Romania is a southeastern European country in the Balkans region. It shares the border with Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Ukraine, and Moldova. The country is famous for quite a lot of things – the Carpathian Mountains, Bran Castle or Dracula’s Castle, Transylvania region, authentic rural life, medieval towns, the beautiful capital Bucharest and the outstanding nature all over the country.
We were very excited to explore Romania and its astonishing places so let’s dive into the 12 things to know before traveling to Romania!
Disclaimer: These tips don’t necessarily cover all areas of travel as we traveled with a motorhome and didn’t encounter public transport between towns and experiences with different types of accommodations. But I hope that these tips will be helpful regardless if you are a vanlifer or any other type of traveler.
Driving in Romania
If you are planning on exploring the country by driving, keep in mind that roads are quite bad and muddy in places that are more on the outskirts of cities, especially after rainy weather. A few places that we wanted to visit that were almost impossible to get to with our motorhome was The Eternal Flame, just 56 kilometers from the city of Buzau and which we didn’t reach after all, Berca Mud Volcanoes, about 40 kilometers from the city of Buzau, and Geamana, the flooded village, and church by a toxic lake that we managed to drive to but the road was very bad and with our larger vehicle we felt quite unstable on the road.
If you are planning on driving in Romania, I would recommend researching the places that you want to visit beforehand and reading some reviews on Google Maps. If you are a more adventurous traveler and are confident on the road even in bad conditions, the places are definitely remarkable but also the areas may get very rural and it can take a while to get some help in case something unexpected happens.
Road vignette
A road vignette is a must for driving in Romania. You can purchase it online on the www.roviniete.ro website where you can easily select the type of vehicle that you will be traveling in and the period that you want to purchase the vignette for. For regular cars a 7-day vignette cost about 3 Euros and for a month – 7 Euros.
Getting to some places is hard
Some tourist places are hard to get to, not even considering the roads being bad. We had the most problems getting to Eternal Flame because of how bumpy and muddy the road was but also because the route to the Eternal Flame wasn’t walkable. There is a river that is between the road and the mountain pass up to the flames. In one place there is a questionable bridge but on the other side you need to cross a small stream that is a little deep and since it was wintertime, there was mud everywhere and the temperatures outside and the water wasn’t comfortable.
So because of all that, we just turned back, unfortunately. Which was very heartbreaking considering all the effort there was put into driving up to the place and walking those few kilometers but getting nowhere even close to the destination. I truly hope that in the future there will be some improvements in reaching the places that are worth visiting. Of course, right now it can be an adventure and you can visit these places for free but if it means that your car is at risk and there are little to no guidelines on how to reach the spot, then I believe it’s not so safe and unfortunately it can drive some visitors away.
Do you need cash?
For tourist places that are in nature, outside the cities, and require an entry fee, I would recommend having cash since they don’t accept credit cards. Otherwise, paying with a card shouldn’t be a problem in cities, restaurants, and shops. If you are planning on visiting Berca Mud Volcanoes, Scarisoara Ice Cave, and Merry Cemetery, you should have cash prepared for those places.
ATMs
ATMs are hard to find in rural places so I would recommend taking some cash while in the city before continuing the journey elsewhere. You can find ATMs without any extra fees, which also depends on the credit card that you use, but we also faced ATM fees at some places, such as by the Merry Cemetery in the Sapanta commune, the ATM that was the closest one by the cemetery, charged as a few Leu’s for the money withdrawal so I would recommend checking beforehand what places you are going to visit and research the available ATMs that would work for you best.
Internet
For the internet connection, we used a Vodafone prepaid SIM card for 29.83 Leu, or around 5 Euros. As it was the first time we bought a SIM card in Romania, we had an offer for 5 Euros, receiving 60 GB of data for internet plus 300 MB as a gift and 2000 minutes for domestic calls. We bought the card in a local Vodafone store in Bucharest where the employee immediately knew which plan to give us since we are foreigners and that we came to visit Romania for less than a month.
Is it safe in Romania?
Overall, we felt very safe in Romania throughout our two-week trip through the country. We usually researched our parking spots beforehand on the Park4Night App where we carefully read all the reviews of a place that we were interested in and selected only those that seemed safe for us. In Romania, we had great experiences and met kind people but wherever you go, something unexpected can inevitably happen to anyone therefore it’s very important to think about your safety at all times.
People
Romanian people, as the stereotype goes, are very welcoming people and that was completely true in our experiences as well. The people there were so kind, helpful, and friendly. We had so many people waving and smiling at us while we drove past them in our motorhome and that was so sweet and made us feel both welcome and thankful for their kindness.
Is it expensive to travel there?
Traveling through Romania is very inexpensive. We booked a hotel room for one night in Baia Mare to have a proper hot shower and a little rest from motorhome life (it can get tiring sometimes but we still love it so much) and the cost for one night was about 30 Euros in a very comfortable place with an available kitchen and the kindest host who introduced us to the area, the history and suggested a few places for us to visit nearby. Public transport, such as the metro in Bucharest, is very convenient and cheap as well – you can buy one ticket for about 3 Leu or inexpensive weekly or monthly passes for an easier travel experience.
Food
I loved the food in Romania so much. It is very cheap to eat and drink but of course, the prices may vary from place to place. You can buy delicious coffee even at gas stations which isn’t the case in a lot of countries and also some delicious and unique desserts. In a very rural gas station, we bought tiramisu which was made to look like sushi rolls and was amazing.
We also loved Noodle Pack, a fast-food restaurant that serves different kinds of noodles all over the country. It can get a bit pricey but it was the best option while exploring places and at the end of the day wanting a quick and delicious meal. I can’t even count the times that we stopped at Noodle Pack to grab a meal throughout our trip in Romania. So overall, food is very delicious, cheap and in a wide variety to choose from.
If you are looking forward to cooking yourself, there are many chains of grocery stores in Romania with high quality and a wide range of products and very affordable prices. As in most Balkan countries, we enjoyed the prices of food so much since in other European countries the prices can be higher.
Parking
Parking is very important for us since we travel with a motorhome and want to feel safe as well as have at least a decent view outside the window. In Bucharest, it was a little bit difficult to find a good parking spot but after studying the Park4Night App, we managed to park for free near a park, just outside the city center. In other parts of the country, we didn’t have much of a problem parking and staying for the night without any cost.
Romania is a great place for vanlifers to park overnight, more of course in the wintertime when the tourism has slowed down a little bit. But of course, if you are planning on a trip there and staying in your vehicle, make sure to leave the place clean after yourself and be respectful of the locals that live there for other vanlifers to also enjoy the freedom of parking and traveling without many restrictions.
Water
Unfortunately, we didn’t have any chance to fill up our motorhome’s water tank. It may be the case of water pipes being closed during winter but in any case, we relied only on the water bottles that you can buy at any grocery store. It isn’t the cheapest way of getting water but the most convenient way for us. If you are planning on staying at campsites and are looking to fill up water, make sure beforehand that the campsite offers water-filling options.
Romania completely changed our outlook on the country, making us fall in love with the views, people, culture, foods, and atmosphere. If you have a chance, make sure to visit this gorgeous country, nature, and city life. In Romania everyone can find something they will like and something so unique that no other country has.
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