ROMANIA SUGGESTIONS
 

in early stages of planning a fall trip to romania....have never been there before and would welcome any suggestions you might have:

must sees
restaurants
hotels/home stays
car rental companies or experiences

will have about 15 days on the ground in romania so should be able to see quite a lot...will have a car for duration, except for our time in Buch. .....

all thoughts and suggestions are welcome...thank you

bob

My report might be of interest to you. It also refers youto Clifton's excellent report:

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

Covering new territory! I read a lot of your postings as we prepared for Thailand & Cambodia last year (much appreciated).

We drove as well. Rented a car from Budget in Budapest, through Autoeurope, and drove in and back out. Plan on slow driving... it's more difficult than, say, N. Thailand. I thought the main roads were mostly ok, but on secondary roads you'll go through a lot of villages and there will be horsecarts and livestock on the roads. Plan not to drive at night.

The Freytag and Berndt driving map of Transylvania (aka Erdely) was very useful, listing town names in Romanian, Hungarian and English (sometimes German) where applicable. It also had lots of symbols for scenic views, castles, churches, etc.

All from my own perspective of course on recommendations, but bear in mind we travel sort of a mid-range budget:

Must sees:

Sibiu - the 2007 European capital of Culture. Great city, unique architecture. Stayed at the Imparatul Romanilor hotel right in the heart of the old walls. A faded grand dame hotel, but thinking they may be fixing it up for the 2007 ECC events. Parking in the back.

Sighisoara - can't miss this. Best preserved town in Transylvania. Google for pics and you'll see what I mean. Stayed at a little b&b (breakfast was awful, room was very homey) called Legenda. www.legenda.ro

The Saxon towns with old walled churches - lots to choose from, with Biertan and Harmann being prime examples.

Sinaia - just inside Prahova, rather than Transylvania. Mountain setting, Palace Hotel seemed the best in town. Peles Palace and the monastary above town both beign interesting sites.

Bucovina - Walled monastaeries with central churches all painted top to bottom with external murals. Big wow from us on these. Each one, each in a neighboring town (Voronet, Sucevita, Humor, etc) has it's own theme and colors. No great hotel reco here, we stayed at a place called Casa Elena which we found on the fly. It was fine, but not flash.

Maramures - the most traditional part of Romania. Traditional clothing, traditional manual farming, fascinating wooden orthodox churches hundreds of years old. Will often have to find a villager to locate a caretaker who can unlock it for you. Or maybe locate a local guide to take you around. I'm thinking this would be a good place for a homestay. Wish we'd have done so ourselves.

I can't ever remember restaurant names, but there was quite a good one in Sibiu center with Mara in the name. Served traditional Romanian dishes and other dishes, and had some nice local white wines.

This was my excruciatingly long report, which convinced me not to write any more trip reports unless I had a month to spare:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34543931

Hi Bob,

Some suggestions:

In Bucharest, I would recommend to visit:
- take a walk on Calea Victoriei, to see the beautiful old buildings. You can walk till Sosea, to see the Arc of Triumph and to understand one of the reason that once Bucharest was named "Little Paris".
- visit the parks Cismigiu (in the centre of the city) and Herestrau at Sosea.
- visit Casa Poporului (try to make a reservation one or two days before)
- visit Royal Palace , now Art museum
- visit Cotroceni Palace (try to make a reservation one or two days before)

Restaurants:
Carul cu bere
Cina
La mama
Military restaurant
and many, many other.

In the evening go to a restaurant with live music or with cabaret program

Sightseeings:
http://www.romaniatourism.com/main.html

http://www.hotelnet.ro/bucharest-tours.htm

http://www.inyourpocket.com/romania/...1&chid=230

http://www.turism.ro/english/bucharest.php

http://www.gepa-group.ro/bucuresti.htm

map and list of restaurants and theatres
http://www.in-bucharest.com/en/gener...=6&AptID=5

http://www.rcmb.ro/

http://www.hotelnet.ro/hotels/bucharest/capsa.htm

http://www.romania4you.com/dining.htm


60 km north from Bucharest is Valea Prahovei, - Bucegi Mountains. The most beautiful stations here are Sinaia, Predeal and Poiana Brasov.
In Sinaia - visit the town, Peles Palace (the beautiful palace of the Hohenzollern king , take the cable car to 2000 meters for a nice view and for walking in the forest. Visit also Sinaia Monastery - beautiful example of the Wallachian - Byzantine architectural style

Brasov is a big city, visit the old church Biserica Neagra (Black Church), go to Cetatuie - have there the dinner with show (with artists from Opereta), etc. Go to Poiana Brasov (13 Km from Brasov, you can spend there 2 -3 days to rest in the beautiful forests).
From Brasov, go to Bran, to visit Bran Castle, built in the 14th century by the merchants from Brasov to protect the old border between Wallachia and Transylvania, also known as the Dracula Castle.

Then visit Sighisoara, the best preserved and continuously inhabited early middle age town in Europe and therefore part of the World Cultural Heritage. Make a n walking tour of fortified town of Sighisoara, including the famous Clock Tower, the History Museum and the Torture Room.

Then go to Sibiu - in Transylvania, then to Valley of Olt - very picturesque. Visit there Cozia Monastery

If you are interested about sea, you can go to Mamaia - at Black sea.

The Delta of Danube is an unique place in Europe, well known for the vegetation, birds and fishes. You can make boat cruises on the channels.

Anotehr option - visit Moldova, with the painted churches ,from 16th century - the paintings are on exterior walls.
Visit Agapia, Varatec, Voronetz Monasteries.
Then go to Cheile Bicazului (Bicaz canion) , Lacul Rosu (Red Lake).

http://romania.8k.com/Transylvania/
Transylvania has famous castles, citadels and fortified churches. The Fortified Churches were included in UNESCO patrimony.
Find visitors opinions about medieval towns at Sibiu-Travelogues, Brasov-Travelogues and Sighisoara-Travelogues.
Near Transylvanian Alps can be visited Dracula Castle situated in the town of Bran.
Sighisoara is renowned by its architecture dating from 14 century

http://www.romaniatourism.com/


I do not recomend to rent a car, but a driver with car.

Adrian45.

As someone who drove around Romania with little difficulty, I am curious to know why you keep on recommending a driver/car combination rather than a rental.

fabulous information....thank you all for it...

will take me until october to sort it all out...

would love more as well...

any specific hotel suggestions for bucharest?/ mid range....comfort of bed is #1....

thanks

Michael,

There are so many bad roads (with holes)! On roads between towns or villages are often people walking, or with bicycles without lights, or wagons with horses without any light, so I consider that is dangerous, if you are not familiar with things like this.

any additional suggestions??

Hotel suggestion for Bucharest: Hotel Elizeu www.hotelelizeu.ro. I stayed there 4 nights. Good price; highly competent and friendly staff; location near gara de nord makes it convenient to use the metro system.

If you go to Constanta, consider Hotel Dali. www.hotel-dali.ro. Excellent location, but request one of the rooms with the view of the Black Sea.

A must restaurant in Constanta is New Safari (Strada Karatzali 1)

You must go to Sighisoara. Consider staying at Casa Legenda. www.legenda.ro Keep in mind that breakfast is not included here and there is no daily housekeeping service. However, the place does have an atmosphere to it, and the location is excellent.

You MUST rent a car and travel on your own. Do NOT let anyone scare you about driving in Romania. Within a day, you will get use to it. While you will be passed all the time and you will need to avoid hitting living and dead dogs, the pot holes are not that bad. One of the best things about my trip was simply riding around taking any road I wanted and going to small towns, taking photos and stopping at a local store or eatery for a coke.

If you really want to experience Romania, you must have a car and you must get off the beaten path.

You must also pick up at least one Romanian hitchhiker.

I found driving in Romania to be less difficult than figuring out the Bucharest metro system.

ttt

My friends and I spent 8 days in Romania last September 2006. It was one of my most memorable trips because Romania was just so beautiful and pristine. Tourists have not discovered the country yet. Topping the list of must-go places are Sighisoara, Brasov, Sinaia, Suceava and Bucovina. The other towns/cities we went to like Cluj Napoca, Bistrita, Peatra Neamt, Durau and Bucharest itself were just okay (not so great really!). We stayed in Casa Epoca in Sighisoara, Palace Hotel in Sinaia, Hotel Alpin in Poiana Brasov and Castel Hotel Dracula in the Borgo Pass - all very comfortable hotels. The other hotels we stayed in are not worth mentioning. All in all I would highly recommend visiting Romania before the ordinary tourists discover the country.

thanks for all these suggestions...

i am looking for a nice, well located bucharest hotel in the mid range, say 60-90 E per nite double...

thanks...

i will look at all the other suggestions too and will definately use some of them...

bob

any other suggestions...

any special car rental suggestions

rhkkmk, here is what I did to get the Intercontinental Bucharest for $50 USD per night. I got the information from FlyerTalk, and then I went ahead and booked them as follows (as I posted on another forum):

From the PriorityClub.com web site, I bought 15000 points for $150 USD. With the Intercontinental PointBreaks special, it costs 5000 points per night for the Intercontinental Bucharest.

For August, I needed a one-night stay, and later on a two-night stay. So for the three nights total at the Intercontinental Bucharest, I prepaid $150 USD (or less than 120 Euros). So this is costing just a little more than a hostel room. I've made the bookings, and they can't be cancelled, but I can live with that.

Other European cities are available too:
http://tinyurl.com/34yskc
If you want to do this, I recommend purchasing the points over the phone. Apparently if you do that, your account is credited immediately, so you can book right away. I had to wait about 18 hours, because I purchased the points online. There's a risk that you will buy the points, and the deal will suddenly be yanked before you can book it, but that's very slight if you purchase the points on the phone. I don't know when Intercontinental plans to cancel the promotion.

Be sure to check the nights you want ahead of time to make sure that the 5000 points per night is available for the nights you want.

thanks very much for this...i will look into it

willtravel...you are a gem....for $150. i now have the intercontinental for the first part of my stay....

thanks so much....don't you just love it when you can outsmart these companies.....of course the room may be in the celler next to the furnace....

bob

the res just came to me so i must go look at it...

when i called the # the lady did it all....sold me the points and booked everything for me....good service...

rhkkmk, I'm glad to hear that worked out for you. When are you going? We're going in August.

we will be there in mid-october

there are some other great deals around the world from that same "sale" of 5000 pts....

mid-october is a great time for the countryside. Lots of new-england type colors around the mountains.

It's also harvest time, so lots of haystacks and cornstalk stacks everywhere. Also lots and lots of horse-drawn carts on the roads, coming and going to the fields, so be careful. (but I still think driving's not a problem).

still looking for suggestions

Here are two trip reports for my holidays in Romania.

In Search for the Little Paris

http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=34859356

and From Hay Stacks to Water Lillies

http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=34858589

Happy reading!

any additional suggestions

We had a wonderful trip to Romania in late September. It was made prettier, as Clifton mentioned, because of the fall colors and the harvest - we saw workers in the fields hand harvesting hay and forking it onto the distinctive Romanian hay stacks. Also pumpkins, potatoes and onions.

I wrote up my trip, but have not edited it into a trip report (right now, it's almost as long as Clifton's wonderful report.) I'm sure I will have done posted it by October, though! I made a 222 page book for my father for Christmas from my journal and some of our 3700 pictures. It was an unforgettable destination for us.

With 15 days, you will be able to see a good bit. Here are my initial thoughts:

Bucharest - a few days here, see the Folk Museum (I think its called the Museum of the Romanian Peasant), as I've heard it is quite good. We were tied up with relatives and saw just a bit of Bucharest. Cismigiu park is quite nice on a pretty fall day. I know you have already lined up your hotel but we loved the Rembrandt, right on the edge of the pedestrian district. Also nice is the Opera.

The real beauty of Romania is in its amazing countryside. Transylvania is worth 5 days or so: see the 3 major medieval cities - Sighisoara, Sibiu, and Brasov. All are worthwhile. We gave a day to the Saxon fortified churches, and wish we could spent at least one day more. I am really obsessed with these romanesque and gothic churches; their story is fascinating. You can explore at: http://www.saxontransylvania.com/ and other sites.

2 days for Bucovina's painted monasteries - it's a long drive up there, and we didn't get to do it on our trip (we had only 10 days)

3 days for Maramures, including a Sunday if possible. The wooden churches here are quite striking, resembling the Scandanavian stave churches. The houses are wooden as well, with fanciful cut outs and scroll work. The lifestyle here is very traditional; you will see countless horse carts and people in traditional dress. On Sundays, apparently, they don the festive dress - we missed that but still loved seeing the 'everyday' dress - the women in the head scarves, thick stockings, and pleated skirts. You will be within a few miles of Ukraine.

For the remaining time, I'd go to a much less traveled area, such as Oltenia or Moldavia.

As for transportation, we hired a driver/guide for the time we were not with relatives. But we had myself (50 year old woman), my brother, 48, and my father, 80. This worked out well for us, and when I go back (in the next 18 months, I hope; Romania is changing literally before your eyes) I will again hire a guide. I would not say this is a 'must' for everyone, but the thing I liked the best is the ability it gave us to communicate better with the people we came across in the countryside. It was also quite helpful for our guide to be able to find and negotiate with the people who had the key to the village churches. It sounds like you are quite used to adventure travel, so your needs my well be different.

Further info on language: I found French and German helpful - the youngest generation or two knows some English, but older people not as much. German is especially useful in Transylvania, even though most of the ethnic Germans have gone back to Germany (after 800 years in Romania!).

As you can tell, these are random thoughts off the top of my head. Let me know if you have any questions, and I'll try to answer them. The easy thing about Romania is that there isn't very much info on this forum, so you can find everything available without too much digging. My planning thread is:
http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=34832950

Oops, forgot to mention that Maramures is nearly always done via home stays.

noe---thanks very much for this excellent info!!

i had thought about a guide but i think for now have ruled it out...we find that language problems often make a trip much more interesting

Regarding driving.

I have driven in over 30 times, mostly in from Budapest. Cris-crossed the country a couple of times but most time in Banat, Western Romania.
Roads are generally OK and there are some real good ones. GO waaay off the track and you can find some mountain roads that are on the map but seem to be logging roads. Big fun if you have the time and enjoy meeting people waaay off the beaten path and don't mind discovering what most tourists will never hear about. Potholes exist as they do on any lonely country road and they can be ugly. Paying attention will avoid most problems.
Lots of mud due to farm vehicles entering the road from a mduddy field. Lots of horse drawn carts but some main country roads prohibit them.
Do not drive at night outside of town. People walk the road for what seems to be a place in nowhere to another place in nowhere. (Never can figure out where they are going!) BIcycles too. Many local drivers have bought a western car that can go fast but still do not know how to drive safely. Passing at bad times and tailgating is typical. I enjoy the challenge of driving there but you need to pay attention.
Night time photo radar is in place, I got a ticket but negotiated down to about 300,000 lei. (was $10 at the time.)
Gas, unleaded, is easy to find (fara plumb).

Have fun. Going by car is the only way to see a place. I discovered a wife there in '83 and it was the best take home gift ever.
Al

always looking for more advice...

still looking

more suggestions??

Just been to the "Caru cu Bere" (The Beer Wagon) restaurant, which was renovated recently. It is as old as 1879 and it re-creates the atmopsphere of the old times.

Go there and have a good time.

Here's the web page, click on Contact and see how to reach them.

http://www.carucubere.ro/

So when are you going? Do you have an itinerary yet? when you do - please post it, so we can see and others can give you more good ideas!

roughly here is our plan

arr bucharest oct 16...intercontinental hotel for 3 nites....rent a car
drive north with first two nites in sibiu at casa mararu...
continue north to satu mare via cluj-napoca and stay two nites at dana hotel...
continue to sighetu marmatiei via sapanta and stay at vila royal, as perla sigheana is overbooked...one nite there...
continue east to gura humorvivi and stay two nites at casa elena...
continue to piatra neamt and stay two nites at central hotel...
head south to sighisoara and stay two nites at legenda hotel...
then head finally to sinaia via bran and brasov and stay at hotel bastion...

in each area we plan to see as many sights as we can and to sup up the local culture...

our final day, nov 1, we leave sinaia and head to bucharest airport to drop off car at a local hotel and then fly to london....

we will be in sinaia on halloween...
\
all comments positive and negetive are welcome...

arr bucharest oct 16...intercontinental hotel for 3 nites....rent a car
drive north with first two nites in sibiu at casa mararu...
continue north to satu mare via cluj-napoca and stay two nites at dana hotel...
continue to sighetu marmatiei via sapanta and stay at vila royal, as perla sigheana is overbooked...one nite there...
continue east to gura humorvivi and stay two nites at casa elena...
continue to piatra neamt and stay two nites at central hotel...
head south to sighisoara and stay two nites at legenda hotel...
then head finally to sinaia via bran and brasov and stay at hotel bastion...

Not too bad. As far as places to go, not sure if there's a draw to Satu Mare for you personally. We went through, didn't see a lot but not saying there wasn't something less obvious.

On the hotels...

Sibiu - don't know the Casa Mararu. Stayed at the Impartular Rominalor (sp?). Kind of a faded old dame, but huge rooms and pretty nice. Mainly suggest staying close to the Piata Mare, where ever you choose.

You aren't missing anything by not staying at the Perla in Sighet. We did. Average room, below average overall.

Casa Elena in Bucovina. Not fancy at all, but the people were very nice and it was clean and comfortable. Got a giggle from a waitress with my Noapte Buna on the way out of the dining room, but I *think* it was in a good way. :)

Legenda is a nice little guesthouse, with doors on several of the rooms to an external pathway (still behind a gate though. Homey little place, but run more hands off like a tiny hotel than a B&B. Pass on the breakie though. Orange soda and cold raw bacon. Go up to the Wagner for a hot breakfast.

Don't know the Bastion in Sinaia either. We splashed out for the Palace as walk-ins, with no regrets. Besides the Peles Palace, don't miss the monastary above the town too. Easy walk up - check out the old church and the interior of the side buildings (we found the mural in the side buildings because a handy man waved us over quietly)

We were Sighisoara on halloween. It wasn't too bad really, and thats where ole Vlad was born. Sinaia should be pretty quiet. The next morning though is the day of the dead. Families get up and take candles and flowers to the cemeteries, so you'll see lots of flowers for sale the day before.

I'm also not sure about Satu Mare for 2 nights. Cluj-Napoca is fine, but imo the 3 jewels of Transylvania are Sibiu, Sighisoara and Brasov. I'd say spend a night in Brasov - it may have been our favorite.

Our hotels:
Sighisoara, Hotel Sighisoara - large, right off the square, in a building that was the old town hall, I believe. The restaurant was quite nice.

Sibiu, Imparatul Romanilor - as Clifton describes it. We had these odd loft-type rooms. Great location, really good breakfast.

Brasov, Aro Palace - old Art Deco hotel, much enlarged with newer tower added. We stayed in the old part, in these amazing huge rooms with all kinds of built in furniture and 2 bathrooms each.

Cluj-Napoca, Onix Hotel - really did not like the location or the hotel although the room itself was fine.

thanks for those comments....

ttt

any last minute suggestions....we are really looking forward to this trip.....any food suggestions??

Bob/Karen:

So you guys are finally off to Romania. I never heard from you after our first flurry of notes. I would have been glad to give you additional suggestions.
Is there anything I can do at this 11th hour? If I recall, you're off on October 15th..wow!

Stu Tower ([email protected])

I've only been to Constanta. I don't think that this is the right time of the year for the Black Sea.