of mineral water and a light
breakfast in the morning with tea or coffee. When waiting for
the northbound sleeper train at Vienna
Westbahnhof, if you have a sleeper ticket (as
opposed to couchette or seat ticket), you can use
the first class ΦBB Club Lounge, with
complimentary drinks.
More pictures & information about this EuroNight train.
1 or 2 bed sleeper:
The most comfortable option. Standard
sleepers have a washbasin, deluxe sleepers a private shower & toilet.
4 & 6-berth couchettes:
The economy option, ideal for families. Couchettes are basic padded
bunks with rug & pillow. This is a 6-berth
couchette.
Above: The
Austrian sleeping-car or 'schlafwagen'.
Sleeper & couchette
passengers receive a complimentary light breakfast
with tea or coffee in the morning.
Above: The Budapest-Sofia
sleeping-car is seen here about to leave Budapest attached to the
front of the Budapest-Bucharest overnight train 'Ister'.
The Vienna-Sofia sleeping-car is of the same
type.
The sleeper corridor...
Photo courtesy of Helmut Uttenthaler.
3-bed compartment.
Photo courtesy of Helmut Uttenthaler
Note: The Bulgarians
will introduce 'new' (meaning second-hand ex-German
Railways)
sleeping-cars onto the Vienna-Sofia & Budapest-Sofia
services soon, possibly in July 2009, replacing these
old communist-era sleepers. The 'new' cars are
the same as the ex-German sleepers used by the
Romanians on their Budapest-Bucharest &
Bucharest-Istanbul trains,
see here
&
see here.
How much does it cost?
You
might consider using an InterRail pass for this
journey, especially if you are under 26 years old, see the
InterRail page. However, especially if you are
over 26, an InterRail card may not necessarily be cheaper
once sleeper supplements and the Eurostar fare are added, so
here are approximate point-to-point fares via Romania.
The fare via Belgrade will be the same between London & Vienna,
but Vienna-Sofia via Belgrade will be slightly less than the
sum of the Vienna-Budapest & Budapest-Sofia fares shown
here.
1. London to
Cologne
by
Eurostar + Thalys:
Fares start at £97 return (£69 London-Brussels +
£28 Brussels-Cologne)
or £53 one-way (£39 London-Brussels + £14
Brussels-Cologne)
Fares vary like
air fares, so book in advance to get the cheapest
prices.
Savings fares for children slightly lower than adult
Savings fares, child full fare 50-60% of adult
normal fare
Child
under 6 without own berth:
Child under 6 sharing a berth travels free...
*
Savings fares = special book-in-advance fares, no
refunds, no changes, limited availability at this
price.
On City Night line, couchettes are sold
individually, but only whole sleeper compartments may be
booked.
3. Vienna to
Budapest
by
EuroCity train:
£24 one-way, £48 return 2nd class
£38
one-way, £76 return 1st class
4. Budapest to
Sofia:
£130 each way in
3-bed sleeper, £141 each way in 2-bed sleeper (all per
person)
.
Alternatively:
3.
Vienna to
Sofia:
£131 each way in
3-bed sleeper, £144 each way in 2-bed sleeper (all per
person)
.
How to buy tickets online...
You can book all the trains from London to Vienna and back
online.
This is the best and cheapest way to book,
because there's no booking fee and all the special offers
are there for you to see.
It involves two websites, so do a dry run on both
sites to check prices and availability before booking
for real. Here's how:
Step 1,
go to
www.raileurope.co.uk
and using the train times on this page as a guide, buy a combined
Eurostar+Thalys ticket from London to Cologne. On the
Rail Europe home page,
simply select 'London' and 'Cologne' from the drop-down
lists and enter your dates of travel.
The further ahead you book, the more likely you are to see
the cheapest fares. Tickets can be posted to any UK
address.
Obviously, remember that your return date of travel from
Cologne to London will be the day after your
departure date from Vienna.
Bookings for Eurostar+Thalys open 90 days (3 months) before
departure.
Step 2,
go to
www.bahn.de and buy a ticket from Cologne
(Kφln in German) to Vienna aboard the direct City Night Line sleeper train.
Your simply book online and print out your own ticket in
.PDF format using your PC printer. Easy! Make
sure you select the type of couchette or sleeper that you
want. Bookings for City Night Line open 90 days (3
months) before departure.
The remainder of the journey, from Vienna to Sofia, cannot
be booked online and will need to be booked by phone,
for example with
Deutsche
Bahn's UK office on 08718 80 80 66 (lines
open 09:00-17:00 Monday-Friday, no booking fee). They
will not be able to make your return reservation from Sofia
to Vienna or Budapest, as Bulgaria isn't linked to the
western European computer reservations system, so this
reservation will need to be made at the station when you get
to Sofia (but it's unlikely to be any problem).
How to buy tickets by phone...
You may prefer to book all your
tickets by phone. The whole of the outward journey
from London to Sofia can be booked from the UK through any European rail agency.
For this trip I'd recommend
Deutsche
Bahn's UK office on 08718 80 80 66 (lines
open 09:00-20:00 Monday-Friday, 09:00-13:00 Saturday &
Sunday, no booking fee, 2% credit card charge, no charge for
debit cards), www.europeanrail.com
on 020 7619 1083 (lines open 08:30-18:00 Mon-Fri,
09:00-13:00 Saturdays, £35 booking fee), or
www.trainseurope.co.uk on
0871
700
7722
.
Click
here
for more booking
information and a list of agencies.
The
return journey can also be booked in advance from the UK,
except for the train from Sofia to Vienna or Budapest. This is
because the European computer reservations system covers all of Western
Europe and much of Eastern Europe, but not trains
originating in Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Russia, etc..
You
will simply need to make the booking for the return Sofia to
Vienna/Budapest leg
yourself at the reservations office when you reach
Sofia. This is unlikely to be a problem. Update: www.europeanrail.com
say they can now get inward sleeper reservations from Sofia
to Vienna or Budapest.
You
can, of course, still buy a travel ticket for the return
Sofia to Budapest section (i.e. a ticket without a
reservation) from your UK rail agent. This is a good
idea, as it is one less thing to buy when you get
there. It also gives you the flexibility to approach
the sleeping-car or couchette car attendant on the day and
ask if any berths are free. If one is available, you
will simply need to pay the couchette or sleeper supplement
to the attendant.
The Thomas Cook European Timetable
The
Thomas Cook European timetable
has train & ferry times for every country in Europe plus currency
& climate
information. Published since 1873, it costs £13.99.
It's essential for any serious traveller
and an inspiration for armchair travellers. Still
not convinced you need one? More information
on what the Thomas Cook Timetable contains. You can
buy the latest monthly edition online at
www.thomascooktimetables.com with worldwide delivery or
buy it in person from any UK branch of Thomas Cook (ask at the
bureau de change), or from W H Smiths in Victoria or Kings
Cross stations in London.
Or
buy the twice-yearly independent traveller's edition with
laminated cover from Amazon.co.uk:
Summer 2010 edition (June to December 2010)
The Thomas Cook Rail Map of
Europe is the best and most comprehensive
map of train routes right across Europe, from Portugal in the
west to Istanbul, Moscow & Ukraine in the east, from Finland
in the north to Sicily & Crete in the south. High speed
&
scenic routes are highlighted. Highly recommended!
Buy online
at
www.amazon.co.uk
(worldwide delivery).
See an extract from
the map.
To
get the most from your visit, you should take a good guidebook.
For the independent traveller, I think this means one of two
guidebooks, either the Lonely Planet or the Rough Guide. Both
series are excellent. You can buy an in-depth guide for Bulgaria
or a guide covering all the countries in Eastern Europe. Lonely
Planet Eastern Europe -
Rough Guide
Bulgaria.
My own book, an essential handbook for train travel to Europe based on
this website called "The
Man in Seat 61", was published in June 2008, and
is available from Amazon with shipping worldwide.
Hotels in Sofia & elsewhere in
Bulgaria or eastern Europe...
It's
easy to book hotels online to go with your train tickets, just use the search box below. This links to
www.hotelscombined.com, a free search tool
which checks all the main hotel booking sites (Expedia, Travelocity, LateRooms, Opodo, Venere,
Asiarooms and many
others) to find just about the widest range of hotels with the cheapest rates on the net. Set
up in 2005, it's an amazing system and probably the best place
to start for booking any hotel online in any country,
worldwide.
If you're on a tight budget,
don't forget the hostels. For a dorm bed or an
ultra-cheap private room in backpacker hostels in most
European cities use
www.hostelbookers.com.
Travel insurance & health card...
Get travel insurance..
Never travel without insurance from a
reliable travel insurer, with at least £1m or preferably £5m medical cover. It should also cover loss of
cash (up to a limit) and belongings, and cancellation. An annual
multi-trip policy is usually cheaper than several single-trip
policies even for just 2 or 3 trips
a year (I have an annual policy myself). Here are some suggested insurers.
Seat61 gets a small commission if you buy through these
links.
If you live in the UK, get quotes from
Columbus Direct or
Go Travel Insurance, or go to
Confused.com to run a price comparison on a whole range of
travel insurance providers for your dates of travel, seeing
their policy's features at a glance.
Don't expect travel insurance to bail you out of every missed
connection, but European international rail conditions of
carriage (known as the 'CIV') contain consumer protection
provisions that entitle you to travel forward by the next
available train if you miss a connection because of a delay to
the first train, irrespective of who operates which train, and
even if your ticket is in theory train-specific and
non-changeable.
Feedback from using
insurance for rail & ferry travel is always welcome.
If you're a
UK citizen travelling in Europe, you should apply for a free
European Health Insurance Card, which entitles you to free or
reduced rate health care if you become ill or get injured in
many European countries, under a reciprocal arrangement with
the NHS. This replaced the old E111 forms
as from January 2006. The EHIC card is available from
www.ehic.org.uk. It doesn't remove the need for
travel insurance, though.
Get a pre-paid euro currency MasterCard from Caxton FX...
You can save money on ATM charges and exchange rates using a
Caxton FX euro currency MasterCard, or indeed the
multi-currency 'Global Traveller' MasterCard.
Find out about these cards & sign up here.
Get an international SIM card...
Mobile phones can cost a fortune to use abroad, and if you're
not careful you can return home to find some huge bills
waiting for you. I've known people run up over £1,000 in
data charges just by leaving their iPhone connected during a
simple trip to Europe. However, if you
buy a global SIM card for your mobile phone from a company
such as
www.Go-Sim.com you can slash the cost by up to 85% and
limit any damage to the amount you have pre-paid. Go-Sim
cuts call costs in 175 countries worldwide,
and you can receive incoming calls and texts for free in 75 countries. It's pay-as-you-go, so no nasty bills
when you get home. It also allows cheap data access for laptops
& PDAs. A Go-Sim account and any credit on it doesn't
expire if it's not used between trips, unlike some
others, so a Go-Sim phone number becomes your 'global phone
number' for life.
.
My own book, an essential handbook for train travel to Europe based on
this website called "
If you live in the UK, get quotes from
If you live in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland or the
EU, see
If you live in the USA or Canada, see
