Things you need to know before you travel to Romania
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If you are planning a trip to Romania and don’t know much about this country, this travel guide is for you. This is an introduction article where I will share with you which activities you can plan, when to visit, and how to travel inside Romania.
I don’t know what you heard about Romania so far, but it’s so much more than Dracula’s castle. I lived in Romania my whole life and still, I discover a new place or spot every year. I plan to do an entire series promoting my country because I feel like Romania is one of the most underrated countries in Europe.
Consider this article an introduction to this beautiful and amazing land of gorgeous landscapes and phenomenal cities that is Romania.
What is the national currency?
The currency of Romania is LEU/LEI. To have an idea 1 Euro is about 5 lei. To calculate the exact conversion check out the official rates published by the Romania National Bank. Paying by card in Romania is very common. However, there are small restaurants or places located in the non-touristic area that don’t offer this option. To avoid embarrassing situations, if you don’t have cash on you, ask the staff or owners if paying by card it’s possible before you book or choose to eat in a certain place.
Is Romania cheap to visit?
Oh, definitely! Compared to the Western European countries, Romania it’s somewhat cheaper to visit. To have a general idea, with 1 euro you can buy 2×0,5 bottles of water.
Some cities are more expensive than others, due to the huge number of tourists that visit them frequently. Expect to pay more in cities like Bucharest, Cluj, Brasov (which is close to the famous Count Dracula’s Castle), and Sibiu (a very popular medieval city that also hosts one of the best Christmas markets in Romania). On the other hand, there are cities like Timisoara, and Oradea that are less expensive.
Which region should you visit in Romania?
Aside from Bucharest, the capital of Romania, you can visit a lot of amazing and unique places that gather our culture, history and faith.
Here is a list of some of my favorites:
📍Maramureș and Bucovina – located in the northern part of the country, they’re two of Romania’s most tradition- and culture-focused regions, which in this country also translates to delicious foods. Just picture this: awe-inspiring landscapes, virgin forests, beautiful and unique monasteries, small traditional and rustic houses, folks in traditional dresses, and a lot of hiking trails. Sounds pretty amazing, right? I think these are my favorite parts of the whole country.
About Bucovina, I wrote an article with all the things you can do and visit. Check it out here.
Important cities close to this area: Suceava, Sighisoara, Baia Mare and Satu Mare.
📍Ardeal – located in the western part of Romania, it’s probably best known for its very welcoming and polite people, great food, beautiful cities and architecture, and a lot of amazing landscapes.
Important cities close to this area: Cluj-Napoca, Oradea, Timisoara, Arad, Hunedoara and Deva.
📍Danube Delta – the second largest river delta in Europe and the best preserved on the continent. It’s host to 23 natural ecosystems and home to unique, beautiful birds and luxurious vegetation.
Important cities in this area: Tulcea and Constanta.
📍Prahova Valley and Oltului Valley – are popular because they’re close to Bucharest and easy to reach by car. Aside from hiking trails and beautiful landscapes, these valleys also feature monasteries and famous castles and ruins.
Important cities city in this area: Sinaia, Predeal, Azuga and Brasov.
📍Transfagarașan and Transalpina – are two extremely famous and spectacular roads that can only be seen by car. Their landscapes are truly unique and breathtaking, while the roads offer a lot of scenic overlooks and amazing photo-ops.
Important cities in this area: Sibiu, Alba Iulia and Deva.
📍Bucharest (București) – the capital of Romania. A beautiful city with beautiful parks, interesting historical buildings, and a long list of tourist attractions. It also has some interesting architecture that speaks to Romania’s history.
What activities can you do in Romania?
Maybe you are wondering what you can do in Romania, and what activities you should include in your travel itinerary. No matter what your preferences are or what travel style you have, Romania has something for you, for sure. From hiking wonderful mountain trails, visiting medieval cities to discovering interesting facts about Romania’s traditions and culture, here are some top activities to choose from, when you visit Romania:
🏰Visit medieval cities: Brașov, Sighișoara, Sibiu, Sebeș, and many more.
Each one of these towns has something unique and majestic. While roaming their streets, you will lose yourself in the history and culture of each location. The Gothic architecture, colors, and styles paint a picture that is sure to transpose you to another era.
🏰Exploring castles, ruins, and citadels: Peleș Castle, Bran Castle, Râșnov Citadel, Corvinilor Castle, Alba Iulia Citadel, and many, many more.
🏖Sunbathing and swimming by the Black Sea
The Back Sea Coast offers beautiful beaches, clubs, and a “party all the time” kind of vibe. Not my personal favorite, but it attracts thousands of foreign tourists during the summer season.
🛥Boat trips on the Danube Delta or along Danube Gorges also known as The Danube Boilers
While the Danube Delta will offer a lot of bird-watching opportunities and fishing activities, in The Danube Gorges you will see spectacular views of rocky mountains and hidden caves that can only be reached by boat.
⛰Hiking in the Carpathian Mountains
They offer countless mountain trails for every level, for waterfall chasers and cave explorers alike. Depending on the place you plan to visit, do a little research beforehand and find the closest trail. Some of them take up to 6-7 seven hours and are recommended only for trained hikers or mountain climbers, but there are plenty of trails that are quite easy to hike and which don’t disappoint in terms of spectacular scenery.
⛄Winter sports
If you are a fan of skiing or snowboarding, plan to visit Romania during the winter months and go directly to mountain resorts like Paltinis, Sinaia, Busteni, Predeal and many more.
💧Take advantage of the miraculous effects of thermal waters
Are you looking for a treatment for your tense muscle or just to relax and enjoy the benefits of thermal waters? Include on your itinerary a visit to resorts like Baile Felix, Baile Herculane, Baile Tusnad, Sovata and many more. Some of them offer a complete heaven of activities and facilities like: spa, indoor and outdoor thermal pools, sauna, aromatherapy, beauty treatments and hot mud baths. Sounds dreamy, right?! I would love spending some days in a place like this.
🍲Eat traditional food and taste local drinks
Yeah, you “heard” me, eating food is an activity. Joke aside, in Romania food can easily become a very important part of your travel experience. In regions like Bucovina, Maramures and Ardeal you can taste traditional home cooked dishes with local products.
Also, you can choose wine tasting at old castles or try the traditional “visinata” (in english you can call it cherry brandy) and “tuica” (brandy). In a sec I’m going to tell you all the important dishes. Anyway, whatever you choose to do or to visit in Romania, don’t forget to include tasting traditional dishes on your itinerary.
What to eat in Romania?
Told you I was going to tackle the food subject.
Here is a list with the most popular Romanian dishes:
- Tocinei (Hash browns): in Bucovina they are served with butter and jam or with garlic sauce
- Zacusca (Vegetable spread)
- Sarmale (Cabbage rolls)
- Tochitura (Pork and sausage stew). This dish is a pork and sausage stew with cheese and eggs and served with polenta
- Bulz (Polenta with bellow cheese and bacon baked on the grill)
- Branza cu mamaliga (Polenta with sheep or cow cheese)
- Fasole cu ciolan (Beans with pork)
- Pastrama de oaie (Sheep pastrami)
- Ciorba de burta (Tripe soup)
- Ardei impluti sau dovlecei umpluti (Stuffed peppers or Stuffed zucchini)
- Mititei cu cartofi prajiti (Grilled meatballs served with french fries and mustard)
- Saramura de peste (Fish grilled on salt)
If you have a sweet tooth I also recommend you try out placinte cu branza (Cheese pies), papanasi (Cheese doughnuts), cozonac (Easter sweet bread -this is one of my favorites, it is prepared with a lot of cacao cream and walnuts).
How to travel through Romania?
In Romania, the most amazing and well-known regions are located in different corners of the country, and you can get there by car or plane.
Assuming that your first arrival in Romania is in Bucharest, the capital, here are some options that you can look into and book before your trip. And of course, depending on the city you choose to fly to, you can rent a car and go on road trips in that area.
- Internal flights:
In some cases, such as Bucharest-Cluj Napoca, internal flights are recommended, as Cluj is up to 7 hours away by car or 10 hours away by train from Bucharest.
✈Bucharest-Cluj Napoca (55 minutes) – from Cluj-Napoca you can rent a car and go to Maramureș (only 2h30min by car) or to the Apuseni Mountains, where you can go hiking, see some amazing natural parks and visit saline mines. Also, you can visit the historical city of Alba Iulia and Alba Carolina Fortress.
✈Bucharest-Suceava (1 hour) – from Suceava, you can rent a car and visit Maramureș, Bucovina, and part of Transylvania (for example, in 5 hours you can get to Sighișoara, a stunning medieval city).
✈Bucharest-Timișoara (55 minutes) – from here, you can visit Timișoara (of course) or you can rent a car and visit some other beautiful cities like Arad, Oradea, Hunedoara (with the famous Corvinilor Castle) and Deva (with its famous Deva fortress).
- Road trips:
If you choose to go road-tripping through Romania, keep in mind that the road infrastructure is outdated and underdeveloped here and there. Having said that, depending on where you choose to go, the views from the road are magnificent. You are going to forget about the bad infrastructure, I assure you. There are 4 types of roads: highways, European roads, national roads, and local roads.
🚙Bucharest-Constanța (approx. 2h20min), from Constanța you can visit resorts on the Black Sea Coast. You can also visit the Danube Delta, a further 1h40min drive away.
🚙Bucharest-Brașov (approx. 2h40min) – you can visit Prahova Valley, where you have several hiking trails to choose from, Sinaia (with Peleș Castle) and Bran (aka Count Dracula’s Castle), and, of course, Brașov itself, a beautiful medieval city.
🚙Bucharest-Transfăgărășan-Sibiu (approx. 7 hours in total) – it’s a beautiful road trip, that takes you across the Făgăraș Mountain chain (via the Transfăgărășan road). It’s fairly long though, so you’d need to reserve two days for it, but it’s so worth it!
🚙Bucharest-Cazanele Dunării (approx. 4h30min) – here you can visit the Danube Boilers and the Nerei National Park.
When is the best time to visit Romania?
🌳Summertime
During the summer, I highly recommend you visit the mountains, because they offer an escape from the hot weather and you also get to explore their rich nature. Summers in Romania are best spent hiking in the mountains, enjoying lovely picnics near a riverbank, and visiting castles, fortresses and medieval cities.
I know most people go to the Black Sea Coast (near Constanta) during the summer, and you can do that of course, but it’s just not my thing 😅. Also, I believe the best Romania has to offer lies in its mountain range, not by the seaside.
If you visit or live in Romania, and feel the same, please let me know in the comments, because I’m curious if I’m alone on this.
During summer time you can basically do every activity already mentioned in this article (excluding winter sports, of course).
If you choose to visit during this season, I recommend you do so in late may-early June, because things tend to get very crowded as the summer advances, with August being the peak tourist season.
❄Wintertime
If you’re into winter sports or you simply love a beautiful winter landscape, coming to Romania during the cold season is a great idea. Winter in the South of the country isn’t all that great, as it rarely snows enough to make a winter wonderland, so if you want to take advantage of the snow in Romania, I’d strongly recommend you head straight for the slopes.
Also, if you plan your visit in December, I highly recommend you visit the Christmas Markets. The best cities for that are Sibiu and Bucharest.
🌸Spring and 🍁 Fall
Romania’s weather in the spring and fall is not all that predictable, so please take this into account when planning your trip. However, nature is at its best in these seasons, with nature showing off its stunning colors, forests, and fields alike.
What to do during these seasons in Romania? Well, you can plan for every activity mentioned in this guide, but you need to pay attention to the weather conditions. In the beginning of spring if you are lucky you can also do some winter activities.
Fall is my favorite time for hiking 💖.
Where to stay in Romania?
The answer to this question depends on your preferences, budget or travel style. In Romania you can have all kinds of experiences in terms of accommodation.
You can book a luxury hotel with a spa and private pool, a countryside little house somewhere in nature, or a treehouse in the middle of the forest.
In the traditional regions of Romania, like Maramures, Bucovina, Transylvania usually you will find accommodation in family-owned cottages called “pensiune” or “casa” (Example: Casa Maria, Pensiunea Maria). In my opinion, these kinds of places offer a better experience and a more authentic way to explore Romania.
Some cottages serve home-cooked meals with locally sourced ingredients. You can be sure that the food there is better than the one served at a 5-star hotel.
When I look for accommodation in Romania I usually use Booking.com, because most of the places are there.
Is Romania a safe destination?
Maybe you are wondering why I put this question here. Debating this point wasn’t initially planned for this post, but while writing it I remembered a discussion that I had with another travel blogger two years ago. We were talking about Instagram and travel destinations and at some point, I asked her if she will plan a trip to Romania at any time in the future. And her answer surprised me, but not in a good way. She told me that she doesn’t plan to come to Romania because she heard that this is not a safe country. And I was…whaaat?! Why?!
Given this discussion, I figured it will be a good idea to include this aspect in my travel guide. If any of you also think or heard that Romania isn’t safe for travel, I hope your fears will disappear and you will reconsider putting Romania on your bucket list.
Romania is a friendly country. Especially in the more traditional regions (like Bucovina, Ardeal, and Maramures), the locals are warm, and nice and will go out of their way to please you and make you feel welcomed.
In Romania, there aren’t people with guns on the streets or terror attacks. Of course, in any place you go, you need to be careful and take all the precautions that will put you at ease. Don’t disrespect people or Romanian traditions and do a little research before your trip to make sure you understand some basic customs. But of course, all of this applies to any country to plan to visit.
If you are a solo female, keep in mind that there will be situations when some “men” will give you disrespectful looks or say dumb things when you walk by them, but most of them are harmless. Try to ignore them because they are just being stupid.
Bonus point: here are some cool facts about Romania:
🔥Timișoara was the very first European city to have electric illumination on the streets, in 1882.
🔥The Carpathian Mountains shelter approximately 400 species of mammals, including the black goat, a very rare breed.
🔥The statue of King Decebalus (the last king of Dacia – which later became Romania – who fought against the Roman emperors Domitian and Trajan) is the tallest rock sculpture in Europe and it is located at the Iron Gates, which forms the border between Romania and Serbia.
🔥The Romanian ruler Vlad Țepes was the inspiration for Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Vlad was known for impaling his enemies and leaving their corpses along the roads to serve as an example for others.
🔥Romania has a cemetery called the Merry Cemetery. Yep, you read that right. The place is full of brightly colored crosses that tell the stories of people buried there using humorous rhymes and irony, offering a different way of looking at death.
🔥You know me, I enjoy exploring narrow streets. Well, in the city of Brașov, you can find the third narrowest street in Europe! It’s called Strada Sforii (Rope Street) and it has a width of just 1.2 meters.
🔥The Romanian language is 1700 years old! I didn’t even know this one until recently and it’s mindblowing!
🔥The Palace of the Parliament (also known as the People’s House – ironically, since it was built during Communism), located in Bucharest is the second-largest building in the world, after the Pentagon in the United States. It is also the world’s heaviest building, made from 700.000 tons of steel and bronze. It has 1.000 rooms and is 12 stories tall.
🔥Peri-Săpânţa Monastery, in Maramureș county, is the tallest wooden church in Europe, standing at 78 meters. It was built all the way back in 1391.
🔥According to Top Gear, the Transfăgărășan is the most impressive road in the world. It crosses the Făgăraș mountains and its highest point is 2042 meters.
🔥Transfăgărășan is not the only impressive mountain-crossing road in Romania. In fact, one of the highest roads in the entire country is Transalpina, whose highest point is 2145 meters.