We have a Gate 1 tour that spends almost a week in Romania.
Any tips on visiting that country. We have been to Bulgaria and the people were friendly. Had no problems there.
Concerns about pickpockets?
Currency to have ready, dollars or Euros, aside from the Romanian Leu?
Tips on dining, what dishes are special?
I have nothing useful to contribute, but I do wonder why the Forum doesn't include the country "Romania".
Rick doesn't yet have a tour that goes to Romania. That's the only reason I can think of. It is an extremely interesting country.
I spent 17 days in Romania in 2015, but used only public transportation aside from a two-day small-group tour of Maramures, so I didn't move around very fast.
I observed nothing that made me nervous about crime, but I'd have said the same thing about Bulgaria up until I was pickpocketed in Veliko Tarnovo. Romania is a not a wealthy country, so it would be logical for any thieves present to target tourists. But serious thieves have probably moved west.
I used only Romania lei (singular leu, I think), except I think the tour I took was priced in euros (but I paid by credit card). If you see any appealing handicrafts, you'll almost certainly like the prices.
At the time of my visit, Romania wasn't blessed with tons of creative restaurants. It appeared (and I think Rick has commented on this) the local folks mostly could not afford to eat out. Unless you head to a tourist-oriented place, you may not have a lot of interesting options. If you're really interested in food, I think you'd be smart to do some pre-trip online research. It's not that the food is bad (one exception noted below), but that the selection is limited. Your tour will probably take you to places where you won't be fed solely chicken and lamb kebabs.
I'm sorry that I don't know what the local specialties are, except that bread rings similar to Turkish simit are widely available in Romania. I don't remember what they're called. They're sold from early in the morning at a lot of bakeries, sometimes from a window open to the sidewalk. Some are savory; others have sweet fillings (coconut, chocolate, sweetened cheese). They were all yummy.
The one bad experience I had was at a bakery in Cluj-Napoca. I bought a single carry-out serving of tiramisu. I don't remember the cost, but it was cheap--maybe about the equivalent of $1. It was dreadful. I'm confident there was no dairy product in that dessert. It tasted as if it was made in a chemistry lab.
Romania is fantastic! Bucharest is a really elegant city - it's still got a lot of decaying architecture - but what's been updated is gorgeous. I'm not sure this is dining - but Bucharest is full of excellent gelato. There are stores all over and the quality is extremely high - I am a serious gelato snob and I was so happy there. Assuming you're doing the Christmas markets tour, the Bucharest hotel is right near where we stayed - excellent area. There's a pedestrian street there - well, it's pedestrian on the weekends. It's seriously packed with people strolling, eating, relaxing. It's lines with restaurants. We had great pizza there twice.
We had our tour goodbye dinner here: https://cajubyjosephhadad.ro
It's about a 5 minute walk from your hotel. Fabulous food - mediterranean-ish.
