Travel to Burgas by road

I haven't but you will need winter tyres.

Thanks for the response.

@graemesaunders

I did it in December a couple of years back.

I had 2 summers (backs) and 2 all-seasons (fronts, driving wheels).

It was very mild, and I drove all the way without any snowy or icy conditions. And, as you're pretty much 99% on motorways, you can expect these roads to be very well cleared, the weather has to be pretty bad to cause trouble. And certainly it's extremely mild in Bulgaria right now, and the official winter tyre season is less than 2 weeks away (warmest September and warmest October on record, 20 degrees yesterday in Plovdiv).

However, if you hit snow/ice on the way then it certainly can get unpleasant with summers! :-)

In Bulgaria, my setup was definitely legal, as the winter season (mid-November on) mandates winter tyres OR all-season tyres OR summer tyres with very good tread (4mm). However, I think you will pass through countries that also have a winter tyres law (e.g. Germany, Austria). I'm guessing most mandate winter tyres OR all-season tyres (i.e. any tyre with snowflake symbol), rather than allowing for summers like Bulgaria. I don't know the exact law in these countries, but I know some have exceptions for foreign-registered cars, meaning it's merely a recommendation for a UK-plate car driving through, and some (e.g. Germany) don't have specific dates in their law, just specific conditions (snow, ice, slush) which means you can legally pull over and stop for a few hours/overnight until the weather warms up.

Because the last few years have been so mild, and I don't do huge mileage, I recently swapped my car to a new full set of all-seasons. This avoids the faff of changing over my tyres twice a year (and having a 2nd set of alloys).

If money is no object, and you want the safest (and legally most compliant) option, then put winter tyres on. I recommend you consider all-seasons too, because of the convenience issue discussed above. All-seasons are a compromise, they're not as good as summers in the warm weather, and not as good as winters in the cold weather. But in my experience, they were pretty good, hence my swap to a full set.

If you're a cheapskate, or you have an expensive vehicle (= expensive tyres), and you recently put new summers on (i.e. almost full tread), then it might be tempting to time your journey for when the 3-day forecast is looking mild, and just drive straight through (minimizing time in each winter tyre country) and keep your fingers crossed.  :-)

If you drive through Austria and have an accident without the correct tyres, you WILL have a heavy fine, and possibly your insurance will not cover you. Snow is already falling in parts of Austria.

Good info.. being a skier I think I'll stick to winter tyres in the Rila mountains .  The biggest problem there is when it freezes/thaws..  snow one minute and sheets of ice  the next ...   had a heart stopping incident in a car park in borovets .. just finished ski slowly reversing out of my parking spot an because the levels in the park are all over the place and down hill the front of the car started sliding down because it was wet when arrived and now frozen  . Stopped the car 2 inches from the car next to it ... Omg  thought I was gonna be paying for hire car repairs...  luckily the car park guys pushed my bonnet as I again reversed ..   problem solved .. I now carry a large bag of crystal salt in my boot  .. it's dirt cheap and got me out of a fews situations even on winter tyres which are great in snow but ice not so good ..  if you take a chance on summer tyres with that distance to go all I can say is take a Bible so you have a good supply of prayers

Many thanks to everyone that has replied. We will be traveling with some furniture in our Vivaro Van, so I think removing the alloys and fitting a set of steel rims with Winter tyres with a set of chains for peace of mind 😀

good choice, eastern europe weather can be so dynamic. i was in Samokov in mid november a few years ago building my fireplace and it was blue sunshine and about 22 degrees and loverly and warm   then out of  blue the tempreture plumited clouded over and started to snow heavy.   always plan for the worst and smile when its better

Iv been in Byala Varna on the black when its been -30...  Bulgarians start there winter preperations as soon as September without even thinking if its going to be good or bad, all you can hear is chainsaws piles of wood being delivered evrywhere . if the winter is good great but if its bad and you dont plan omg you can have a real life threatening problem.   In samokov being snowed in for days can be a problem thats real.  so food heating and water all need to be stored just incase