Driving from Sofia Airport to Plovdiv

I'm in Bulgaria now .. 45 km from Sofia up in mountains 10km from Borovets in a town called Samokov .

Bulgaria are good with roads this time of year  and quickly clear if snow falls ..

Current conditions are fairly mild January some snow ... Now 4 degrees c  and freeze thaw conditions.. supposed to snow Saturday 9 cm .. 

You will be on snow grade tyres as it's the law and they are very good ..  and your on motorway aswell even better ..

Car hire

Avoid Add car and Easy rent  like the plague

Best are

Toprentacar

Carjet

Carrent

Look at skyscanner.net 

I'm here till march 30. So pm me an I can update u ..  I expect gwynj will reply you also as he lives Plovdiv .  He is a top dog on here 👍

I live in Plovdiv and have done this trip a lot with truedrivers (very good option if you decide not to drive yourself). It's motorway all the way, very smooth and in good condition so you should be fine as long as the weather holds.

Roads are fine I've lived here for ten years and always use TopRentaCar. Good prices and very efficient.

Sofia airport to Plovdiv is easy-peasy, about 90 minutes. TopRentaCar is good if you want to rent and go sightseeing. If you want only to get to Plovdiv, then I agee that TrueDrivers is a good option (limo service, about 75 euros from arrivals to Plovdiv hotel).

@gwynj happy new year mate from Paul gillian

From Sofia airport you can take the bus to plovdiv Of course pay cash  leva or find an online option to pay with credit card

about 30 leva

The trip takes about 2 hours snd a half

Bon voyage

Leva***

@Friatela

The currency here is the Lev, as in one lev, two or more leva; "levas" don't exist, I can never understand why so many foreigners here think that they do..

@JimJ

Probably because almost every online source in English, including travel money sites and the Oxford Dictionary, tell us that the plural of lev is leva!

I may be wrong, but I believe that if one is discussing the currency as a whole, eg the lev to pound exchange rate, the singular is appropriate, but when discussing a specific number of lev, such as a taxi fare, leva is used. But I'm very much a beginner with my Bulgarian language learning, so correctly declining nouns is far from my strongest point.

Probably because almost every online source in English, including travel money sites and the Oxford Dictionary, tell us that the plural of lev is leva!

    -@janemulberry

Really? How strange I've never seen it as Levas. But it is a mistake people will make especially English speakers, to put an "S" at the end of words to make it plural.

    @JimJ
Probably because almost every online source in English, including travel money sites and the Oxford Dictionary, tell us that the plural of lev is leva!
I may be wrong, but I believe that if one is discussing the currency as a whole, eg the lev to pound exchange rate, the singular is appropriate, but when discussing a specific number of lev, such as a taxi fare, leva is used. But I'm very much a beginner with my Bulgarian language learning, so correctly declining nouns is far from my strongest point.
   

    -@janemulberry

I think you have perhaps missed my point.  As I said, the plural of lev is leva, not levas. Many British incomers don't seem to have grasped this very simply point, which rather smacks of laziness/arrogance, given how basic and common a word it is here.  It's akin to thinking that the plural of pound is poundss...

    Probably because almost every online source in English, including travel money sites and the Oxford Dictionary, tell us that the plural of lev is leva!    -@janemulberry

Really? How strange I've never seen it as Levas. But it is a mistake people will make especially English speakers, to put an "S" at the end of words to make it plural.
   

    -@SimCityAT

Along with the appalling habit of strewing grocer's apostrophes around like confetti!

I think you have perhaps missed my point.  As I said, the plural of lev is leva, not levas. Many British incomers don't seem to have grasped this very simply point, which rather smacks of laziness/arrogance, given how basic and common a word it is here.  It's akin to thinking that the plural of pound is poundss...-@JimJ

You are right, I did completely miss your point! Oops! I apologise!

I didn't notice that sneaky s making leva into levas in the post under discussion or in your post. As I've had someone tell me I should say lev not leva (a Brit whose grasp of Bulgarian is even worse than mine!), I mistakenly assumed you were saying the same.

As you said, it could have been worse, at least it wasn't leva's. The worrying thing is that as I've gotten older, I find that greengrocer's apostrophe sneaking into my writing too!

    Hi all, Will be  in Bulgaria for the very first time in Feb and planning to go from Sofia Airport to Plovdiv (and back) by a rental car - thinks it's the easiest as we have a 1.5 years baby. One question is, how's the driving from Sofia to Plovdiv, anything to worry about? Any reccomendation for a trusted car rental places (from Sofia) will also be appreciated.Thanks in advance!Victor        -@greenOasis

Hello everyone,

Please note that I have edited the post that made this topic drift from the original question. (Mistakes happen, we are also here to learn)

Can we now refocus on the topic and share info we have on the above ?

Thank you

Bhavna

@JimJ

sorry about that

just my poor liitle finger being a beginner

for me is not easy catching the language

It is a short trip by car (90 minutes) and renting makes sense especially with a child and luggage.

But....whatever you read on this forum, the road is not highway quality by any other country's standard..... almost no lane markings, no lighting and terrible surface. Many drivers are really really aggressive and fearless...not surprising given that the driving laws are not enforced.

Seriously suggest not driving for the first time here in the dark or in heavy rain/bad weather. In that case I'd think about spending the extra money to get a limo/taxi transfer.

Driving is fine. Just get a car.

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advic … d-security

Thanks for all the advices. We ended up getting a taxi from trueDrivers. Definitely was worth it!

@PurpleRon The tailgating always feels so much worse driving between Sofia and Plovdiv, or maybe that's just my experience?.

South of Plovdiv, it starts to calm down and become a more enjoyable drive (other than the german cars, in the summer, speeding towards Türkiye ).