Thessaloniki to Sofia by Bus: Border Crossing, Stations and What to Expect

Last update: August 2026.

Quick answer

The bus from Thessaloniki to Sofia covers roughly 295 km. With Union Ivkoni, the main operator, the journey takes 5 hours 20 minutes to 5 hours 45 minutes and costs €25.00, reduced to €23.75 when booked online (checked for August 2026).

Union Ivkoni runs three direct departures a day from Thessaloniki: 00:10, 09:15 and 15:15. Other operators add further services across the day — aggregator sites quoting "up to 32 daily departures" are counting every company combined, not one operator's timetable.

There is no direct train. The bus is the only practical public transport option between the two cities.

Since 1 January 2025 both countries are inside the Schengen area for land travel, so there is no systematic passport control at the border any more. Carry a valid passport or national ID card regardless.

Which operators run the route

Several companies serve the corridor. The main ones are:

• Union Ivkoni (also operating as Unibus) — the most frequent operator, and the one this guide is based on
• FlixBus
• ArdaTur
• Tourist Service

One thing worth understanding before you book: the Union Ivkoni service between Thessaloniki and Sofia is usually not a dedicated shuttle. It is one leg of a much longer international line that starts in Kalamata and runs via Tripoli, Corinth, Athens and Volos before reaching Thessaloniki — and continues past Sofia towards Plovdiv, Veliko Tarnovo, Varna, Burgas and Bucharest.

That has practical consequences. Seats are assigned. The bus may already be half full when it reaches you. And if it is running late from further south, that delay arrives with it. Build slack into any onward connection.

Where the bus leaves from in Thessaloniki

All three Union Ivkoni departures leave from Macedonia Intercity Bus Station (KTEL Makedonia), Giannitson 244 — the city's main long-distance terminal, and where our own departure left from.

This matters because some booking sites list a second pickup point at the Thessaloniki railway station for this route. It does not appear in Union Ivkoni's own booking system, and may belong to a different operator or a different line. Go by the station printed on your ticket, not by what a comparison site showed you. If your ticket says Macedonia, that is where you need to be — the railway station is a separate location.

Inside Macedonia bus station, departures are organised by sector. You do not need to decode the system in advance: the staff speak good English and will point you to the right place if you show them your ticket. Allow a little time for that rather than arriving at the last minute.

Thessaloniki Bus Terminal, Credits: kanpoan.net

Booking and tickets

Book directly with Union Ivkoni rather than through a comparison site. The operator applies a 5% online discount, bringing the €25.00 fare down to €23.75, and you see the real seat availability — the three August departures we checked showed 15, 39 and 13 seats free respectively, so the quieter services do fill up.

Prices on this route have risen sharply. We paid €18.00 for the same journey in November 2024. Treat any fare you read anywhere, including here, as a snapshot rather than a fact.

Fares are quoted in both euro and leva at the fixed rate.

At the ticket counter in Thessaloniki, card payment was accepted and the clerk asked to see a passport before issuing the ticket. Bring it to the counter, not just to the border — it is needed at the point of purchase.

The ticket is issued as an e-ticket with a QR code and an assigned seat number.

There is also a cheaper option with a change in Blagoevgrad, splitting the journey into two legs. It saves a few euros but introduces a connection risk on an international route. For most travellers the direct service is the better trade.

Arriving in Sofia: the Serdika confusion

The bus terminates at Avtogara Serdika (Serdika Bus Station), Blvd. Knyaginya Maria Luiza 102.

This is where it gets confusing, because Sofia has three places with similar names:

alexander nevsky cathedral sofia, Credits: kanpoan.net

If you have read that you are arriving at "Serdika", you are arriving at the bus station next to the railway station — not at the metro station in the middle of town.

The practical upshot is good news. Avtogara Serdika sits about 150 metres from Sofia Central Railway Station and about 130 metres from the Central Railway Station metro stop, so you can transfer straight onto the metro, a tram or a city bus without needing a taxi.

From Central Railway Station, the M2 reaches Serdika metro station in the city centre in around five minutes — and Serdika is where you change for the direct line to Sofia Airport Terminal 2.

One honest note: the area immediately around the station is a little scruffy. It is functional rather than pleasant, and it is not somewhere you need to linger — the metro entrance is close enough that you can be on your way within a few minutes of getting off the bus.

Where this fits in a longer journey

This leg connects two parts of the Balkans that are usually planned separately.

Coming from the south: Athens to Thessaloniki, and Athens to Delphi, are covered in our separate guides. The same Union Ivkoni line that brought us north actually originates deep in the Peloponnese.

Continuing north: From Sofia, buses run onward to Belgrade, and from Belgrade the Belgrade–Bar railway takes you to the Montenegrin coast.

Chained together, that makes a continuous public transport route from Athens to the Adriatic — four countries, no car, no flights.

Also from Sofia: our guides to Mount Musala via Borovets and to Panichishte cover the mountains within easy reach of the capital.