Sofia Gets Double-Decker Sightseeing Buses This Spring

Balkan Travellers, March 04, 2008

Starting in May, visitors of Bulgaria's capital will no longer have to depend on their own research, as they will be able to tour the city on special buses complete with a guide.

The red, double-decker buses with an open-air second level are already common in many cities around the world. Complete with a guide, they provide tourists with a quick and easy way to see and photograph a city's most popular sites and streets. During the summer months, these buses crisscross New York, Madrid and London, though the latter's public transportation buses are quite similar, albeit with a covered second level.

And, starting this spring, the company City Sightseeing Bulgaria will begin operating such routes around Sofia. Initially, there will be four trips a day, each lasting about an hour and a half, and tickets for adults will cost around 6 euro. The guided tours will be in Bulgarian, English and German.

Though the sightseeing buses are expected to start touring Sofia in May, City Sightseeing Bulgaria may also begin operation in April if the weather is nice, a spokesman of the company told media.

When the buses begin touring Sofia, they will surely be faced with one of the city’s biggest drawbacks: its nightmarish traffic. In order to ensure that the experience of tourists who ride on the buses doesn’t become one of torture, the buses’ drivers and guides will have to be true virtuosi.