Bulgaria Airports: A quick guide

Bulgaria is a cultural melting pot and a country with diverse terrain, which makes it a great holiday destination. Whether you’re in for the sunny beaches along the Black Sea coastline, the skiing or snowboarding resorts or a mountain hiking trip in the lake regions, you’ll need to fly to one of Bulgaria’s airports.

The Balkan country has four main passenger airports and a fifth one, the Gorna Oryahovitsa airport, mainly used for cargo and occasional charter flights.

Sofia Airport (IATA: SOF)

Sofia Airport is Bulgaria’s biggest and busiest international airport and serves as a home base for Bulgaria Air. 

While it is not among Europe’s largest airports, Sofia Airport has a big advantage: the capital’s centre is less than 30 minutes away by public transport. 

There are two passenger terminals, well connected with the centre by two bus lines - No 84 and No 184. The new Terminal 2 is also serviced by a fast metro line. The other transport options are taxis and rental cars as usual. The Central Railway and Bus stations are right next to each other and a short bus or metro ride away from the airport.  

Sofia Airport has a VIP terminal, too, but it is only used for official state and VIP visits. Terminal 1 mainly serves as a hub for Wizzair, and the second terminal operates all other airlines. Major carriers like Air France, AlItalia, Turkish Airlines, Qatar Airways have regular scheduled flights from the capital’s airport.

Burgas (IATA: BOJ)

The second largest international Bulgarian airport had over 3 million passengers in the last year. Burgas Airport is located in Sarafovo, a neighbourhood about 10 km from the city centre. ‘The sunniest airport in Europe’ serves infamous Bulgarian Black sea resorts like Sunny Beach and Sozopol.

The airport has two terminals as of 2013 and is well connected both to the centre of Burgas and the main bus station where the buses for all nearby resorts leave. The transport options to the city are bus line No 15, a taxi or a rented car.

Burgas Airport mainly hosts seasonal flights by airlines like Norwegian Air, Wizz Air, Ryanair, Electra Airways, but there is a year-round service of flights from the UK and Russia, too. Charters also often land in Burgas.

Varna (IATA: VAR)

Varna Airport is situated about 10 km from the maritime capital of Bulgaria. The third largest airport serves over 2 million passengers, most of them travelling to the northern Black Sea coast resorts in the summer. 

The airport has only one working terminal (number 2) with a 1,800,000 passenger capacity. Varna airport is well connected to the city centre with bus line No 409, but there are also cabs and rent-a-cars. Bus No 409 stops at the main bus station where you can catch an intercity connection and reach all popular resorts (like Golden Sands, Albena, Balchik, etc.)

Plovdiv Airport (IATA: PDV)

This fairly small airport is located about 10 km away from Plovdiv and serves about 150,000 passengers yearly. The only terminal of Plovdiv airport is relatively new (2009) and can serve up to 600 passengers at peak hour.

Unfortunately, there is no public transport going between the airport and the city. The only options are taxis and rental cars.

Most travellers choose Plovdiv airport for the easy access to the ski resorts (e.g. Borovets, Pamporovo, and Bansko). However, Plovdiv is also a great destination itself and definitely worth a visit. 

This airport is typically used for charter flights but also serves several regular routes.