The cost of taxis in Bulgaria: prices in different cities

There isn’t much any useful information about taxis and taxi prices in Bulgaria.

Before we set out on our Bulgarian holiday, we managed to find only several forums with passenger “horror” stories and strikingly different prices. Also, there are a lot of sites offering, under the guise of taxis, shuttle services from airport to a hotel and back.

After a holiday in Bulgaria we decided to systematize the information and our experience and to share it with you.

Three major facts about taxis in Bulgaria: what do you need to know to be sure you are not cheated?

Taxis in Bulgaria are generally very expensive. Theoretically, Bulgarian taxi drivers follow the counter and prices are always attached to the glass of one of the doors. There are clearly listed prices for a trip around the city, outside the city and at night. But in practice, many taxi drivers aspire to negotiate with you about the payment before the trip. We know about the cases, when per three minutes of trip from Sunny Beach to Nessebar people paid 50 or even 100 euros.
Prices for taxis depend on the particular town or city – in Pomorie prices of taxis are two times lower, than those in Sunny Beach. In this case, the probability that you will be deceived will be less. Similarly, prices for taxis at airports are very high – because tourists have nowhere else to ride to their destination so they have to pay large sums of money.
The counter of some dishonest taxi drivers is spinning faster than the wheels of their cars. Quite often, it is possible to face this kind of deception especially in popular and expensive resorts: Golden Sands, Sunny Beach, Nessebar…

Our advice: In Bulgaria, you may rarely need a taxi. It is way better to rent a car or to take public transport.

The cost of a taxi in Bulgaria

The price for a taxi in Bulgaria is directly dependent on the resort. The more expensive the resort, the higher the price of a taxi. Similarly, the probability that you will be deceived sharply increases with the popularity of the resort.

In small towns, where there are not many tourists, but many of those who have moved for permanent residence, taxi drivers are very honest – they know that if they cheat once, they immediately lose almost all Russian-speaking clients.

In very touristy places, vacationers should be more vigilant — taxi drivers will try to make a scam to earn extra.

Taxi prices in Sunny Beach and Nessebar

Sunny Beach and Nessebar are the most expensive of the resorts, we have visited. Let’s see taxi rates:

	DAYTIME RATE (from 6:00 to 22:00)	NIGHTTIME RATE (from 22:00 to 6:00)
The cost of call of a taxi	4.50levs	5.25 levs
Offpeak Tariff Rate	4.50 levs	5.25 levs
The price per 1 km of run through the city	3.00 levs	3.50 levs
The price per 1 km of run on the highway	3.00 levs	3.50 levs
The price per 1 minute waiting (downtime)	1.50 levs	1.75 levs

It is necessary to clarify that the price for a call of a taxi and the off-peak tariff rate are usually the same payment, they do not sum up. But particularly arrogant and deceitful taxi drivers, if they see first-time or inexperienced tourists, sometimes try to take over the call separately, and the off-peak tariff rate also separately.

Taxi prices in Pomorie and other towns

Pomorie – a fairly typical, inexpensive Bulgarian resort which is famous for balneological procedures and other treatments. If you travel to a place, which is not too advertised, expect of such prices:

	DAYTIME RATE (from 6:00 to 22:00)	NIGHTTIME RATE (from 22:00 to 6:00)
The cost of call of a taxi	2.00 levs	2.00 levs
Offpeak Tariff Rate	2.00 levs	2.00 levs
The price per 1 km of run through the city	2.00 levs	2.00 levs
The price per 1 km of run on the highway	2.00 levs	2.00 levs
The price per 1 minute waiting (downtime)	1.00 lev	1.00 lev

As you can see, taxi prices at not yet advertised resorts, are less 2-3 times. And when you consider taxi drivers honesty, then all 4-5 times.

How to order a taxi from Burgas Airport to your resort?

There are situations, when you do not need just a taxi, but just want to quickly and easily get from the airport to the hotel and back. In such situations, we recommend to use KiwiTaxi services. You will have to make an order and pay in advance, but as a result you will save 3-4 times.