While Romania doesn't have as much to offer as many other top European destinations, I am surprised that Rick has no information on visiting Romania. Or, did I overlook it somewhere?
Romania has great mountains and natural landscapes, great hiking, pleasant countryside, fairytale villages, mighty and historic castles and palaces, a Black Sea coastline, and a bird-lovers' paradise in the Danube Delta.
Where's the love for Romania?
Romania, Lithuania and Iceland are all huddled together in a dark corner like small children, waiting for some light to be shed on them in the form of a guidebook. At which time they will then become grown-ups and get their own forum.
Obviously, if Mr. Steves doesn't mention this "Romania" of which you speak, it must not exist.
I wish you luck but be careful what you wish for.
Rick Steves has the good sense to write in detail only about places he personally knows and likes, but these places only stay on his radar if he can find an audience for his work. I have noticed that he has added places from time to time, only to drop them from future books if the buying audience is not large enough to support the effort. Now I wish he would drop Germany's Rottenburg, I mean Rothenburg, Italy's CT coastal towns and France's Colmar so they can return to their natural state.
Most of what I know about Romania is from "Dracula," but I would still like to visit the country some day. If I live long enough to do so, I will visit Romania someday, after doing more research online and in the guidebooks of other travel writers, assuming RS still ignores the country.
My question, however, is where's Luxembourg?
Oh thou of little knowledge and scant experience. We have been to Bucuresti and have a young friend there. Next month we will be in northeastern Romania visiting her parents and seeing the painted monasteries. My German grandfather and some of his relatives and like minded Germans emigrated to South Dakota from a village in Dobruja. You get out of a journey just what you put into it. If you expcect to be entertained you might as well not go.
Now, that would be very interesting, historically, to see the region of the Dobruja.
We visited the old village in Dobruja where the Germans emigrated from. The ones that stayed were moved back to Germany by the Nazis in 1940. I have relatives in both groups. The name of the village is Terraverde and some of the old German houses still exist. One that had been owned by one of my grandpa's uncles is now a tavern.
We went to Constanta by bus from Bucuresti. The Ibis hotel there found an English speaking driver who took us to Terraverde so we could stomp around in the old cemetary and take photos of the church and other buildings. The terraine is flat and not very scenic. Its no wonder they moved to South Dakota.
On our next trip we will drop into northern Romania from Ukraine and visit the cities of Suceava and Botosani, visiting the painted monasteries and the parents of our friend.
I'm just now at the part of the book, Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945, where it points out that the Soviets had 1,600,000 military in Romania and Hungary in the late 1940's.
I haven't been to Romania, but wonder whether there is a Cold War legacy, from the huge presence of Soviet military at that time, something that would still affect the country.
It's 60 years ago, but I wonder if it has an effect on Romania, even today.
I visited Romania a few years ago and it was a fabulous trip. I flew into Bucharest and rented and car and just roamed around the country. Went to Constanta, the coastal area of the Black Sea, Brasov, Singashora, Timosara and of course the area of Transylvania and Dracula's Castle. It was a wonderful trip. I think it is very underrated and have to say it was on of my favorite trips. The people were very friendly and it was so interesting to see the culture and the remains of the grey apartments from the Soviet era.
I was wondering that same thing. I'll be leaving for Romania soon and am much looking forward to my trip through Transylvania and Maramureș!
I don't think love has anything to do with it. It's just a business decision and the expected payoff isn't there at the moment. Rick would have to personally visit and establish relationships with local tour operators and develop contracts (and revenue sharing) from scratch. This costs time and money and some risk. Rick doesn't even do nearly enough to plug a neighboring country where he does have a scheduled tour - Bulgaria. I'm actually a bit surprised that, without much marketing at all, this tour is almost all filled up for all the dates. My guess is it's because it's lower priced and there are some tour alums who have done multiple "major tours" (the not off the beaten path places) and are looking for something different.
@ Alyson...Good that you're going through Transylvania, the most interesting part of Romania in my view where you'll see some of the select towns from a historical perspective.
Rick and his "Eastern Europe" co-author have enjoyed other parts of Romania better than the city of Bucharest. We recommend Lonely Planet and Bradt guidebooks for this area. There does usually have to be a significant travel market to warrant the investment of time and money that new books and TV shows require. Some RS books already published might not continue to exist without a certain irrational commitment and the support of a larger program. I think Scandinavia is in this category (a small seller but takes as much work as any other destination), therefore it's not updated as often (new edition due out in June).
I absolutely agree that if you visit Romania that you must venture outside of Bucuresti. In fact, you can have some fantastic itineraries flying in and out of Budapest and never stepping foot in the Romanian capital. However, flights to Bucuresti can be less expensive, there's still something to see in Bucuresti, and you're only a couple of hours from...
Brasov, which would be my vote for the best basecamp. It has a great old town and a funicular to Mt. Tampa, around which the city wraps. Day trips to Peles Palace, Bran, Sighisoara, Sapte Scari, etc.
Other top spots would be: Sibiu, Corvin Castle in Hunedoara, Timisoara, Cluj-Napoca, Piatra Neamt, and the Painted Monasteries (albeit a trek to get to Gura Humorului - but the drive from Gura Humorului to Cluj is wonderful)
