Sibiu Romania to London

Lets see, 10 hours Sibiu to Budapest, 12 hours Budapest to Zurich, maybe 6 hours to Paris and another 3 hours to London.

For the reason James mentioned, you may want take a budget airline carrier instead. I doubt many people on this site would sit on a bus or train that long (it may be easy and safe and cheap, but it's just way too long).

I assume that you're still planning to spend about a month for this route, as on your recent question. Safety of train/bus/hotel travel should not be an issue. Unless you are Romanian, Romania is not particularly the easiest place to start a trip, but you can feel more confident about all of it by using a recent guidebook for that country.

The train ride through Austria to Zurich is quite scenic, but the mountain experience gets better if you can spend a few days to explore around Luzern or the Berner Oberland; see http://www.ricksteves.com/europe/switzerland for sightseeing highlights.

How to Look Up Train Schedules and Routes Online gives you the DB train schedule link and tips for using it.

Not really sure what was meant in that last post about Romania????? Romania in general is at least as safe as Barcelona. The trains aren't exactly first class and the busses are no better. I don't know your travel budget, or how much time you have. If possible a great route would be to first go to Timisoara for a night (great town) about 3.5 hours by car. Then on to Szeged Hungary (about 1.5 hours by car); another great town. Finally, on to Budapest by train. From Budapest you can get good flights or hop on a train to Zurich if you don't mind 12 hours on a train, but if you have the time there are a couple of good overnight stops along the way that will break it up.

Laura probably just meant that Romania has less developed tourist infrastructure than some other European countries, so there may be more problems with English not being widely spoken and culture shock if you arrive there as your first European country.

Part of the original question and my response are about something being easy. If you're looking for easy, Switzerland comes to mind. That doesn't mean that visiting Romania is not perfectly feasible and enjoyable, with the right attitude and hopefully preparation. I think "Is it easy and safe?" is basically the wrong question. You're better off asking, "Where can I find information to help me plan my trip?" The poster already got some responses to that on the earlier forum thread.

Philip, in rereading it I think you are correct.

Places like Sibiu are very much on the tourist circuit. You will not have much language trouble. What little you do have just adds to the flavor of the trip.

HI,

On traveling by bus: First of all, I have not done it in Romania so my response may not answer your question. But I have traveled by bus in France, Sweden, Poland, and Germany....all very satisfactory and pleasant, the most recent in Germany, then France. When considering going by bus, don't think American, ie that these buses are at the same as Greyhound. They're way superior to Greyhound.

You could do a combination of day train/night train and bus from your point of departure to Paris, where you take the EuroStar to London.

After you get to Budapest, take the night train Budapest to Munich, straight shot.

To add to Fred's list, I'll say that when buses have been more convenient than trains to connect some destinations in Britain, Portugal, Spain, Italy, the Czech Republic, Greece, and Turkey, I have found them to be fine and comfortable options. But I would prefer not to repeat 13 hours on an overnight bus.