Data for Sofia, Plovdiv, the Black Sea and the four hours between the Serbian and Turkish borders, installed before you leave. Bulgaria is on the Europe plan and the Balkans plan, and both carry straight on into Türkiye — nothing to change at Kapıkule.
The Bulgaria plan covers Bulgaria only.
The same 10 GB in a package that keeps working past Bulgaria.
Europe · 10 GB · 30 daysBulgaria + 38 countries10.99€$12.99£9.39CHF 10.99+3.10€ vs Bulgaria only+$4.00 vs Bulgaria only+£2.60 vs Bulgaria only+CHF 3.50 vs Bulgaria only
Balkans · 10 GB · 30 daysBulgaria + 10 countries22.99€$26.99£19.99CHF 21.99+15.10€ vs Bulgaria only+$18.00 vs Bulgaria only+£13.20 vs Bulgaria only+CHF 14.50 vs Bulgaria only38 other countries share the package with Bulgaria. A few of them:
What's included, when it starts, and how to get connected.
Bulgaria’s vignette is electronic and tied to your number plate: buy it on bgtoll.bg or in the official BG TOLL app, not on look-alike sites that add a fee. Since 1 August 2026 a one-day vignette costs €5.30 and a weekly one €10. The ministry picked the date on purpose — August has the most transit traffic, so foreign drivers carry more of the rise.
Since 1 January 2025 there has been no passport control between Bulgaria and Romania or Greece. The Serbian and Turkish borders are Schengen’s outer edge: full checks, and the EU’s Entry/Exit System for non-EU passports without an EU residence permit. The lev went on 1 January 2026. Prices are in euros, and the national bank swaps old leva free, with no deadline.
Bulgarians shake their heads to say yes and nod to say no — the no often a single upward jerk of the chin, the same one Türkiye uses. Nobody warns you until a waiter shakes his head at your order and then brings it anyway. Listen for da (yes) and ne (no), and trust the words over the head.
English borrowed yoghurt from Ottoman Turkish in the 1620s. The bacterium that makes it, Lactobacillus bulgaricus, was identified in 1905 by Stamen Grigorov, a Bulgarian medical student in Geneva, so both ends of the Kapıkule queue have a claim. Japan settled it its own way: Meiji has sold a yoghurt called simply Bulgaria since 1973. Try kiselo mlyako, the sour original, before you pick a side.
Sunny Beach, planned in 1958, is now the biggest resort on the Black Sea: 5 km of hotels and an August to match. About an hour south, past Burgas, Sozopol’s old town sits on a rocky peninsula first settled by Greek colonists in the 7th century BC: wooden houses, narrow lanes and sea on three sides. Staying in Sunny Beach anyway? Nessebar’s old town, on UNESCO’s list since 1983, is at its southern end.
For most people who use onesim here, Bulgaria is the last country before Türkiye on the Sıla yolu, the summer drive from Germany. Kalotina to Kapitan Andreevo is about 350 km. The line below is an illustration, not a map.
1The border with Serbia is the edge of Schengen, so expect passports, customs and, for most non-EU passports, the Entry/Exit System. Have the e-vignette before you get here. Coming through Romania instead, you cross the Danube at Vidin or Ruse and meet no passport control until Türkiye.
2Past Sofia on the ring road and east on the Trakia motorway. Plovdiv is the stop worth making: an old town on three hills, a Roman theatre that still stages concerts, and the cafés of the Kapana quarter, just off the motorway. Often called Europe’s oldest continuously inhabited city, it has seen worse traffic than yours.
3The Maritsa motorway runs right to the gate. Kapitan Andreevo–Kapıkule is the busiest road crossing into Türkiye, and in July and August the wait swings from minutes to several hours; nights usually move faster. Check a live wait-time map before the last fuel stop, and keep water in the car.
4Half an hour past the border, the first Turkish city. By now the phone is on a Turkish partner network: the same package, the same allowance and nothing restarted, whichever of the two plans you bought. Istanbul is about 240 km further on.
eSIM for TürkiyeHow the plan fits this route
Both plans cover this stretch and carry straight on into Türkiye. The Europe plan also covers every country behind you, whichever way you came — Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, Serbia, Romania — so it is one package from home. The Balkans plan starts at the Croatian, Serbian or Romanian border. A German SIM roams at home prices in the EU countries; Serbia and Türkiye are where it charges.
Guide: Germany to Türkiye by carAnswers about data, coverage and setup for Bulgaria.
Yes, on either plan. Bulgaria and Türkiye are both on the Europe plan and on the Balkans plan, so after Kapitan Andreevo the phone picks up a Turkish partner network within a few minutes and the same allowance carries on to Edirne, Istanbul and beyond. Nothing restarts at the border. If the queue is long, share the connection with the back seat — hotspot is allowed on every package.
For Bulgaria itself, usually not: it is in the EU, so a German, Austrian or Dutch SIM roams like at home within its fair-use limit. The package earns its keep on either side of it. Serbia and Türkiye are outside the EU, and a European SIM charges its non-EU rate there. Drivers with Swiss, UK or Turkish SIMs are usually charged for roaming in Bulgaria too.
The Europe plan covers every country on every version of the road — Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria and Türkiye — on one package. The Balkans plan covers Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria and Türkiye, plus Kosovo, which the Europe plan does not, but nothing north of them. Each package starts only when the phone first connects in a country on its own list. Guide: Germany to Türkiye by car
