bxmtravel

Hello! I recently moved to Madrid, Spain to teach during a "free" year between my undergraduate career and medical school. My mom will be coming to visit me for 2 weeks in this month, March 2016. She has never left the USA (nor has anyone in my family with the exception of leaving for WWI, WWII, and the current wars in Afghanistan and Iraq).
The only thing that she has asked to see is Dracula's castle. Therefore, we are flying to Romania (OTP-Bucharest) from the 23rd-29th. So far I really want to visit Bran (Dracula's castle), Brasov, Rasnov, Sibiu, drive the Transfăgărășan, and visit Hunedoara if its not too much of a stretch.
I unfortunately can't see us going to all of these places because we will only have a car for 24 hours. Somehow I can't help but feeling like I'm missing someplace. What was your favorite place in Romania? Would it be probable to visit it? Which place could I possibly drop from the itinerary. And, lastly, would it be better to stay in Bran or Brasov- Bran is far cheaper but seems kind of boring.
Thank you in advance for your help! Planning out this trip well is really important to me.

Best,
Brianna

Michael

Why only 24 hours?

I think that there is a train from Bucharest to Brasov. Stay in Brasov and use the car to visit Bran and Rasnov. Take the train to Sibiu--beautiful town and an interesting skansen on the outskirt at the end of a tram line--but then how do you expect to leave Romania?

andy7

We visited Brasov and Sibiu, as well as Maramures and the small towns and wooden churches in the north. We were advised to skip Bucharest and stay in the north. Brasov and Sibiu are both very beautiful, and we enjoyed them very much. There is great history, friendly people, and wonderful streets to wander and explore.
We took the train to both cities. The train to Brasov from Maramures was slow, but we had a good time meeting people. The train to Sibiu was fine, and we got a Lufthansa flight from Sibiu airport via Munich, then back to NY.

tower

Brianna...24 hours with car is exceptionally limiting. If you can stretch to two full days, I can suggest staying in Bras(h)ov, quickly visit Bran castle to fulfill mom's wish. Drive to Bicaz Gorges and on to the famed painted churches of Bukovina. Stay overnight in Voronets (Casa Elena), then drive back to Bras(h)ov, train to Buchares(h)t, overnight, fly out next morning (there may be flights from Bras(h)ov to the west if the new airport has been built). Otherwise, incorporate the trains as suggested by Michael and Andy, along with a car for a day.

Having traveled Romania periodically since the 70's, I must say that few visitors realize just how big the country is in traveling city to city. Think twice the size of NY State, with mostly two lane roads, without thruways, Interstates, etc. Most recently I escorted 15 of my readership on a so-called footsteps tour of Romania (traveling with a rental minibus). Other than that I had always driven independently in that colorful, fascinating country. (See pix covering the aforementioned and some 70's and 80's pix tossed in).

tower

Pix covering first of two https://picasaweb.google.com/stuartt...Bukovina#Other part will be attached below

tower

Part Two
https://picasaweb.google.com/stuartt...ulgaria#Scroll down to #34 for Bicaz Gorges.

Whathello

I concur with Andy about skipping Bucharest.
I have been several times and been told some of it is nice but didn't see it !

Been told lots of other places are great.

thursdaysd

Bucharest isn't bad, but sounds like you are short on time. You don't need a car to get to Bran, Romania has trains and buses. I was not at all impressed with Bran castle, Peles is much more interesting.

The most beautiful sights in Romania may well be the painted monasteries in the north, for which a car would be useful.

For my most recent trip to Romania (skipping Bucharest) start here:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...omment-8952195

Or here with pix (links at the top of the page):

https://mytimetotravel.wordpress.com...utiful-brasov/