Taxis in Sofia: Fares, Apps and How to Avoid Rip-Offs

Taxis in Sofia are cheap, metered and easy to book from your phone, and a hop across the centre costs about €4. The catch is the small number of drivers who wait for new arrivals at the airport and the stations and charge what they like. I live here and take a cab most weeks, so this is what a ride costs in 2026, the apps I use, how to spot a licensed car and the scams to dodge.

How much does a taxi cost in Sofia?

A daytime ride in Sofia costs €1.50 to start and €0.75 for every kilometre, so most trips around the centre come to €4 to €6. Those are the rates on OK Supertrans's tariff page, and they match the average fare across the city.

From 10pm to 6am the meter runs on the night tariff: €1.70 to start and €0.85 a kilometre. Waiting costs €0.25 a minute, and OK Supertrans adds a €0.60 call-out charge when you order a car. A short cab ride costs about the same as a cappuccino here, about €3 to €4.

The city council sets a floor and a ceiling on the price per kilometre, and both went up on 1 January 2026, by 18.6%. A licensed cab must charge between €0.73 and €1.24 a kilometre by day and between €0.84 and €1.52 at night.

Taxi fares in Sofia for common trips

I worked out the distance rows from OK Supertrans's day and night tariff, so add a little if the car sits in heavy traffic or waits for you, and €0.60 if you ordered it.

The airport rows are OK Supertrans's own typical metered fares from the terminals, and the Boyana row is what I pay from the centre by day.

The cab I recommend most is the one out to Boyana Church, about 8 km south-west of the centre at the foot of Vitosha. It takes 20 to 25 minutes and costs about €8 to €10, and bus 65 from Krasno Selo metro stops right outside for €0.80 if you have more time than money. Central Railway Station is the dearest airport run on that list, and when I fly in to catch one of the trains to Plovdiv and the rest of Bulgaria, I take the metro instead: M4 to Serdika, then two stops on M2, for one €0.80 tap of my card.

If you ask a driver to wait while you run into a shop or a hotel, every 10 minutes adds €2.50. On a long wait, I pay and book a fresh car instead.

Taxi apps in Sofia instead of Uber

Uber doesn't operate in Sofia. The apps you'll use here call licensed, metered taxis from the city's own firms, so the tariff card and the meter still apply.

MOBY is a fourth Bulgarian taxi app, and I'd keep two of the four on your phone in case one has no cars nearby. The apps need mobile data when you're out, so if your UK plan charges for roaming in the EU, set up an eSIM before you fly or buy a Bulgarian SIM card when you land.

Booking through an app also gets round the language gap. Not every driver speaks English, and an app sends the address for you, where a cab hailed on the street needs it shown on your phone, ideally in the Cyrillic alphabet as well as in Latin letters.

How to spot a licensed taxi in Sofia

A licensed Sofia taxi has the firm's name and phone number on the doors, a taxi sign on the roof, a tariff card on the side window with the day and night prices, and a meter on the dashboard that the driver starts when you set off. If any of those is missing, I wait for the next car.

Most licensed cabs are still yellow with a chequered stripe, but the colour proves nothing on its own. The newer TaxiMe and Yellow! cars come in silver, green or mint, and anyone can paint a car yellow. A name that copies a big firm's, with a letter changed or a different typeface, is the classic disguise, so check the phone number on the door against the firm's website if a car looks off.

Read the tariff card before you get in, and look at the price per kilometre first. OK Supertrans's €0.75 by day is a fair benchmark, and anything above €1.24 by day or €1.52 at night is over the city's limit. Once you pull away, check the meter shows the day tariff before 10pm.

Taking a taxi from Sofia Airport

Sofia Airport has an official taxi desk in the arrivals hall of both Terminal 1 and Terminal 2, and the main taxi ranks sit right in front of each terminal. Order at the desk, keep the slip with the car's number on it, and walk out to that car. On OK Supertrans's typical fares a metered ride to the centre comes to about €13 to €14, which is the yardstick I hold any licensed cab to.

A pre-booked transfer only saves money if its fixed price comes in under the desk's metered fare. I'd book ahead only for a flight landing after midnight or a group with lots of luggage, when a driver waiting with your name on a sign is worth paying a little more for.

In daylight, with a small bag, the metro beats any cab. The M4 line leaves from beside Terminal 2, costs €0.80 and reaches the centre in about 20 minutes, and bus 84 runs from both terminals into the city centre about every 12 minutes for the same €0.80. If you land at Terminal 1, a free shuttle bus takes you to Terminal 2 and the metro, so you don't need a cab for that hop either.

Taxi scams in Sofia and how to avoid them

Sofia's taxi scams gather where new arrivals are: the airport, Central Railway Station and the Central Bus Station beside it, and the club streets late at night.

If a fare looks wrong at the end, take the car's number and the firm's name off the receipt and ring the firm's dispatch line. Keep 112, Bulgaria's emergency number, for real emergencies.

Paying and tipping in a Sofia taxi

Pay in euros. Bulgaria switched to the euro on 1 January 2026, and drivers expect euro notes and coins like every shop in town. I carry €10 to €20 in small notes for cabs, because breaking a €50 note for a €5 fare is a hassle for everyone.

Cards are hit and miss. Some cars carry a card sign on the door, like the Mastercard panel on the Yellow! cab in the photo above, but plenty don't, so I ask before we set off.

Tipping in Bulgaria for a cab means rounding up to the next euro. On a longer ride, or when the driver has carried heavy bags, I add a euro or two on top.

Ask for the receipt, a бележка (belezhka), every time and especially from the airport: it carries the firm's name and the car's number.

When I take a taxi in Sofia, and when I don't

I walk almost everything in the centre. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Vitosha Boulevard and the Women's Market are all within walking distance of one another, so staying in the centre means a weekend can pass without a single cab.

In the daytime, public transport is cheaper and often quicker than a car in traffic. A ride costs €0.80, tapping the same bank card all day caps Sofia's public transport at €2, and the Sofia metro runs from about 5am to midnight.

These are the times I always take a taxi:

• After the last metro. Once the trains stop around midnight, a cab home from a night out in Sofia is my default. A 5 km ride on the night meter costs about €6.
• To Boyana Church. I take a cab up for opening time, then walk about 25 minutes downhill to the National History Museum, which saves the second fare.
• From the airport late. The last metro leaves the airport at 11.38pm on weekdays, so a late flight means the desk and the meter.
• In a group of three or four. A 5 km daytime ride at €5.25 split four ways is about €1.30 each, not far off a metro ticket.