First topic message reminder :

Route to Bulgaria from UK.


It is quite an easy route, but a very long 2½ days for me. With 2 nights in hotels, one in Germany and the other normally in Hungary. I make sure I do not spend a night in Romania.

The route from Rotterdam;

Find motorway A16 heading south for Breda,Tilburg and Eindhoven,
Follow signs for Breda,
Then follow signs to Tilburg A58 (E312),
Then follow signs for Eindehoven A2 (E25),
Then follow signs for Masstricht,
Then follow signs for Aachen A76 (E314)

The route from Calais;

Follow signs for Ostend in Belguim,
Then follow signs to Brugge,
Then follow signs to Gent,
Then follow signs to Brussels
When near to Brussels take care to follow signs to Liege and Aachen in Germany,

Then both routes follow from Aachen
Once near to Aachen
Then follow signs to Koln (Colonge),
Then follow signs to Frankfurt,

Ok, from Frankfurt you will see signs for;
Wurzburg, Nurenburg,
Then follow signs to Wursburg,
Then follow signs to Nurenburg,
Then follow signs to Regensburg,
Then pick up the signs for Passau
Then follow signs to Passau

Once you pass Passau, you are close to the Austrian border, so look out for service station on your right. There you will need to buy your first vignette, (about 10 euros) or road tax for Austria, from then on it is buy a vignette for all countries down. Take your car registration doc with you. This sticker you peel off and put on your windscreen, it is the first of many. Put it at the top left hand side and work down with them as you need to put your Bulgarian one in the bottom left corner.
Once into Austria head for Linz,
Then follow signs to Wein (Vienna),

As you come out of Wein, you'll see signs for Budapesht, (Budapest) with and H sign in a white oval, follow this. The HA is for Hungary. Which you need.

It is a simple run down from there, with no problems. Near to the Hungarian border, and I do mean near, is a service station, where you need to buy the vignette for Hungary. The vignette office is as you come out of the service station on the other side, there is a small car park there and sometimes a small queue. It is part of the service station.
Then follow signs to Gyor
Then follow signs to Budapesht,
Then follow signs to Keskemet (Kecskemet)
Then follow signs to Szeged,

You are nearly there, only 1 country to go through. Once in this area, have a good nights sleep ready for the drive through Romania.
Then in the morning, head for Romania and Arad,
Once you are out of Szeged,
Follow the signs for Timisora in Romania,

it is of on the right at the first roundabout after you leave Szeged, not long after you turn right you have a very long straight road and then the border crossing into Romania.
Romania is not so bad to drive through as many people say it is. Just keep your speeds down to the limits

Once you get to the border, you normally go through the Hungarian part, then stop at the Romanian side, there you'll meet the Hungarian and Romanian Customs and immigration officers. Both are likely to ask to look in side your car. For your first check of the run down. you are supposed to get your Romanian Vignette, if the office has some one in there. You'll find it on the right just past where you have been stopped. A small office.


From here on its an easy and simple run drive to Kraiova, (Craiova) where your next small problem will be. But it is almost at the end of your Herculean journey so is not so bad. From Kraiova you go on to Bechet and the ferry to BG, 30 miles away.

Ok so you follow the signs out of Timisora for;

Follow signs for Recas,
Follow signs for Lugol,
Follow signs for Caransebas,
Follow signs for Drobeta Turnu Severin, This should be one of the main names coming out of Timisora. You need to go through this town. Further on you will see signs for Kraiova (Craiova) you need to head for this city, it is in south of RO and very near to the ferry in Bechet to get to BG.
Follow signs for Kraiova (Craiova)

Around Drobeta Turnu Severin the roads get quite bad as they are re-surfacing about 30 miles of road all in one go, yes, all in one go, not as we do it a little at a time, So you will be driving over rough stones for a while, and there is single file traffic for most of this part of the trip. It is the slowest part of the journey down, but is picturesque, so have your cameras ready, if you like nice photos. It is not as bad as some would have you believe, just a little slow, but at this point you feel like taking it easy for awhile anyway, it is almost like having a rest period, but on the move and slow.

Ok, from here on is the drive to Kraiova, isn't so bad and quite enjoyable, roads quite good at this point. You'd be forgiven for thinking you were in Germany or somewhere else.

Ok, on the outskirts of Kraiova, the road disappears into a country lane, yes it really does, then, you are going over a single file dirt surface bridge. With ruts nearly 8 inches deep, made by the big trucks, yes you'll look at it and ask your self do the trucks really go over this, and you'll soon see they do. The RO sports cars ride on the top of the central ridge and the side to get over with out damaging their cars. And yes it does work, you think they will stove in the sides of their cars going over, but they don't. Suggestion here is follow a RO car and you'll be ok, do as they do, they have the practice. After the bridge, you are back on a single file narrow country lane for a few hundred feet, it goes to the right and then turns left and then crosses over a railway line, a short way up it suddenly turns right at what looks like a main road junction.

You are then back on the main road to Kraiova and only a few miles till your turn of for Bechet. Follow this road, till you see trucks parked on the right side, go slow from this point. You will see a service station that the truckers use. There is many trucks parked at the rear and you can see these from the road. Literally just past this service station, about 50 feet or so, you turn right to Bechet and the ferry

There is a sign saying Bechet, but it is almost hidden in the branches of a tree so look carefully. If in doubt follow a BG reg truck, good bet they are going the same way too. You can see your in the right area, as it looks like an industrial place. You really do need to turn here or you will get lost crossing the city with all the twist and turns that are there to do. Driving through Kraiova is not so good, it is busy and easy to get lost. I know I have done it once, never again. The first time I did this run it was horrendous for me. I did not know the route and what to expect. Took many wrong turns, was so easy to do that.

After you have turned right, follow the signs for Bechet, there are some good signs on the first part of the city bypass, and yes you'll laugh at this bit as you drive down it. It is the gypsy area of Kraiova. You are going all over the place, on different sides of the road, but it is normal, I promise you, a little crazy but true. If you have any doubts wait for a truck to pass you and follow that, they will show you the way through, even if you don't ask them. Do not follow any signs for Calafat unless you want to use this ferry. Calafat will take you to Vidin and the western part of BG and Sofia, passing Montana and Vratsa. Vidin is in the north west part of BG, close to Serbia.

First junction you turn left, then in a few yards you turn right. But here it is sign posted in English Bechet. You then follow this road down and I call it a road loosely. Ok, so you come to a funny junction, go straight over and slightly to the right, at this point there is no sign for Bechet, it is like a Y junction on the side and you are coming in at the middle, you want the second of the Y forks, the first takes you to Calafat, is sign posted to so you can see. Go straight on and then you come to another Y junction, you want the second Y part of this as well. From then on there are milestones on the ground with distance to Bechet every few hundred feet or so. And from this point is an easy run to the ferry. If you have any doubts at these 2 junctions, look for the trucks coming up towards you, that is the route you have to go.

From here is about 30 miles to the ferry and BG.

When you get to the ferry, you'll see a very long queue of trucks, you have to pass these and drive down the side, there will be passing gaps left by the trucks all the way down, so is not a problem when you see something coming up ahead of you. You just duck into one of these gaps, I have done it so many times now, even see the same drivers of trucks some times. It is almost like a meeting place for friends there.

Now I should point out the they will try anything to get you to part with euros at the ferry port. So make sure you do have a Vignet as they will check it and the document that goes with it. If you do not have one you will be fined heavy in Euros. You then have to pay a port tax of about 10 euros, this is for using the port, if you can call it that. Then you have to go to the office and buy your ferry ticket, the cost of this depends on what you have with you, like a trailer or so. But is not so expensive. From then on, you wait in the queue to board the ferry to cross to BG.

Once over you are in BG and it feels good to get this far, almost a feeling of relief. But first you must buy a 7 day vignette (Road tax), which is in the office just behind the Customs / immigration office. Otherwise you could have problems with traffic police in BG and a certain 100 euro fine, at the very least a 20 euro payment to the back pockets of the cops. As you drive out of the port, there is a turning to your left, it goes back on you and up a steep hill, it takes you to the town center. There are signs there for Vratsa and Sofia, but you can miss them if your not careful. As you come out of the town , you are at the top of the hill and you can see the distance opening up ahead of you, a long this part of the road is a junction to the left to take you to Pleven, it is spelt in Bulgarian Cyrilic. Straight ahead is Vratsa and Sofia.

I am so impressed with Bucharest that I booked our flghts back to BG tonight for 27th April both of us London Luton to Bucharest total price £34.98 yepeeeeeeeeee leave at 2.55pm arrived at 8pm we may stay in a hotel for a few days.

Welcome home Berni and Dougie, well I assume Peterborough is still looked upon as your home
Hope all goes well with your packing and you get some time to enjoy your stay
Your return flight, is that price for both of you

Thanks Willow. Yes, that prices is for both of us one way I thought it would take hours to travel to Buchrest but it is just the same as Varna.

Hello

So , after owning my house in BG for 10 years I'm finally ready to take the plunge and move there permanently.

I'm driving over in 6 weeks time with my partner and our 2 dogs and am favouring the France/Italy/Greece route.

I was hoping someone who has travelled this route can give me a detailed plan and any tips that will help me along the way.

Much appreciated.

There is actually quite a bit of info in this thread about the route, have a good read through. perhaps you might ask specific questions and them some of us might be able to answer them for you. The rout in this thread is about as good as it gets and there is plenty to see on the way if you feel you want to do a bit of sight seeing along the way? or just go for it in about 3 days or so. Good luck and happy travels

Hello & thanks for your reply, I'll have to have another look through the thread, I've seen detailed plans for the Romania route but not so much on the Italy route. I do have a specific question though about travelling with dogs. On the U.K-France ferry crossing they must stay in the car but I was wondering what the situation is on the Italy/Greece crossing, does anyone know if the dogs are allowed in cabins and in public areas?

Does this help ?? [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

I don't think you will have any issues but here is some more information for you

ROUTES:
Piraeus, Greece - Chania, Greece
Piraeus, Greece - to Heraklio, Greece
Cyclades, Greece - Dodecanese, Greece
Piraeus, Greece - Chios, Greece - Mytilene, Greece
Mytilene, Greece - Limnos, Greece, - Thessaloniki, Greecee
Igoumenitsa, Greece - Ancona, Italy - Venice, Italy
Padras, Greece - Igomenitsa, Greece -Venice, Italy
Corfu, Greece - Venice, Italy

Anek Lines Pet Policies:
Anek Lines accepts the carriage of pet animals. There is no charge for transporting the pet.

MORE ANIK LINES PET POLICIES TIPS FOR PET CRUISE SHIP AND FERRY TRAVEL
1. Never give your pet a medical (prescription) sedative prior to traveling on a ferry or cruise ship. If you have a hyper or nervous pet, then give it a natural relaxing agent such as HAPPY TRAVELER.
2. Always purchase your pet carrier well in advance of your trip so that the pet can get used to it.
3. Be sure to tell the cruise or ferry line you will be traveling with a pet as they impose restrictions on the number of pets on a specific sailing.
4. Even though sea travel may be stressful both you and your pet, both of you will be happier if your pet gets to travel with you on your trip.

Don't forget to get your forms, instructions and information for taking a pet aboard a Anek Lines Ferries

QUESTIONS If you have questions about traveling with your pet send your question to [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

That's great, thank you both

This might help you

The Italy/Greece route is the best route if you want to make a holiday from your trip. It’s pleasant to drive, the scenery is nice all the way and you can enter Bulgaria in the South and South West. But this way costs a lot more due to the extra cost of the ferry crossing from Italy to Greece plus food, fuel etc.
A Vignette is needed for Switzerland,details here:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
You'll also find details on the above site of the Tunnel Tolls.

Ferry Prices and Bookings
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]  


Uk-Ancona-Igounista-Sofia
CLICK TO VIEW MAP

That route from Andy is about as good as it gets, you will find others from other members which they themselves prefer but its your decision which one you choose. Good luck with the trip.


There is a detailed route here [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Congratulations Lisa on your move bet you can't wait. Time will fly by before you know it you will be here all settled in I assume you know a lot of people in Dobrich now as there are many English there. We are not too far away in Silistra about 2 hours. [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] will know the best route although I think he has done most routes now, sure he will be along soon to assist if he can.

Ah bless thank guys you are all just fab!!  I am sure Lisa will be delighted with the info.... Well done!