Sofia airport to city centre: metro, taxi and late arrivals

From Terminal 2, take metro line M4: about 20 minutes to the centre for €0.80, paid by tapping a bank card at the gate. The last metro leaves the airport at 23:38 on weekdays, so after that you need night bus N4 (from midnight, once an hour) or a taxi.

Prices are in euro, because Bulgaria adopted the euro on 1 January 2026. Old guides that quote leva are out of date.

Which way in, by arrival time

Pick the row that matches your landing. Costs are per person, one way, from the airport's own transport page unless noted.

Metro from Terminal 2: board, tap, get off

The station is at the eastern end of Terminal 2, right next to the building. Metro M4 runs from here through Iskarsko Shose, Druzhba and Mladost towards the centre, and the airport says a single journey takes about 20 minutes.

1. Board. Follow the metro signs to the station. You do not need a ticket in advance. The airport says no registration is needed.
2. Tap. Hold a contactless bank card, phone or watch on the reader at the entry gate. Wait for the green confirmation before you go through. A single journey is €0.80.
3. Change if you need to. For the Central Railway Station and Central Bus Station, change to line M2 at Serdika and get off at Central Railway Station. Sofia Metro's ticket page sells the paper single ticket for one trip without a transfer. The 30 plus ticket costs the same €0.80 and allows transfers within 30 minutes of the first tap. The operator says you can pay it with a bank card at the metro gates.
4. Get off at your station. Read the names against the Cyrillic list below, because that is how most signs spell them.

Not booked a bed yet? Where to stay in Sofia compares the areas by how close they are to a station on this line.

Cyrillic you will meet: Летище София (Letishte Sofia, "Sofia Airport"), Централна жп гара (Tsentralna zhp gara, "Central Railway Station"), Сердика (Serdika, where M4 meets M2). Cyrillic looks harder than it is: by the second sign Летище will read as "airport" without effort.

If you do not have a contactless card, the station has a ticket office and ticket machines. The airport page says the machines take "Bulgarian banknotes and coins" and that one also takes cards. It does not say whether euro cash works, so bring a card.

How often, and when it stops

On the official Sofia Metro timetable, which it labels "summer 2026, from 27.07.2026", trains on the airport branch run:

• every 7 to 9 minutes on weekdays between 06:30 and 20:30,
• every 10 minutes from 20:30 to 22:00,
• every 12 minutes from 22:00 to 23:00,
• every 14 minutes from 23:00 to midnight (and from 05:00 to 06:30).

First and last departures from Letishte Sofia towards the city (checked 12 November 2026): 05:21 and 23:38 on weekdays, 05:25 and 23:46 on holidays. The timetable is seasonal, so look at it again if you read this after the season changes.

Terminal 1: bus 84 or the shuttle

Terminal 1 has no metro. You have two sensible choices.

Bus 84 goes from both terminals to General Gurko Street in the centre. The airport says it runs about every 12 minutes and takes around 45 minutes on weekdays and 35 at weekends, depending on traffic. Tap a card on the blue reader when you board. The airport page says the ticket machine in the Terminal 1 arrivals hall works with "Bulgarian levs and coins". It does not mention euro, so a card is the safe choice. A 30 plus ticket costs €0.80 and allows transfers within 30 minutes of your first tap.

The free shuttle runs between the terminals around the clock. In the daytime the published gap is 20 to 30 minutes. Then you ride the metro from T2.

My pick with bags and a first-timer's nerves: bus 84, because you sit down once. Take the shuttle plus metro when the road looks jammed, since the metro ignores traffic. That is its whole charm.

Landing late: last train, N4 and taxis

This is where guides usually go vague, so here are the facts.

• Last metro from the airport: 23:38 on weekdays, 23:46 on holidays, per the timetable above.
• Night bus N4: serves Terminal 1 and Terminal 2, runs every night including public holidays from midnight to 04:00, once an hour. It goes through central Sofia between Druzhba 2 and Gotse Delchev. You can change to other night routes at Knyaz Alexander I Square.
• N4 fare: a night pass costs €1.00 and covers all night routes for that date. Tap a card on the blue reader on board. Holders of a valid 24-hour or 72-hour pass ride free.

Worked scenario. Your flight lands at 23:10 on a Tuesday, you have a checked bag, and you are heading for a hotel in the centre. The last train leaves 28 minutes later. The airport does not publish a walking time from the gate, and passport control and the belt are not on a schedule. My rule: decide at the belt. If it is past 23:20 and your bag has not appeared, make the taxi your plan and treat the train as a bonus.

Miss the train by a little and you have a gap until midnight. Even then N4 runs only once an hour, and I could not read the exact departure minutes from the Urban Mobility Centre website for this article. Check them on Sofia Urban Mobility Centre before you fly.

Taxi: use the operator's desk

The airport recommends the operator Yellow! as its contractual partner. Its instruction: "Look for the Yellow! cars at the main taxi ranks or request the service at the offices of Yellow! in the Arrivals of Terminal 1 and Terminal 2."

It also warns against other cabs:

"We recommend that you do not use taxi services offered outside the office of the taxi operator or in front of the terminal to avoid the risk of abuse."

So skip anyone who approaches you in the hall.

Sofia sets both a minimum and a maximum price per kilometre. From 1 January 2026 the maximum is €1.24 per km by day and €1.52 at night. Visit Sofia adds the minimums, €0.73 by day and €0.84 at night, and says the day tariff applies from 06:00 to 22:00 and the night tariff from 22:00 to 06:00. So a landing after 22:00 is already on the night rate.

The tariff is shown on a sticker on the windscreen, and each car should carry a sign with the company and driver details. The airport puts the centre about 10 km away, which gives the range below. It is a model per kilometre, not a quote. I could not confirm a separate start or waiting charge. The meter in the car decides.

What it costs door to door

Model: one-way trip to a central address, about 10 km by road. Ride prices come from the airport page and the taxi cap above, as read on 12 November 2026. The taxi rows are my arithmetic from the per-kilometre minimum and maximum, with no start fee, waiting time or luggage extras.

For one person, the taxi model (day minimum to night maximum) costs roughly 9 to 19 times a metro ticket. For three people with bags at 01:00, the model puts the ride at €2.80 to €5.07 each before any start fee. Whether that beats waiting at a night stop is your call.

Skip the 24-hour pass (€3.00) for a single airport ride. The 72-hour pass costs €7.60 and makes sense only if you will ride a lot over several days. Both cover the metro, daytime buses, trams, trolleybuses and night buses. The airport also says that, with a card, your total for daytime public transport on one day will not exceed €2.00, so tapping looks cheaper. I could not confirm that the cap includes the metro, so check on the Urban Mobility Centre site if you plan a day of rides.

Luggage on public transport

The airport page says passengers with regular transport documents may take up to 2 pieces of hand luggage free of charge. Further pieces need their own ticket. It does not say how a big suitcase is counted. For a standard trip with one suitcase and one backpack you are within two pieces. With more bags, check the baggage conditions on the Urban Mobility Centre site, or take a taxi.

Step-free access and reduced mobility

The airport's transport page does not say whether the metro station, the trains or bus 84 are step-free, and I did not find another official page that answers it. If you need a lift, a low floor or assistance, ask the airport's reduced-mobility service before you fly. Then check the Sofia Metro and Urban Mobility Centre sites for your station. Until you have that answer, a taxi from the Yellow! desk is the option I can describe without guessing.

Where search answers disagree with the official sources

• Fares in leva. Guides written before the changeover quote leva prices. The airport now lists €0.80 for a single ticket and a €2.00 cap on daytime public transport.
• Line name. Haqqi Tours' transfer page gives "Metro M2" for Terminal 2. The airport says the station is on M4. M2 is the line you change to at Serdika.
• Last train. metrosofia.com lists the last weekday train as 11:49 pm and the weekend one as "23:33 pm". The official timetable gives 23:38 and 23:46 from the airport station. The site says it is not the official site of Metropolitan EAD.
• Shuttle gap. Guides quote different gaps for the Terminal 1 to Terminal 2 shuttle. The airport's published timetable has gaps of 20 to 40 minutes, depending on the hour.
• Journey time. The airport says the metro takes about 20 minutes. I use that figure and would add a few minutes for the walk and the gate.

Skip this

Skip any "special price" offered in the arrivals hall. If you want a fixed price and a driver with your name on a sign, book a private transfer before you fly. Prices and conditions are the company's own, so compare them with the taxi model above first.