Night Trains in Bulgaria
The Night Trains in Bulgaria, the Expresen Vlak, FastTrain and InterRegio, are old but decent trains. There are plenty of options for sleeping accomodations. Such as simple straight-up seats or shared compartments. These trains can bring you all the way across the Balkan and towards Turkey (Bucharest, Istanbul, Thessaloniki).
From Bucharest there are connections all the way to Hungary, Moldova and Ukraine. From Istanbul the whole asian continent opens up. Traveling in the Balkan area is an adventure, and these Night Trains are prone to hours of delay. Even considering the customs-checks in the middle of the night, and the lack of information before and during travel, there is a certain charm while traveling on these Night Trains to/from Bulgaria.
For all Night Trains a sleeper supplement is required with Interrail.
Within Bulgaria
North
Expresen Vlak 2626/9647 operates between Sofia and Silistra.
Expresen Vlak 2636/2637/3637/9646 operates between Sofia, Dobrich and Varna.
Middle
Expresen Vlak 2627/3636 operates between Sofia and Varna.
South
Expresen Vlak 8626/8627 operates between Sofia, Plovdiv and Burgas.
Expresen Vlak 8636/8637 operates between Plovdiv and Varna.
From Bulgaria to Turkey
FastTrain 1492/1493 (Balkan) operates between Sofia and Istanbul.
The train does not continue beyond suburb Istanbul Halkali, where you can transfer on the metro. Have some Turkish Lira’s available (you can ask the conductor on the train for exchange) to buy an Istanbul Transportation Card.
Summer period
FastTrain 451/452/1003/1004 (Minsk) operates between Varna, Bucharest and Minsk.
FastTrain 460/461/1460/1461 (Romania) operates between Bucharest and Thessaloniki.
Interrail costs
Expresen Vlak
seat (2nd class): ~€00.25
seat (1st class): ~€00.25
3-bed sleeper (2nd class): ~€05.00
2-bed sleeper (1st class): ~€07.00
1-bed sleeper (1st class): ~€10.00
Supplements cannot be bought online.
FastTrain
seat (2nd class): ~€00.00
6-bed sleeper (2nd class): ~€10.00
4-bed sleeper (2nd class): ~€15.00
Supplements cannot be bought online.
InterRegio
seat (2nd class): ~€01.00
seat (2nd class): ~€01.00
2-bed sleeper (1st class): ~€15.00
1-bed sleeper (1st class): ~€30.00
Supplements cannot be bought online.