travel in Bulgaria and Romania
 

WE will be traveling in Romania and
Bulgaria April/May.
I would appreciate any info on driving
Best roads or ones to stay away from.
Any advice on the language in Bulgaria:
reading the signs, etc. I am studying the
alphabet.

I can't help with Bulgaria, but was driving in Northern and Central Romania in November. I wrote a long winded trip report that talks about driving there if you want to wade through it.

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

Best roads would depend on where you'd like to go!

Clifton: I'm glad you chimed in -- you are our resident expert on Romania. Ben Haines has been to Bulgaria, if my memory is OK. What would he recommend?

If I'm the resident expert on anything, we're in biiiiig trouble! :D

Well, Clifton, my head is spinning
from all that info. I am going to try
to print it out so I can read it again
and again. It is alot to take in but
great reading. I am excited about
going. We are renting a Dacia Solenza.
I hope it will be o.k. on the roads.
Are there any roads that you would
not go on again?
Hopefully Ben will see my inquiry
on Bulgaria.
Best regards

I was told on another board by a local that the road that's most direct from Sighisoara to Gheorghheni is pretty rough, so we went around.

The only roads I know were rough was the main highway from Timisoara to Carensebes. That's the main highway there though. It's just got some potholes because it's the main truck hwy from Turkey to N. Europe. It wasn't horrible, but I had to swerve a number of times.

White roads on maps = mud or dirt roads in a couple of cases. These are the very smallest roads on whichever map. Turned around and went the main road a couple of times. Shortcut = bad idea.

The only paved road I can think of that really wasn't good was someplace we headed on a whim, just northwest of Medias and parallel to the main road that runs Sighisoara, Medias, Sibiu. That one was pretty rutted but frankly, I still wish we hadn't bothered going that way. Was looking for Jidvai winery and a castle that way.

This info will help. I heard that
the roads have alot of potholes after
the winter snow.
We are planning to go to Transilvania
Maramures, Bucovina and back down to
Brasov area and to Bucharest. We
probably wont get too far west. How
about the roads from Maramures area
go Moldavia.

Actually the main road from Marmures to Bucovina, over the Prislop pass was a pretty good road. It's a mountain road, so it's winding, but in decent shape.

Hallo Katiemay,
I was in Romania in Summer. It was seductive. I like alpine hiking and Romania is perfect. You can camp anywhere, you will meet with local herdsmans (They like cigarettes and then will tell about way, their life...) I was in mountains Maramures, Rodna and Suhard. I spend a few overnights in monastery. They are hospitable monks. Train is the best trafic in Romania (relatively reliable). If you want any my foto from Romania, send me e-mail. my adress is [email protected] (I´m from Czech Republic. A few Czech like travel to Romania)

HI Clifton. I have been trying to
print your travelogue using Word,
but it just prints the whole thing.
Thanks for this latest info. It all
helps.

Hi Michal, Yes, I would like to see
your pictures. We are renting a car
because we like the flexibility and
also, we are 72 and 73, so we dont
want to have to deal with the luggage
on and off the train. Thanks

I am afraid I have been driven by car seldom in Romania and never in Bulgaria. From busses the roads in both countries look slow, as even the best have horses with carts, and flocks of ducks and geese.

[email protected]

Yes, I know it will be slow traveling
in both countries. We like the
flexibility of having a car. But
I would like to find out more about
the roads in Bulgaria.
Thanks

Hi Katiemay,
car is good solution. If you want to see my photos, send me e-mail My adress is: [email protected]

Katiemay,

You might be interested in the weeks Wash. Post feature on Bulgaria:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...2005Mar18.html

I will check out the Washington Post
website. Thanks

Hi there,

We took a private car tour of Romania last year. Please contact our former tour guide, Andrei Nicolau, at e-mail:
[email protected]

You are doing the right thing to learn the Cyrillic alphabet, as there is no guarantee there will be a transcription into our alphabet, just when it's most needed.

Leraning a bit of Bulgarian from a phrase-book might be worth doing too. Of all the Slav languages Bulgarian is the easiest from the point of view of its grammar - like English, it lost alot of its complexities when speakers of a quite different language made it their home.

Harzer

I drove up from Istanbul along the Black Sea to Constanta, and then west to Hungary. No problem. Never saw the potholes that I had read about. That was about 10 years ago. You'll probably have more traffic now. There weren't as many horse drawn carts in Bulgaria and Romania as there were on the main roads in Hungary and Poland, but always be on the lookout for slow vehicles.