The city's transport is run by Sofia Public Transport Company (tel: (02) 987 7187; website: www.skgt-bg.com), owned by the Sofia Municipality. It operates trams, buses and trolley buses. Trams operate from 0500-0100, while buses and trolley buses operate from 0500-2400. There are no night services. There is also a single metro line, northwest from ploshtad Sveta Nedelya to the Lyulin suburb. Plans to extend the underground system to the south of the city are making slow progress.

Tickets are sold at kiosks situated at the major bus stops or newsagents. Once on board, tickets should be validated using the metal punchers located near the windows - failure to do so risks a fine.

Passes or transit cards, valid for one day, five days or one month, are also available. Karta, coupons of 10 tickets, are valid on trams, buses, metro and trolley buses. A new stored-value E-card is due to be introduced in late 2007. Once topped up, the user then swipes it for each journey and the fare is deducted.

Much has been done to improve the reputation of Sofia's taxi drivers, who were said to overcharge foreign visitors. Since June 2000, all taxis are required to be yellow and operate by meter - but it's still worth checking to see the meter is on. Official charges are extremely cheap. The more reputable firms are Okay Supertrans (tel: (02) 973 2121; website: www.oktaxi.net), Taxi-S-Express (tel: (02) 91280) and Yes Taxi (tel: (02) 91919/009). Taxi ranks are located at strategic points throughout the city centre and taxis also ply the streets around the centre. A tip of 10-15% is common practice.

Sofia also has a fleet of privately run blue minibuses, known as ‘Marsh-route Taxis'. These cover wider routes in a prescribed pattern, can be hailed anywhere and drop passengers on request.

Negotiating the interweaving paths of pedestrians, cars, trams and buses during rush hour, which is at its worst in the evening 1500-1900, can be tricky. However, once away from the city centre, traffic runs quite freely along the wide, open boulevards. Street names outside the centre are almost exclusively in Cyrillic so, even with a map, orientation can be difficult for drivers who only read Latin script. Visitors should note that Bulgarians flash their lights to signal ‘get out of the way', not to give another motorist the right of way. Alternatively, this can be a warning: Police ahead!

Parking in the city centre is limited to two hours in designated blue zones, which are found on ploshtad Narodno Sabranie, ploshtad Alexander Batenburg and ploshtad Alexander Nevski. Vouchers are usually sold on the spot by parking attendants. The larger car parks are found on ploshtad Makedonia and in front of the NDK complex, ploshtad Bulgaria 1, Yuzhen Park. Visitors should avoid parking in restricted zones, even if the locals appear to do so. Sofia City Council is quick to use yellow wheel clamps on offending vehicles.

Car hire is not cheap in Bulgaria. In fact, this is one of the few things that cost more here than in most Western European cities. Cars can be hired by visiting drivers aged 21 years (23 years for some companies) and above, on presentation of a passport and valid driving licence (held for at least two years). A credit card number is requested and a valid international insurance policy is also necessary. Full insurance is advised.

International providers include Avis (tel: (02) 981 1082/3; website: www.avis.com), Europcar (tel: (02) 931 6000; website: www.europcar.com) and Hertz (tel: (02) 980 0461/1062; website: www.hertz.com), as well as several local operators.

There are no bicycle or scooter hire outlets currently available in Sofia. Sofia is so small and has such an excellent public transport system that bicycles and scooters are neither favoured nor required in the city. Anything that visitors would want to see outside the town involves mountains, which are unsuitable for bikes and scooters.