Hello, We are planning to visit Romania this April. We will be spending 2-3 days in Bucharest. We then are planning to rent a car and head north for 3-5 days. Any places we should see? Do you think a 5 day car rental is too short?? Thank you.
Posted by
Washington DC Region, USA
7049 posts
Transylvania seems like a natural area to visit although you don't need a car for the main cities (Brasov, Sighisoara, and Sibiu). But, with the car, you can see many of the out-of-the way sites such as smaller Saxon villages and have some lovely drives. The Bradt Guide Transylvania is an excellent resource. Please report back on your trip - I look forward to hearing about how it went (I was supposed to go this year but had to drop plans, sadly).
Here's another resource:
http://romaniatourism.com/
Posted by
Magyarország / Rep of Texas
17892 posts
I love Romania. I've "been driven" on the Romanian roads, but have never driven them ... not sure I would want to. Check the prices of driver/guides vs just renting a car. You might be surprised.
Posted by
Global
11 posts
My wife is Romanian and we live in Romania is the summers. Get out of Bucharest and go to Brasov and nearby Sinaia. Very beautiful!!!!! I would take a train, though. Romanian car rental companies are pretty tough. They will try to charge you for all kinds of damages, both real and imagined.
Posted by
Seattle
4637 posts
I agree with James. For a first timer is better to hire driver-guide with a car. You will see much more without learning from your mistakes. I visited Bucuresti, it's OK but I have seen prettier cities in Romania (and elsewhere), Black Sea shore, Transylvanian Alps, we did backpacking crossing in three weeks. Demanding but very beautiful, no tourists whatsoever, we met just few shepherds. I heard about other beautiful and more remote parts of Romania: Bukovina, Maramures.
Posted by
Ann Arbor, Mi
3696 posts
I rented a car in Bucharest and drove all over the country about 5 years ago. We loved having our own car, but I usually drive in most countries, as I like to be on my own schedule and do what I want. I am a photographer, so to be able to stop whenever I want is important. I found the roads to be perfectly fine with no driving problems whatsoever. Not quite sure where others have traveled. No problems when we turned in car. If you are worried just take photos of it at the beginning of trip. I even dropped at another location in Timisoara as we then took the train to Budapest from there. At one point we did have to drive the car onto a barge to get across a river as there was no bridge, but most of the countryside had little traffic and was marked with signage. I don't recall being lost. We went to Brasov, the Black sea coast, Transylvania (our favorite)
Sighisosara (sp). The people were so friendly to us and the food was fantastic. We did not have any reservations and had no problem finding nice hotels. The one thing is there really are packs of wild dogs roaming around and sometimes they did bark incessantly! It was such an interesting trip.
I agree to get out of Bucharest... we also visited Constanta, and it was nice, but much prefer the countryside.