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Weather and electronic tolls in Romania

Posted by (Poland) on

Hi everyone,

After doing a ton of research and comparing various rental platforms, I’ve finally locked in my car for my upcoming August trip to Romania! BTW, I booked a car via QEEQ using their $1 freeze just in case I need to tweak my schedule. Now that the car is sorted, after viewing a few social media content, I’d love to get some recent insights here, particularly regarding two things:

  1. About August weather and mountain passes: Since I’m traveling in August, what kind of weather should I prepare for, especially when driving through mountain roads like the Transfăgărășan or Transalpina? Are sudden storms or heavy fog common, and do they pose any major driving challenges? So should I prepare something for driving safety?

  2. About rovinieta: How does the electronic toll system work for rental cars in Romania? Do I need to purchase the Rovinieta online or at local gas stations myself? Do you have any suggestions for that? I am still checking some relevant information from QEEQ.

THX in advance

Best regards,

Micha

Posted by
12682 posts

Micha, I can't help with question 2, but I think you should be fine weatherwise in August. We hit some snow in early October when we were driving on the Transfăgărășan road, and I've heard that you can get some in September. But I would just keep an eye on the weather. There are always alternate routes you can take if snow does come (which I think is unlikely).

Posted by
26 posts

THX for your patient reply, Mardee. I'll definitely keep an eye on the weather forecasts. But how to decide the alternative route, maybe just following the real-time navigation is fine? Really appreciate your help! XD

Posted by
12682 posts

Yes, I think that Google Maps would route you the regular route, and not over the Transfăgărășan Highway. At least when I was messing around with it before we left, that’s what it looked like to me. And of course you can always manipulate it so it takes you that way. I know that our driver wasn’t sure whether we should go because he wanted to make sure that they weren’t going to close the roads while we were up there, so he was talking about taking the regular route.

I don’t know much about the other road, but I would think that you could also do the same. And with regard to storms and such, I really don’t remember any major storms. I suppose you could have some, but usually the rain would come fairly gently or heavily and would stay for a while and then go away. I think the hardest rain we had was in Bucharest on the day we left for Brasov and it was coming down pretty hard, but it wasn’t a storm.

Posted by
1763 posts

I drove for 9-10 days in Romania in April and didn’t encounter any electronic tolling system. Not sure what this is and when I picked up the car from Avis/Budget at Cluj airport there was no mention of anything else and no extra charges when I returned the car at Bucharest airport.

Posted by
26 posts

@Mardee THX, Mardee. Hope that I could avoid bad weather. I feel like, If any hits, safety first. Maybe it's all part of trip experience. XD THX again!

@Arnold THX, Arnold. That really helps. I can only guess all tolls were included in rental fee? Maybe I should not worry about this.

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