Which roads require a vignette
Bulgaria's electronic vignette (e-vinetka) is issued by the National Toll Administration, a specialised unit of the Road Infrastructure Agency (API), through the bgtoll.bg portal. It covers the paid part of the state road network defined by Council of Ministers Resolution No. 680 of 2022: motorways, first-class roads and second-class roads, and has been fully electronic and plate-based, with no sticker, since 1 January 2019.
Only motor vehicles with at least four wheels and a maximum permissible mass of up to 3.5 tonnes need the e-vignette. Vehicles with fewer than four wheels, such as motorcycles, are exempt, along with agricultural and forestry machinery and vehicles of the emergency services, armed forces and Ministry of Interior. Vehicles above 3.5 tonnes are not covered by the vignette at all and use a separate distance-based toll instead.
Vehicle categories and validity periods
Bulgarian law defines one light-vehicle band for everything up to 3.5 tonnes, so there are no height or engine classes as in Slovenia: a car, a van and a category M1 motorhome are charged on the same official tariff. If a car and its trailer together weigh more than 3.5 tonnes, the trailer needs its own matching vignette regardless of axle count.
Bulgaria offers weekend, weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual validity, and since 3 February 2026 also a one-day option valid for 24 hours from activation, aimed at short transit trips. See the price table above for the periods you can order here.
Bulgaria adopted the euro on 1 January 2026, so vignette tariffs are now set in euro rather than leva. On 1 August 2026 the government raised all vignette tariffs by around 30 percent, the first increase since the electronic system launched in 2019, with the extra revenue earmarked for road maintenance and safety works.
Buying and activation
The Bulgarian e-vignette has been digital-only since January 2019: there is no sticker to display, and validity is checked electronically against the vehicle's registration plate. Buying through Vignette ID follows the same logic — the vignette is registered to your plate, payment is by card, Apple Pay or Google Pay, and activation is normally completed within a few minutes of payment being verified. No account is required, and you can choose a start date in advance; a Flex add-on lets you change the registered plate after purchase for a fee.
If a vehicle's registration plate changes after a vignette has been bought, the owner must notify the Road Infrastructure Agency within three working days, giving the chassis number and old and new plates, so the remaining validity can be moved across.
Fines and enforcement
Enforcement is carried out by the National Toll Administration together with Ministry of Interior traffic police, using a nationwide network of fixed cameras and mobile patrol units that read plates automatically. A driver stopped without a valid e-vignette can pay a lower compensatory fee on the spot or settle it by bank transfer within 14 days; introducing this compensatory fee did not remove the underlying fine for non-payment.
If neither is paid in time, the case proceeds as a full administrative fine, which is set in law at a fixed amount for vehicles up to 3.5 tonnes and several times higher for heavier categories. Bulgaria switched to the euro on 1 January 2026, so check the current figure on bgtoll.bg rather than relying on older leva amounts. Either way, buying a vignette as soon as you notice the gap, and paying the compensatory fee if you are stopped, costs less than letting the case become a fine.
Tolls not covered by the vignette
The e-vignette only covers the paid road network of motorways and first- and second-class roads; it does not cover every river crossing to Romania. Both Danube Bridge 1 at Ruse-Giurgiu and Danube Bridge 2 at Vidin-Calafat charge their own separate crossing fee, paid online through the Customs Agency's portal rather than through bgtoll.bg, so a valid vignette does not cover the bridge crossing itself.
Heavy goods vehicles and buses over 3.5 tonnes do not use the vignette at all. Since 1 March 2020 they pay a distance-based, GNSS-tracked toll on the same road network, charged per kilometre and varying by weight, axle count and emissions class, with a prepaid single-journey route card (valid 24 hours) available for occasional trips.