worldview

how's this idea? since i'll already be in budapest, i'm thinking of renting a car and driving to northern romania for a day trip before heading up to krakow...has anybody done this/any advice?

flanneruk

I'm not sure what you're thinking of doing.

First, finding anyone prepared to do a one-way rental Budapest-Cracow (I've no idea where 'Krakow' is. I assume you think that's the English for Poland's second city. It's not) will be tricky, and will carry a substantial (hundreds of euros at least) surcharge. You'll probably want to drive back to Budapest at the end. Second, you might find you're not covered for taking the direct route from northern Romania to Cracow across Ukraine, so you'd have to come back to Miskolc to get to Poland through Slovakia.

You'll be sharing that road both ways with an AWFUL lot of lorries: this is the worst bit of the extremely densely-trafficked road route from Turkey and Romania to western Europe. The Budapest-Oradea-Miskolc drive is going to take up a very considerable (and unpleasant) amount of time, leaving you only enough time in a day to say you've been to Romania.

Personally, I'vc never seen much charm in the bits of Romania immediately round the Hungarian border. To see the nice bits of Transylvania, you need more than a day (the roads aren't getting much better, but the traffic's getting a lot thicker), and more than that to get over to the west.

worldview

I was not planning a drive to Cracow from Romania, I was going to do this by train. However, you seem to have some experience in this area, and i've taken your advice into considersation. Right now, my cousin and I have 19 days to plan for. I'm currently planning to visit Prague, Budapest, Cracow and Warsaw - is there anywhere else you would recommend stopping off, or am I already trying to pack too much in? Also, i'm planning to use train to travel between cities. The only car rental idea I had was from Budapest to Romania, and this seems ridiculous after reading your response...any input is helpful, thank you.

Michael

I drove from Budapest to Romania but returned the car in Budapest. There are hefty cross-border fees under other circumstances.

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34659808

hopscotch

I drove from Romania to Budapest years ago after driving across Romania. It was a good road, better in Hungary. The truck drivers were serviced by young ladies at every highway rest stop in Hungary, or were the girls standing out in the middle of nowhere just for the fresh air.

As for spelling, Michelin and Thomas Cook use Krakow. I'd go with these experts.

Clifton

It would be a pretty long day trip. A couple of rental agencies in Budapest seemed to allow the crossing if you were coming back. Very very true about the drop charges by the way, even if you do pick up or drop off in cities the English can't spell. If you're set on the idea, look into AutoEurope.com for a Budget supplied car. AE's agreement with Budget was allowing the Romania crossing, if pre-arranged, where booking directly with Budget would not. Neither would any of the other majors. Local Budapest agencies would work with you on it, but not being multi-national, I can imagine that they'd not be open to their car being left in Poland.

Personally, I feel the distance from Budapest to anything interesting in Northern Romania -presumably Maramures - would require longer than a "day trip". First, it's not a short drive. Second, Maramures is a countrysode and small village cultural sort of place. Not really too many drop-in and take a quick look "sites". Maybe the cemetery in Sapanta comes closest, but you really should do at least a little driving and walking in some of the villages if you're going to bother to go at all. Overnight and a substantial portion of one day's light at the very least.

walkinaround

>>>>
I've no idea where 'Krakow' is. I assume you think that's the English for Poland's second city. It's not
>>>>

how embarrassing to be chastising someone like this when it's you that is wrong. either spelling is acceptable in the english language. as usual, you look like a fool.

look at the guardian, the times, ft, wsj, nytimes....all use krakow. even the economist uses it (although they can't seem to be able to decide which spelling they want to use).

worldview

Just to make sure everybody understood my initial idea. I was going to drive from Budapest to Northern Romania, stay there for a day or so, and then leave the car there and continue my travels via train to Krakow (or Cracow). Since I posted this blog, I now realize that this won't work. I will have trouble renting a car in Budapest and dropping it off in Romania. Therefore, I'm wondering if you think this trip is worth while using a train or some other mode of transportation? We could spend a day or two there, but this may bite into our time in other cities, and I don't want to try and jam too much in.

Clifton

You're right in that leaving it in Maramures wouldn't work. No where to leave it up there. And as far as I know, there's not a lot of train links in that area. I saw one track going from Cluj to Sighet, not sure that it's conencted to Hungary at all. But - just a thought - and I've got nothing to back it up but a suggestion to look into it, but look into whether you could re-enter Hungary with the car and drop in Nyiregyhaza. It's a fairly good size city with a nice enough center, not far from the border really and I think on a decent size train line. If you can find a company to both let you take the car into RO AND will let you drop in (please don't make me type that again..) then you're home free. You could probably connect to the main Budapest - Krakow line by changing in Miskolc (a not at all very nice city, lol).

Maramures is, I think, one of the most interesting corners of Europe I've seen. Probably staying that way because it IS so hard to get to.

But if you are finding it not worth it, consider Eger in Hungary. A nice town worth an overnight that *is* on your way.

gpotvin

We flew into Prague in 1998 and spent 5-6 days including a drive to Cesky Krumlov and Telc. We then took a night train to Krakov and after 3-4 days took a night train to Budapest. The trains are an easy way to save time, but go first class- it is inexpensive and quite comfortable. We went on to Trvana, (oldest city in Slovakia) before finishing with 3 days in Vienna.

The Eurail pass for this area was fairly inexpensive ($200 =/- for five days- don't know what it is today) and when you travel at night you only need to use one day if you leave after 7:00 pm (I believe).

This was a trip of about 18 days and was done with ease.

Prague is fairly easy to do on foot as are Krakov and Budapest. Did side trips to Auschwitz-Birkenau and salt mines (Krakov).

gpotvin

Just checked Eurail and there are fewer options at first glance. Might be able to do point to point and do as well.

JToronto

I am trying to work out a trip in the same area. We want to go from Krakow to Maramures (Satu Mare etc.) in Romania. Here is what I've learned so far: apparently there is a direct train from Krakow to Kosice (Slovakia) and possibly on to Miskolk (Hungary), but it only runs July/August. At other times, one can take the train Krakow to Zakopane (3 hrs), a bus across the border to Pobrad, Romania (2 hours), a train to Kosice (1 hr) and on to Miskolc (not sure but likely about 2hrs). From Miskolc there is a train to Debrecen and from there to Satu Mare (possibly one change required after Debrecen). It's a bit involved. Clearly one would do all of this only if interested in seeing something along the way, otherwise much better to fly to Bucharest and rent a car. We are considering doing it in 3 days: day 1, Krakow to Pobrad, visit the famous Spiss castle (largest ruined castle in Europe) and maybe the town of Badejov. Day 2, Pobrad to Miskolc, short onward train journey to Tokaj, Hunbary, visit wineries. Day 3: back to Miskolc and continue to Satu Mare. Has anyone been to this part of eastern Hungary/Slovakia? If so please advise if these are the best sights enroute and whether you think it's all worth it.

Michael

JToronto,

To visit Maramures it might be worthwhile to rent the car in Budapest (see my trip report). Thrifty had the lowest cost and no restrictions about going to Romania; Autoeurope tacked on a hefty insurance fee. Such a rental, if it can be taken to Romania, probably can be taken to Slovakia too. We visited Slovakia back in 1975 and were fascinated by the Ruthenian chapels (photos: http://www.photoworks.com/members/sl...007&key=mksfca )

The Michelin map of Slovakia has a little symbol for these churches, so that finding them should be easier than when we looked for them.

Clifton

I couldn't tell you about most of your itinerary, other than having been to a couple of the places in Hungary and Maramures (Tokaj, etc)

I just thought I'd point out that both Miskolc and Satu Mare are heavily industrial and not what I'd consider as touristic or scenic in anyway. Perhaps you were only thinking of them as transition points.

The Bukk Hills are pleasant though, just east of Miskolc if you have a car for a country drive (say, enroute to Eger). You might be better off staying in Tokaj or Sarospatak, just thinking alternatives.

In Maramures, Sighet makes most sense IMO as a base to see the traditional villages nearby, if not doing a homestay directly in one of the villages.

JToronto

thanks Michael and Clifton! Yes, neither Miskolc nor Satu Mare are actually on my desination list, but after a lot of digging they seem to be the right "transition points" if we want to use the train. I'm assuming there must be buses or mini-buses, too, but it is more difficult to get advance information about routes. I thought perhaps once we arrive in Romania we might be able to rent a car (? in Satu Mare - haven't looked into this yet, though) to visit the Marmures villages. Thanks for suggesting Sighet as a base. We're trying to avoid Budapest as have been there previously. But, as I am learning, the "obvious" route on the map isn't always so feasible in practice.

Michael

We rented from the airport and by-passed the city altogether. Would there be a cheap flight from Krakow to Budapest? As you say, the "obvious" is perhaps not the most feasible--or logical.

Lexma90

Were you maybe referring to Poprad, in Slovakia? If so, it is also not a very scenic city, and is industrial. If traveling by train, how would you get from Poprad to Spissky Hrad?

If you were able to rent a car from Zikopane through the Romanian portion of your trip, it might be easier. That way, you could stay in Levoca, which is much prettier than Poprad or Kosice, when you're in eastern Slovakia.

Also, if you are in the right part of eastern Hungary, Eger is a very pleasant town to visit.

FrankS

Question

For those who have done this, about how much did it cost you to rent including any extra insurance?

Michael

540€ ($585 according to my Visa bill) for a three week rental four years ago. Thrifty in Hungary (not going through the U.S. offices) gave me the best price. The car was brand new, so that told me that if I had any breakdowns, they were covered by warranty. I just had to call Citroën, as if these dealerships were common in Romania.

FrankS

Michael
You got a good deal. I priced it a couple years back. With my 3 day quote, I figured it would be cheaper to hire a few dozen Rumanians to carry me to Bucharest & back.