Planning a 10-12 day trip to Romania this Fall and I'd love to get some input from folks.
We like culture, people to people connections, food & wine & beer, small towns, cobbled streets and natural beauty.
Our initial plan is to fly into Sibiu, avoiding Bucharest, and rent a car for our stay.
Sinaia, Brasov, Sibiu, Sighișoara, maybe Maramures.
@MODERATOR: "General Europe" is a weird place to post this, but there really isn't a better place that I can see.
We just returned from a 6 day bus tour of Romania with Gate 1 Travel, it was great.
It was at the end of a 7 day Danube River cruise from Regensburg, Germany to Budapest, Hungary.
We visited Timisoara (1 night) first, then Sibiu( 1 night), Brasov(2 nights), and Bucharest 2 nights.
We visited Sighisoara, Dracula's Castle and several other places in route to travel between these cities.
We did encounter a significant delay on the highway between Timisoara and Sibiu. It was highway construction. Also, may Romanian expats that live in Western Europe coming home we were told.
Traffic can be heavy on the Romanian highways, still, we did just fine and very much enjoyed our visit.
Romania seems safer than other countries we have visited in Europe.
The people are friendly and the language is similar to Italian and Spanish.
The food is good and everything is relatively cheap compared to countries like Germany and Austria.
We had nice hotels, not sure of the cost, since it was a group tour.
You've chosen some attractive destinations. I hope you can fit in Maramures. As a rural area, it's quite a different experience from what you'll encounter at most of your other stops. I especially liked the wooden churches.
Although Ceausescu wiped out much of Bucharest's historic architecture, I decided I had made a mistake by spending less then 2 full days there. I need to go back to explore the museums.
@acraven: Yeah, we have Romanian friends who loved their time spent in Maramures doing "folksy" things.
For an authentic Romanian experience I'd say don't get a car, use the Romanian Railways to get around the cities. Though, getting a car and driving from Cluj to Bucharest through valea Oltului is an experience in and of itself. So you got choices there.
Depending on where you land, you might go through most of the key cities, say Cluj, Iasi, Bucharest, Timisoara, Sibiu\Brasov and take your queues from those places once you arrive. There are festival in most places at different times throughout the month of June so use that as a reference.
On 2015 I found Romanian trains pretty rare and quite slow. It was sometimes better to use buses. But there was an odd process required for buying a bus ticket. You couldn't buy bus tickets online, and you couldn't buy them ahead of time at the bus station. You had to telephone the bus company to put your name on the reservation list, then you paid the driver when you took the bus. Perhaps that odd process is no longer required.
I managed the bus situation (kind folks made those phone calls for me), but I don't think the proposed itinerary is practical by public transportation in the allotted time. My yrip was longer, and I used a two-day tour (booked through the Retro Hostel in Cluj-Napoca) to see Maramures.
I'm a big proponent of public transportation and would travel that way in Romania again, but I would plan a much longer trip than Chris's to allow for the inefficiencies of train and bus travel.
Yeah, thanks for the suggestion, and I’m typically a fan of public transit on Europe vacations, but it doesn’t really work with our plan. Plus I’m excited about checking out the Transfagarasan road.
I think we’re focusing on 2 “bases”. Sibiu 2+1(3) nights, Brasov or Sighisoara 4 nights. Those 7 nights plus wandering Maramures?
I found an older thread that talks about the Maramures area https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/short-trip-report-of-romania. Any thoughts?
I think we’re focusing on 2 “bases”. Sibiu 2+1(3) nights, Brasov or Sighisoara 4 nights. Those 7 nights plus wandering Maramures?
We loved Brasov. I recommend you stay there. Sighisoara is a small town and we didn't see a lot of places to lodge there. Also, parking could be a problem there.
I would fly into Cluj-Napoca, there are more flights and the city is larger than Sibiu (even more rental car companies), placed in the Central Transylvania, good base (but not much to see) for starting/ending a tour.
I would do the following itinerary, as an intensive trip: Day 1 Cluj Napoca- Turda salt mine - 2 Alba Iulia (former Transylvanian capital, Vauban fortress, Roman ruins, medieval Cathedral) - Hunedoara Gothic Castle - 3 Sibiu Old City - 4 Brașov Old City - 5 still in Brașov, visit around Bran Castle, Peleș Castle and Prejmer fortified church or Zărnești Bear Rescue Center - 6 Viscri village - Sighișoara walled town - 7 Red Lake - Bicaz Gorges - Piatra Neamț - Gura Humorului - 8 the Painted Monasteries of Bucovina + Vama Egg Museum - 9 Bucovina and cross the mountains to Maramureș - 10-11 Maramureș (get a local guide there to discover the traditional life and crafts) - Day 12 Maramureș - Baia Mare - Cluj Napoca.
Or, this one, for a more relaxing journey: Day 1 Cluj-Napoca-Turda, 2-3 Sibiu, 4-5 Brasov, 6 - Bran and Peles, 7 - Viscri - 8 Sighisoara, 9-11 Maramures, 12 - Cluj Napoca.
