🇵🇹 Cross-border drive · Portugal → Bulgaria 🇧🇬
Driving from Lisbon to Sofia
- Drive time
- 36h 49m
- Distance
- 3,535 km
- Same day?
- Split it
- 12 h+, plan a stop
- Fuel cost
- ≈ €526
- petrol · diesel ≈ €449
- Tolls
- ≈ €256
- mixed
- EV charging
- Plenty fast
- 20 of 83 ≥50 kW
On this page
Route map
Route options
Other paths OSRM found between the two cities — handy when traffic, tolls, or scenery matter more than raw speed.
Avoids motorways
+26h 15m- Distance:
- 4,010 km (+475 km)
- Duration:
- 63h 4m
Via: DN6 · 81 · N-122 · B 16
How else can you make this trip?
Driving is the focus of this guide; here's how cycling, coach, and (soon) train and plane stack up for the same pair.
36h 49m
3.535 km · €526 fuel
See details ↓
Not realistic
3.535 km is far beyond a typical multi-day cycle tour. Try a shorter pair like a day or weekend stage.
No direct service
Our coach data (FlixBus + BlaBlaCar) doesn't list a direct service for this pair. National operators (e.g., National Express in the UK, Eurolines feeders) may still cover it — check their site directly.
4h 44m
from €40
See details ↓
61h 49m
SNCF VOYAGEURS · DB Fernverkehr AG
See details ↓
Trip plan
How to think about the drive: one day, split, or overnight.
Overnight recommended
Too long for a single-driver day. Plan on 4 overnight stop(s) to do this trip right.
A natural overnight stop near the halfway point: Beausoleil (fr).
- Distance:
- 3,535 km
- Duration:
- 36h 49m (free-flow, no traffic)
Where to stop
Places along the route that make natural breaks for coffee, lunch, or a night.
-
Salamanca 🇪🇸 es
≈442 km≈ 32.4 km detour from the main route
-
Deba 🇪🇸 es
≈884 km≈ 4 km detour from the main route
-
Castelnaudary 🇫🇷 fr
≈1,326 km≈ 19.6 km detour from the main route
-
Peymeinade 🇫🇷 fr
≈1,768 km≈ 13 km detour from the main route
-
Borgosatollo 🇮🇹 it
≈2,210 km≈ 1.9 km detour from the main route
-
Litija 🇸🇮 si
≈2,651 km≈ 20.2 km detour from the main route
-
Ruma 🇷🇸 rs
≈3,093 km≈ 13.8 km detour from the main route
Key moves
Things to know before you set off — borders, sides of the road, tolls.
Multi-country chain · PT → ES → FR → IT → SI → HR → BA → RS → BG
You'll cross 9 countries on this drive — each with its own toll system, fuel pricing, and motorway rules. Skim the must-know section below before you set off, and have your registration plus insurance card in the door pocket for any roadside check.
Tolls on motorways in PT / ES / FR / IT / HR
Budget for motorway tolls — France, Italy, Spain, and Portugal charge per-km, Croatia and Greece by section. Contactless cards work almost everywhere; have one loaded.
Vignette required in SI / BG
Austria, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Bulgaria, and Romania require a sticker or e-vignette for motorway use. Buy at the border — missing one is a heavy on-the-spot fine.
Long rural stretch on RA13
Plan for about 16 km of two-lane country roads. Slower than motorway, but often the pretty part — fewer overtakes after dark.
Must-know before you go
The things a driver from another country wouldn't think to ask about — fines, stickers, payment cards, opening hours.
City access & emission zones
Madrid, Barcelona, Sevilla now run ZBE low-emission zones
Must knowSpain's Zonas de Bajas Emisiones (ZBE) cover central Madrid (24/7), Barcelona inside the Rondes (weekdays 7:00–20:00), Sevilla, Valencia and a growing list. Foreign plates need to register at the city portal in advance — your Euro emission class determines whether you get in. Without registration, cameras log entry and the fine reaches your home address.
Order your Crit'Air sticker before the trip
Must knowParis, Lyon, Strasbourg, Marseille, Toulouse and a growing list of cities require a Crit'Air air-quality sticker visible on your windscreen — even for a single drive-through. It's €4.51 from the official site and ships by post (allow 2–6 weeks abroad). Without it, expect on-the-spot fines from €68. Your registration document tells the issuer your emission class.
ZTL cameras read your plate from any country
Must knowItalian historic centres (Florence, Rome, Milan, Bologna, Pisa, Siena, Verona, Naples, Turin, Palermo and dozens more) are ringed by automatic Zona Traffico Limitato cameras. Driving in without a permit triggers €80–120 per crossing, and the fine reaches your home address up to a year later via cross-border collection. Treat any city centre as off-limits unless you've confirmed your hotel offers a permit, and ask the hotel to register your plate the day you arrive.
ZER Avenida-Baixa-Chiado — pre-2000 petrol, pre-2005 diesel banned
Must knowLisbon
Lisbon's Zona de Emissões Reduzidas covers the central historic axis (Avenida da Liberdade, Baixa, Chiado). Hours 07:00–21:00 weekdays. Pre-2000 petrol cars and pre-2005 diesels are banned 24/7. Foreign plates: register at the Câmara Municipal portal. Park at one of the EMEL underground garages and walk.
Tolls, vignettes & road payment
You'll hit three different toll systems on this trip
Must knowThis route crosses countries with mismatched toll mechanics — France's ticket-and-pay, vignette stickers, electronic-only stretches. There's no single transponder that works everywhere, but a Telepass EU device covers FR/IT/ES/PT and a Bip&Go covers the same plus a few more. For a one-off trip, contactless cards plus a Swiss vignette and Austrian e-vignette is the simplest mix.
A22 Algarve and ex-SCUT roads — electronic only
Must knowPortugal has two toll systems. Most autoestradas use a normal ticket-and-pay barrier. But the A22 (Algarve), A23, A24, A25 and A28 are "ex-SCUT" routes with no booths — only overhead gantries that read your plate. Without a Via Verde transponder or pre-registration, you have 5 days to pay at a CTT post office, or the fine reaches your home address. Easiest fix: rent a Via Verde Visitors transponder (€6/week) at the airport or border.
Contactless works at every autoroute booth
UsefulFrench autoroutes use a ticket system: take a card on entry, pay on exit. Every barrier accepts contactless tap-to-pay — pull into the "CB / bank card" lane (orange "t" logo means Liber-T transponder only, avoid those). For frequent EU travellers a Bip&Go transponder pays itself off in two trips by skipping the queue.
Telepass saves you the toll-booth queue
UsefulItalian autostrade work like France: ticket on entry, pay on exit. Contactless cards work at most modern lanes (look for "Carte" — avoid yellow "Telepass" lanes without the device). For long routes, a Telepass EU transponder works in IT/FR/ES/PT and pays for itself across two days; at minimum, keep your insurance card and registration in the door pocket — booth attendants occasionally ask.
Most Spanish tolls were abolished in 2024
TipThe AP-1, AP-7 (Bilbao stretch) and most of the Mediterranean coast highways are now toll-free. A handful remain: AP-9 (Galicia), AP-66 (León–Asturias), Catalonia's C-32/C-16 tunnel approach. Spain is no longer a high-toll country for cars — your fuel + a few specific bridge fees is the realistic budget.
What your car must carry
Hi-vis vest in the cabin, triangle in the boot
Must knowA reflective vest must be reachable without leaving the vehicle (in the door pocket or under your seat — boot is too late). One warning triangle is also mandatory. The 2012 breathalyzer rule was scrapped in 2020 but is still nice to keep. No spare-bulb requirement.
Hi-vis vest mandatory before stepping out
Must knowItalian law requires you to wear a reflective vest before exiting the vehicle on a motorway shoulder, day or night. One warning triangle in the boot is also required. Both items are typically €15 at any Autogrill or fuel station — don't arrive without them.
Driving rules & habits
Priorité à droite still applies in towns
UsefulOn urban streets without signs, traffic from your right has priority — even from a side street that looks subordinate. Outside cities the rule is mostly retired, but in residential French villages it survives. Slow at every right-hand junction unless a yellow diamond on your road tells you you're on the priority road.
Plan your stops, not just your finish time
UsefulOSRM gives you free-flow drive time. Realistic add: 10% on motorway-heavy routes, 25% if you're crossing two cities. Eat at off-peak hours (11:30 lunch, 18:00 dinner) — service-area queues at noon kill 20 minutes. EU fatigue research is consistent: 15-minute break every 2 hours, full 45-minute break before 6 hours. The drive between hours 7 and 9 is where avoidable accidents cluster.
Fuel stations
"Servito" pumps cost about €0.20/L more
UsefulItalian fuel stations split between fai-da-te (self-service) and servito (attended). The same station typically offers both, with attended pumps charging a 10–15% premium. Off-hours, attended turns into self-service automatically. If a pump is out of paper or won't take your card, try the next station — Italian banking sometimes refuses foreign chip cards on first attempt.
Rules, fees, and thresholds change. Always verify against the official source the day before you drive — this page is a checklist, not a legal reference.
Main roads
The highways this route spends the most kilometres on.
-
A3 —410 km
-
A4 Autostrada Serenissima404 km
-
A-62 Autovía de Castilla348 km
-
A1 Обилазница око Београда312 km
-
A 64 La Pyrénéenne286 km
-
A 8 La Provençale223 km
-
A 23; IP 6 Autoestrada da Beira Interior213 km
-
A21 Autostrada dei Vini149 km
-
A 9 La Languedocienne137 km
-
A 61 Autoroute des Deux Mers137 km
-
A10 Autostrada dei Fiori134 km
-
AP-1 Autopista del Norte126 km
Route character
How much of the drive is motorway vs. secondary vs. rural.
Motorway drive — fast, predictable, uneventful.
- Motorway
- 98%
- Secondary
- 0%
- Other / rural
- 2%
Drive difficulty
At-a-glance feel: how demanding is this drive for one driver?
Overall
Demanding
Tough drive — multiple complicating factors compound fatigue. Strongly recommend splitting across days.
- Long drive: 36h 49m behind the wheel at free-flow speeds.
- Cross-border: pt → bg. Keep documents accessible and check border rules.
Elevation profile
Highs, lows, and the total climb / descent along the route.
- Lowest point
- 4 m
- Highest point
- 918 m
- Total ascent
- ↑ 2,801 m
- Total descent
- ↓ 2,299 m
Fuel & tolls
Rough cost expectation for a typical EU passenger car. Treat as an estimate — pump prices change weekly.
Petrol (RON 95)
≈ €526
265.1 L × €1.99 / L · 7.5 L/100 km
Diesel
≈ €449
212.1 L × €2.12 / L · 6 L/100 km
Electric (DC fast)
≈ €348
619 kWh × €0.56 / kWh · 17.5 kWh/100 km
Public DC fast charging — slower AC charging at home or hotels typically costs about half.
Motorway tolls & vignettes
≈ €256
- PT — €0.09/km on the motorway network (≈ 403 km in-country ≈ €36)
- ES — €0.09/km on the motorway network (≈ 671 km in-country ≈ €60) Toll-free on the A-network; charged only on AP roads.
- FR — €0.10/km on the motorway network (≈ 671 km in-country ≈ €67)
- IT — €0.08/km on the motorway network (≈ 716 km in-country ≈ €54)
- SI — Vignette (motorway sticker / e-vignette) — €16.00 for 7 days Annual vignette is €117.50 if you drive often
- HR — €0.08/km on the motorway network (≈ 179 km in-country ≈ €14)
- BG — Vignette (motorway sticker / e-vignette) — €8.00 for 7 days Annual vignette is €51.00 if you drive often
Prices last refreshed 2026-10-12.
Fuel and EV charging along the route
Stations within a few kilometres of the road, sampled at evenly-spaced waypoints.
EV charging
20 at 50 kW or above (fast / ultra-fast).
Fastest first
- Hotel Lisboa (Zunder) 400 kW
- Fastned - Aire d’Ambrussum Nord — Villetelle 300 kW
- Allego - Aire de Nabrigas A9 — Lunel-Viel 300 kW
- Free To X AdS Stura Ovest — Belforte Monferrato 300 kW
- Free To X AdS Stura Est — Belforte Monferrato 300 kW
- Tesla Supercharger Gallargues-le-Montueux — Gallargues-le-Montueux 250 kW
- Electra - Cauneille - Intermarché — Cauneille 150 kW
- TotalEnergies - Relais Ambrussum Sud — Villetelle 150 kW
- PowerDot - Super U - Aimargues — Aimargues 150 kW
- Hotel Altis Grand Hotel — Lisboa 120 kW
- PowerDot - Boulangerie Ange - Lunel — Lunel 120 kW
- Parking Bila — Sofia 120 kW
Weather by month
Average daytime high / overnight low and typical monthly rainfall, over the past five years.
🇵🇹 Lisbon
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
16°
10°
|
17°
10°
|
17°
11°
|
22°
13°
|
23°
14°
|
27°
17°
|
29°
18°
|
30°
19°
|
26°
17°
|
24°
17°
|
19°
13°
|
15°
10°
|
| 113mm | 68mm | 98mm | 52mm | 20mm | 25mm | 6mm | 0mm | 29mm | 96mm | 110mm | 61mm |
hot mild cold
🇧🇬 Sofia
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
7°
-2°
|
9°
-2°
|
14°
3°
|
17°
5°
|
19°
9°
|
27°
15°
|
31°
18°
|
30°
17°
|
25°
13°
|
19°
8°
|
12°
3°
|
7°
-0°
|
| 45mm | 14mm | 51mm | 62mm | 102mm | 58mm | 18mm | 38mm | 28mm | 70mm | 99mm | 56mm |
hot mild cold
Next 5 days at Sofia
Live forecast — refreshes every few hours.
-
Sun 25
☀️
9° / 8°
—
-
Mon 26
🌧️
13° / 6°
17.4mm
-
Tue 27
⛅
10° / 4°
5.2mm
-
Wed 28
⛅
11° / 6°
10.3mm
-
Thu 29
⛅
14° / 9°
0.2mm
Forecast: MET Norway
Directions
Turn-by-turn summary of the main manoeuvres, generated by OSRM.
Show all 74 manoeuvres
- Praça Marquês de Pombal (Rotunda)
- Avenida Marechal Craveiro Lopes/2ª Circular 2 km
- Avenida Marechal Craveiro Lopes/2ª Circular 3 km
- Autoestrada do Norte (A 1) 94 km
- Autoestrada da Beira Interior (A 23; IP 6) 213 km
- Autoestrada da Beira Interior (A 23) 1 km
- Autoestrada das Beiras Litoral e Alta (A 25; IP 5) 35 km
- (A-62) 116 km
- Autovía de Castilla (A-62) 86 km
- Autovía del Noroeste (A-6) 2 km
- Autovía de Castilla (A-62) 64 km
- Autovía de Castilla (A-62) 75 km
- Autovía de Castilla (A-62) 7 km
- Circunvalación de Burgos (BU-30) 4 km
- Autovía del Norte (A-1) 7 km
- Autopista del Norte (AP-1) 83 km
- (A-1) 14 km
- (A-1) 9 km
- — 0.3 km
- — 0.4 km
- — 0.3 km
- (N-622) 0.9 km
- — 1 km
- — 0.4 km
- (AP-1) 43 km
- Iparraldeko autobidea (AP-1) 1.0 km
- Kantauriko autobidea (AP-1; AP-8) 42 km
- Kantauriko autobidea (AP-1; AP-8) 8 km
- AP-1 / AP-8 (AP-1; AP-8) 2 km
- Bizkaiko Golkoko Autobidea (AP-1; AP-8) 3 km
- Bizkaiko Golkoko Autobidea (AP-1; AP-8) 3 km
- Bizkaiko Golkoko Autobidea (AP-1; AP-8) 0.2 km
- AP-1 / AP-8 (AP-1; AP-8) 7 km
- Autoroute de la Côte Basque (A 63) 31 km
- La Pyrénéenne (A 64) 286 km
- — 0.4 km
- Périphérique Extérieur (A 620) 9 km
- Autoroute des Deux Mers (A 61) 137 km
- (A 61) 0.4 km
- La Languedocienne (A 9) 84 km
- La Languedocienne (A 9) 53 km
- (A 54) 72 km
- — 0.6 km
- Autoroute du Soleil (A 7) 11 km
- La Provençale (A 8) 206 km
- La Provençale (A 8) 17 km
- Autostrada dei Fiori (A10) 134 km
- Autostrada dei Fiori 9 km
- Autostrada dei Trafori (A26) 44 km
- Diramazione Predosa-Bettole (A26/A7) 16 km
- — 1 km
- Autostrada dei Giovi - Serravalle (A7) 8 km
- Autostrada dei Vini (A21) 149 km
- — 0.9 km
- Autostrada Serenissima (A4) 293 km
- Autostrada Serenissima (A4) 0.1 km
- Autostrada Serenissima (A4) 7 km
- (RA13) 16 km
- (A3) 12 km
- — 1 km
- (A1) 64 km
- (A1) 1 km
- Južna obvoznica (A1; A2) 8 km
- (A2) 104 km
- (A3) 305 km
- (A3) 0.3 km
- (A3) 93 km
- (A1) 33 km
- Обилазница око Београда (A1) 215 km
- (A4) 105 km
- Автомагистрала Европа (A 6) 51 km
- бул. Рожен 4 km
- бул. Рожен 1.0 km
- бул. Цар Освободител
By plane from Lisbon to Sofia
Indicative travel time on a non-stop flight, based on great-circle distance, average commercial cruise speed (850 km/h), and a 90-minute allowance for taxi, security, and boarding.
- Total time
- 4h 44m
- Door-to-door from :from airport.
- In the air
- 194 min
- At ~850 km/h cruise speed.
- On the ground
- 90 min
- Taxi + security + boarding (typical short-haul).
- Route
- LIS → SOF
- 2.755 km great-circle.
Indicative fare: from €40 — fares vary by season, day of week, and how far ahead you book. Always check the airline or a meta-search before planning around this number.
Show flight path on map
Estimate-only. We don't pull live schedules or fares for flights — see the methodology page for how this number is computed.
Air travel emits roughly 5–10× the CO₂ per passenger-km of rail for the same distance.
By train from Lisbon to Sofia
Fastest cross-border rail itinerary from the public Transitous planner. Times reflect a typical Monday-morning departure on the next available service-day.
- Fastest journey
- 61h 49m
- 11 changes
- Lead operator
- SNCF VOYAGEURS
- + 3 more
- Alternatives
- 3
- Itineraries returned by the planner.
Trains on the fastest itinerary
- TGV INOUI 12254
- ICE 9575
- ICE 599
- RE5 (79041)
All operators across alternatives
- SNCF VOYAGEURS
- DB Fernverkehr AG
- Bayerische Regiobahn
- OEBB Personenverkehr AG Kundenservice
Includes a high-speed rail leg (TGV, ICE, AVE, Frecciarossa-class).
Show route on map
Routing via the public Transitous OTP planner (community-run MOTIS instance). Cached 24 hours; verify on the operator's site before booking.
How this page is built
Compiled by COD Solutions Oy from open European data — OSRM over OpenStreetMap for the route geometry, Open-Meteo for monthly climate normals, OpenTopoData SRTM 30m for elevation, EU Weekly Oil Bulletin for cross-border fuel-price bands, and Open Charge Map for EV charging stations. See our methodology for refresh cadence and limitations.