Fastest€55.60
- Turkish Airlines TA614218:361h 4m19:40Istanbul SAWSofia SOF
Door to door 4h 14mCO2 127.2 kgChanges 0Fixed, no changes
Istanbul to Sofia flight
Flights from Istanbul to Sofia start at €51.47 and take 4h 14m at their fastest.
The Flights from Istanbul to Sofia starts at €51.47 and takes 4h 14m door to door, run by 2 operators over 517 km, with around 11 departures a day. Fares bottom out about 60 days before departure.
- 4h 14mDoor to door
- 1h 4mMoving
- €51.47From
- 127.2 kgCO2
The cheapest and the fastest on September 22, 2026
Two journeys we can sell today, with the service number each operator files them under.
Airlines
Speed, flexibility and what is on board. Nothing here is a rating, because we have not earned one.
| Operator | From |
|---|---|
 Pegasus Airlines | €49.11 |
 Turkish Airlines | €50.29 |
Sofia is big enough that where you sleep decides what the days look like. We sell the seat, not the room.
Rooms within reach of Sofia Central
Sort by distance from Sofia Central and you can see which places are ten minutes on foot and which are not.
Search Sofia on Booking.comOr compare on Expedia
Partner links. We do not sell accommodation. We earn a commission when a booking completes, and it never changes what you pay.
When to book Istanbul to Sofia
The same search run across the whole booking window, so the shape of the curve is visible rather than described.
- €24.3890 days
- €22.7360 days
- €24.3845 days
- €26.0330 days
- €27.6821 days
- €24.3814 days
- €27.137 days
- €42.533 days
- €42.531 days
- Cheapest lead time
- Fares bottom out around 60 days ahead, at €22.73.
- How much it moves
- The gap between the cheapest and most expensive lead time is 87 percent. The most expensive point is €42.53, 3 days out.
- What that means
- Today sits inside the cheap window, which closes about 60 days before departure. Waiting from here has usually cost money on this corridor rather than saved it.
Which departure day costs least
Median cheapest fare for each weekday, taken across the next three weeks of real prices.
- €31.53Sun
- €29.33Mon
- €27.13Tue
- €29.88Wed
- €37.03Thu
- €33.73Fri
- €33.73Sat
Where you leave from and where you arrive
The stations, airports and ports each mode on this corridor actually uses.
Istanbul
Air
- IST
- SAW
Sofia
Air
- SOF
What the journey actually looks like
Direct or connecting, how far the route really runs, and what happens when a connection is missed.
- Direct or connecting
- 78% of the services we sell on this corridor run through without a change. The remaining 22% involve one connection.
- How far it really runs
- The route covers 517 km against 502 km in a straight line, a detour of 2 percent. Track and road geometry account for the difference.
- Where the change is
- Connections are made at Varna, Bursa, Bucharest, Craiova. The gap between arriving and leaving is 90 minutes, of which about 14 is walking.
- If the connection is missed
- The tightest connection we sell here has a 11 percent chance of not being made on the timetable alone. Part of this journey is a self transfer between separate tickets, so leave more time than the minimum and expect to check in again.
- First and last departure
- The first service of the day leaves Istanbul at 06:20 and the last at 18:38, across 11 departures. The return direction keeps its own timetable, so the times back are not these times reversed.
Flights against the other ways to make this journey
The same corridor, door to door, with every mode that runs it.
| Mode | Door to door | Moving | At the ends | From | CO2 | Per day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flight | 4h 14m | 1h 4m | 3h 10m | €51.47 | 127.2 kg | 11 |
| Coach | 7h 25m | 6h 41m | 44m | €24.38 | 13.6 kg | 6 |
Questions about Istanbul to Sofia
The questions people actually ask about this trip, answered from the same prices and times the page above is built on rather than written once and left to go stale.
How long does the Flight from Istanbul to Sofia take?
The Flight from Istanbul to Sofia takes 4h 14m door to door, of which 1h 4m is spent moving. The route runs 517 km. The difference between the two times is reaching the terminal and leaving it at the far end, which every time on this page includes.
How much does the Flight from Istanbul to Sofia cost?
The Flight from Istanbul to Sofia starts at €51.47 for one passenger, checked on September 22, 2026. A typical fare is €60.91. Both are the total including taxes, supplier fees and our service fee, so the price here is the price at checkout.
Who runs the Flight from Istanbul to Sofia?
2 operators run the Flight from Istanbul to Sofia: Pegasus Airlines, Turkish Airlines. Between them they file around 11 departures a day. The operator table on this page compares them on fare, journey time, cruising speed, fare conditions and what is provided on board.
Which terminal does the Flight from Istanbul to Sofia use?
The Flight from Istanbul to Sofia leaves from Istanbul SAW and arrives at Sofia SOF. Allow about 3h 10m for reaching the departure terminal and leaving the arrival one. That time is already inside every door to door figure quoted on this page.
Is the Flight the best way from Istanbul to Sofia?
Traveling from Istanbul to Sofia by Coach costs €24.38 and takes 7h 25m door to door, against 4h 14m by Flight. Which is better depends on whether the money or the hours matter more on this trip. The comparison table on this page shows every mode side by side.
When should I book the Flight from Istanbul to Sofia?
Fares for the Flight from Istanbul to Sofia bottom out around 60 days ahead, at €22.73. The gap between the cheapest and most expensive lead time across the window is 87 percent, measured on September 22, 2026. Booking inside the final week has consistently cost more.
How much CO2 does the Flight from Istanbul to Sofia produce?
The Flight from Istanbul to Sofia produces about 127.2 kg of CO2 per passenger over 517 km, which works out at roughly 246 grams per passenger kilometer. That figure is for the whole journey and for one traveler, not for the vehicle.
Where these numbers come from
Observed service A carrier record shows this named operator serving this named pair, and we carry that through unchanged.
Schedules, seat counts and fares are generated by our own model until the supplier contracts are signed. Places, coordinates, operators, which operator serves which pair, and every distance are real. We would rather say that on every page than let a modeled number pass for a filed one.
Defined in full at Door to door, Fares, The booking window, Carbon
- On this page
- Every figure above was computed for Istanbul to Sofia on September 8, 2026: 517 km of route against 502 km in a straight line, 11 services a day, 2 operators, a cheapest fare of €51.47, and 4h 14m door to door on the fastest mode. The return direction is computed separately and its numbers are not these numbers.
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SOF is not in Sofia, and the drive in from it is the part of the trip nobody plans. We sell the flight and stop at the terminal door.
Getting from SOF into Sofia?
A price agreed before you fly, a driver at arrivals, and a car big enough for the bags.
Book a ride from SOF with Welcome PickupsOr check Daytrip
Partner links. We do not operate transfers. We earn a commission on a booking, and the fare is the same as going direct.