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Perhaps the best deals for flights can be found through Skyscanner and cheapoair.ca. For colleagues flying to Europe, it is often less expensive to have a flight to Sofia and then take a local flight to Varna or a bus directly to Albena (see below).

1. Sofia-Varna-Albena: You can take a flight, bus or train to Varna and then either (i) a bus to Albena or (ii) use the shuttle which we are trying hard to arrange (we hope it will be done).

Buses and trains for Varna can be taken from the Central Bus Station Sofia and the nearby Central Train Station in Sofia.

You can get to the Central Bus Station and the Central Train Station from Sofia Airport by bus 84 and by metro - Line 1 to metrostation Serdika and then taking Line 2 to the metro station at the Central Bus Station and the Central Train Station.

2. Sofia-Albena: In May there are only 4 buses a day leaving for Albena:

2.1. At 10:30 and 22:30 - Bus Company Union Ivkoni (as a final destination type Kavarna).

2.2. At 11:30 and 21:30 - Bus Company Grup / Etap (as a final destination type Kavarna). These two buses should be taken if for some reason you cannot use the buses of Union Ivkoni above; the reason is that the busses of this company use a bus stop that is ~ 1 km from the conference hotel.

Note: It is important that before taking a taxi (belonging to one of the three taxi companies listed below) you tell the driver that you are attending the Minkowski Meeting and ask him/her how much it will cost to Albena - it should be 30-40 BGN, which is 15-20 EUR. If you are asked to pay more, explain that the meeting's organizers received firm assurances from the taxi firms below that the fare would be 30-40 BGN. In the worse case take another taxi.

1. The company Triumf Taxi has a contract with Varna Airport and their cars are always waiting at the airport (look at their site to see how their cars look like). The taxi fare is 30-35 BGN (15-18 EUR).

2. The company Hippo Taxi offers to meet colleagues directly at the airport - the driver will hold a sign "Minkowski Meeting". The taxi fare is ~30 BGN (~15 EUR). If you prefer a taxi driver to wait for you, please email your flight information (number, arrival date and time) to office@hippotaxi.bg and explain that you are attending the Minkowski Meeting and that they made the offer to meet attendees at the airport.

3. The company OK Taxi. The taxi fare is ~37 BGN (~18-19 EUR).

To get an idea of how time is spent outside the conference room, here are some pictures of the free discussions at the Fourth Spacetime Conference held in the resort Golden Sands (~15 km south of Albena) in June 2016.

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You can withdraw Bulgarian leva (BGN) from banking machines at the airport or anywhere in Bulgaria by using your debit or credit cards.

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There are two, among the many, must-see ancient archeological sites near Albena (part of the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage) - the National Archaeological Reserves Kaliakra and Yailata.