Sofia to Varna by Night Train: The Best Way to Cross Bulgaria

This review covers my journey on a night train from Sofia to Varna across Bulgaria.

By night train from Sofia to Varna

Whenever I need to travel the length of Bulgaria from the capital, Sofia, to Varna or Burgas on the Bulgarian coast, I always opt for the night train.

Bulgarian night trains are comfortable, surprisingly affordable and offer a much more time-efficient way to travel than daytime trains, let alone those horrible buses with their cramped seats.

I’d even argue that taking the night train beats a domestic flight, as flying isn’t all that time-efficient once you factor in the time needed to travel to and from the airport, as well as arriving early for check-in and boarding.

The train journey from Sofia to Varna is one I’ve made many times.

So let me show you what the journey by night train between Sofia and Varna is actually like, as well as how you can book tickets.

Sofia Central Station

The night train journey to Varna begins at Sofia Central Station, the main railway station in the Bulgarian capital.

Although the station dates back to communist times and clearly retains some of the typical features of that era, it has been nicely modernised.

The station is easily accessible by metro, bus or tram from locations across Sofia.

The immediate area around the station feels a bit sketchy, although that doesn’t necessarily mean it is dangerous.

It simply means that if you’re walking to the station to catch a night train, you should stay a bit alert of your surroundings.

At Sofia Central Station, you’ll find a couple of small shops and bakeries, as well as a Billa supermarket at the far eastern end of the station building.

There is also a left luggage office where you can store your bags in the basement of the main hall, although keep in mind that it is reportedly only open between 06:00 and 21:00.

Of course, there is a ticket office at Sofia Central Station too, although if you’re planning to take the night train to Varna, you’re well advised to book your ticket online a few weeks in advance if you want to guarantee yourself a berth in a sleeper carriage.

Boarding the night train

There are typically two daily night train services in each direction between Sofia and Varna, with up to three services a day during the summer season.

These night trains are all operated by Bulgarian State Railways (Bulgarski Darzhavni Zheleznitsi), abbreviated as BDZ (БДЖ in Cyrillic script).

In my Bulgaria train travel guide, you can find more general information about the country’s railway network and trains.

I took a night train scheduled to depart Sofia at 22:40 and arrive in Varna at 06:40 the following morning.

Check the departure board at Sofia Central Station for your train number to see which platform it departs from.

Keep in mind that the platforms at Sofia Central Station have an eastern end (изток – istok) and a western end (запад – zapad).

This means that a single platform can have two trains going in different directions at the same time.

That was also the case at this hour, with the night train to Varna standing at the western end and a train to Burgas at the eastern end.

Usually, the night train arrives at the platform around 20 to 30 minutes before its scheduled departure time.

If it’s your first time travelling by night train in Bulgaria, I would highly recommend arriving at the station at least this early so that you can find your way around and board the train at your leisure without any stress.

Your ticket clearly shows the carriage number where your sleeper berth or seat is located, so all you need to do is find it.

Simply show your ticket to the carriage attendant standing by the door, then board the train and find your compartment.

If you’ve booked your Bulgarian night train ticket online, there’s no need to print it out – you can simply show the PDF with the QR code to the carriage attendant.

Travel classes on a Bulgarian night train

Bulgarian night trains between Sofia and Varna offer three different travel classes:

– Second class seats
– First class seats
– Sleeper berths

Second and first class typically consist of standard seats in side compartments, with either six or eight seats in a second-class compartment and six seats in a first-class compartment.

Although these are perfectly good options for a daytime train journey, I wouldn’t recommend them for overnight travel, as you’ll have a broken night’s sleep and arrive at your destination feeling exhausted.

The reason why the night train from Sofia to Varna is such a good option is that it has sleeper berths where you can get a good night’s sleep, allowing you to arrive at the Bulgarian seaside fully rested the next morning.

If all sleeper berths are fully booked on all the Sofia–Varna night trains, I would highly advise travelling a day earlier or later if you can, or taking a daytime train instead.

Sleeper compartments on Bulgarian night trains have one, two or three berths, and can be booked for private use or shared with other passengers.

In the section further down this article about booking tickets, I’ll explain more about these options and how to book them.

I had booked a sleeper compartment for sole occupancy for my night train journey across Bulgaria from Sofia to Varna.

For this, I paid just €25, which is quite a steal for an overnight journey from Sofia to Varna, with a proper bed in my own private compartment.

Recently, ticket prices have gone up a bit, with a private sleeper compartment for sole occupancy now costing €33.70, although this is still a tremendous deal.

Needless to say, if you share a compartment with others, whether they are part of your travel group or you are willing to share with complete strangers when travelling alone, the cost per ticket will be even lower!

Sleeper compartment on a Bulgarian night train

Bulgarian night trains use modern Turkish-built sleeper carriages, with usually three or four of these carriages attached to each Sofia–Varna overnight service.

Although I personally find these compartments a bit bland-looking, they are certainly clean and functional.

As I mentioned earlier, each compartment has three fold-out beds.

When you board the train, the staff will already have made up the bed with fresh linen, including a sheet and duvet.

If you are travelling alone, the staff will only fold out the lower berth, while the other two remain folded up against the wall, giving you a more spacious feel in the compartment.

When two or three people travel together in the same compartment, the staff will also fold out the middle and upper berths, which you can access via a ladder inside the compartment.

Inside each compartment, there is a washbasin.

There are coat hooks for hanging up your jacket, as well as a small cupboard that doubles as a luggage shelf, where you can place your bag.

Luggage can also be stored in a large recess above the door, which extends over the ceiling of the corridor, or simply placed on the compartment floor.

A power socket is available in each compartment, although you shouldn’t expect any amenities such as Wi-Fi on a Bulgarian night train.

The compartments are air-conditioned, keeping you cool in the summer heat and warm in winter.

The window in each sleeper compartment has blackout blinds, while a button lets you centrally control the main lighting and each berth has its own reading light.

Shared toilets sit at the far ends of each carriage, and unlike those on daytime trains in Bulgaria, the sleeper carriage attendants usually keep them well-stocked with toilet paper and soap and perfectly tidy throughout the night.

You can lock your sleeper compartment securely from the inside, keeping your valuables safe while you sleep.

About the night train journey from Sofia to Varna

Depending on the service you take, the night train journey from Sofia to Varna can take anywhere from 7 hours and 43 minutes to 8 hours and 50 minutes.

This is because the different night trains between Sofia and Varna take slightly different routes across Bulgaria.

I was booked on a night train taking the main railway line between Sofia and Varna, which runs via Mezdra, Pleven, Gorna Oryahovitsa and Shumen.

This night train takes around eight hours to cover the 534-kilometre (332-mile) route between Sofia and Varna.

In any case, even if you travel at the height of summer, when daylight hours are at their longest, there will be little in the way of views along the way.

You will likely depart Sofia when it’s dark outside, and arrive in Varna just about when the sun is rising.

Indeed, you take the night train from Sofia to Varna because it is a time-efficient way to travel.

You save a night’s hotel accommodation and can conveniently sleep while you travel, allowing you to maximise your sightseeing time in both Sofia and Varna.

If it’s the scenic views from the train window you’re after, I would recommend taking a daytime train instead, which will give you much better views of the Bulgarian countryside and its beautiful natural landscapes.

Food and drinks on board

Bulgarian night trains have no dining car, nor is it possible to buy food or drinks on board

Unlike some other night trains in Europe, where a sleeper ticket might include a small complimentary breakfast with tea or coffee served in your compartment the following morning shortly before arrival, this is not the case in Bulgaria.

Make sure you buy all the food and drinks you need before boarding your night train.

Comfort

Overall, I think the sleeper compartments on Bulgarian night trains are perfectly comfortable.

However, compared with other European night trains, I find the sleeper berths on Bulgarian night trains a bit hard.

They could certainly do with more padding, or perhaps a mattress pad could be added on top of the berth before the linens are put on.

It’s the only real negative aspect I can think of when it comes to the quality of night trains in Bulgaria.

That said, I still always manage to get a good night’s sleep on Bulgarian night trains, and that was the case on this trip from Sofia to Varna as well.

Arrival in Varna

The following morning, I woke up around 6 o’clock as the night train was travelling along the shores of Lake Varna.

When travelling in summer, you might still get some decent views at dawn along this stretch of the line.

Although called Lake Varna, it is actually a liman, a type of wide, semi-enclosed, brackish-water estuary formed where a river meets the sea.

On the right-hand side in the direction of travel, you can spot multiple shipping berths along the shores of the liman, with freighters loading cargo.

When you look towards the other side of the train, you’ll see massive industrial sites stretching as far as the eye can see.

Before long, the night train approaches Varna railway station.

As I disembarked from the train, I admired the lovely twilight colours in the sky as the sun slowly rose above the horizon.

Varna railway station, with its burgundy-red buildings and large clock tower, certainly looks impressive.

There is a real sense of arrival when you reach the station, almost as if it is welcoming you to this seaside resort.

Varna railway station, completed in 1925 during the reign of Tsar Boris III, has the same old-fashioned, historic seaside charm found at the stations of other Black Sea cities, such as Burgas further south in Bulgaria and even Odessa in Ukraine.

From the railway station, both the city centre and Varna’s main beach are just a short walk away.

How to book tickets for a Bulgarian night train

Tickets for Bulgarian trains – including the night train from Sofia to Varna – can easily be booked online through the BDZ website.

The website is a bit fiddly, sometimes switching back and forth between Bulgarian and English, but you quickly get the hang of it.

On the BDZ website, you can select the following types of sleeper tickets for night trains:

– Berth 2nd class ticket: a berth in a shared three-person sleeper compartment
– Berth 1st class ticket: a berth in a shared two-person sleeper compartment
– Berth business class: sole occupancy of a sleeper compartment when travelling alone

If there are two of you travelling together, you need to book two “Berth 1st class” tickets if you want a private compartment together.

Three people travelling together need to book three “Berth 2nd class” tickets to share a compartment.

When travelling solo, you need to select “Berth business class” if you want to be guaranteed a compartment all to yourself.

If you are travelling solo and select a “Berth 1st class” ticket, you may have to share the compartment with a stranger, or with two strangers if you book a “Berth 2nd class” ticket.

Bulgarian night trains have gender-segregated sleeper compartments, which means that if you are travelling alone as a woman and want to book a berth in a shared compartment, you will be assigned to a female-only compartment.

Of course, if you are travelling as a couple, with family members or as a mixed-sex group of friends, you can share the same compartment as long as you book all the berths in it.

If you book online, you can select your own berth from a handy seat map or have one assigned automatically.

Make sure to check this seat map to ensure that you have berths in the same compartment when travelling as a couple or group of three.

Booking window

Note that Bulgarian train tickets only go on sale a relatively short time before departure, so don’t bother trying to book one months in advance.

Generally, Bulgarian train tickets only go on sale 30 days before departure, although this can be shortened to just 20 days during the summer season, and sometimes even further, to around 5 days before departure.

Sleeper berths on Bulgarian night trains are popular and, especially in summer, sell out quickly, so you don’t want to leave booking your ticket until the last minute.

However, keep in mind that booking earlier won’t get you a cheaper fare, as train ticket prices in Bulgaria are fixed regardless of when you purchase them.

When the BDZ website returns the message “Няма намерени свободни места!” (“No available seats found”), it either means that the train you are looking for has not yet opened for bookings, or that the seats or berths in the travel class you have selected have already sold out.

It can be difficult to distinguish between the two.

The only way to get an idea is to check what result you get when you select a different travel class or travel date.

If the BDZ website says that there is no availability when you try to book a sleeper berth, but does let you book a standard seat, it means that the sleeper berths have sold out.

However, if you can’t book a 2nd class seat either, it typically means that the train hasn’t opened for bookings yet, as there are usually plenty of normal seats available even one or two days before departure.

The bottom line is that you just have to keep checking to see whether the train you want to take has opened for bookings!

Even when all sleeper berths on a train have sold out, you might still find some last-minute availability if someone cancels their ticket, although I wouldn’t bet on it.

Conclusion

The night train from Sofia to Varna offers a time-efficient and comfortable way to travel across Bulgaria, with surprisingly cheap sleeper tickets.

For my private sleeper compartment on the Sofia–Varna night train, I paid only €25.

After a good night’s sleep, I arrived in Varna well-rested the following morning, ready to explore the city.

Bulgarian night trains offer one-, two- and three-berth sleepers that you can book for private use or share with other passengers, as well as standard seats, although I wouldn’t recommend the latter for overnight travel.

Especially during the summer season, sleeper berths sell out quickly, so I would advise booking your night train ticket as soon as the booking window opens.