A vignette is required for every car on national roads and motorways. It is electronic and tied to the number plate: buy it online before you set off, or at a petrol station once you are here. Bulgaria has been fully in Schengen since January 2025, so arriving by road from Romania or Greece there is no longer a manned crossing to buy one at. There is no sticker to display, but there is no grace period either — cameras check plates.
Speed limits are generally 50 in built-up areas, 90 outside them, 120 on expressways and 140 on motorways, unless signed otherwise. The alcohol limit is 0.5 g/l and is enforced. Dipped headlights are required from 1 November to 1 March.
Roads vary enormously. Motorways are modern; a road marked yellow on the map may be a patched two-lane with no shoulder, and a gravel track to a monastery may be genuinely rough. Mountain passes close or need chains after heavy snow. Winter tyres are mandatory everywhere in the country, not only in the mountains, from 15 November to 1 March.
In Sofia and the bigger towns, street parking runs on paid zones, usually blue for the centre and green for the ring around it, paid by SMS or app, with the car's plate. Resorts charge for beach parking in summer.
In an accident, call 112. If anyone is injured, or if you need a police report for the rental company, do not move the vehicles.
