Balkanology  ::  Explore Southeast Europe

Romania | Links

The sites listed on this page are specifically about Romania. Many of the more general sites listed in the Overview of the Balkans are also useful for planning a trip to Romania.

Travel Information

• Romania Tourism

  Official tourist board site.

• Romania In Your Pocket

  A comprehensive guide to Bucharest, with smaller guides to Braşov, and the ski resort of Poiana Braşov. As with most IYP guides there is plenty of useful insider information.

• Alpinet

  Hiking is taken seriously in Romania, and this is one serious hiking website. Maps, satellite images, news of current trail conditions, details of mountain cabane, photos, descriptions of the marked trails in each mountain region - you could spend hours here. It's all in Romanian, but if you have ever learned any Latin-derived language you can probably get the general idea fairly easily.

• Romania and Moldova Travel Guide

  Lonely Planet author Leif Pettersen has a web site of his own with lots of information about Romania and Moldova. He aims "to to provide an exhaustive travel planning resource for these two mysterious and rarely visited countries".

• Sinaia

  Information about Sinaia and the Prahova valley - as well as accommodation details, you can find out about hiking trails or ski slopes depending on the time of year you will be visiting.

• Retro Youth Hostel, Cluj Napoca

  As well as accommodation, this hostel in Cluj organises tours to nearby attractions such as Turda Gorge and the Bear Cave.

• Transylvania Uncovered

  This site is mainly intended to promote tours of Romania, but there is a lot of information here that could also be useful to independent travellers. The 'Special Interests' section includes some very detailed pages about rail travel in Romania. Despite the site's name it is not limited to Transylvania.

• Romanian Monasteries

  Extensive information about the monasteries of Southern Bucovina and Maramures. Covers the famous Painted Monasteries and many others as well. In addition to well-illustrated descriptions of monastic art, the site includes information about accommodation near the monasteries.

• Ecotours Viseu de Sus

  Information about the Vaser Valley forestry railway, and other attractions in the Maramureş region.

• Retezat National Park
  Piatra Craiului National Park
  Bicaz Gorges and Hasmas Mountain National Park

  English-language guides to three of Romania's national parks, including descriptions of hiking trails.

Transport and Practicalities

• CFR - Romanian Railways Timetable

  This link allows you to skip the badly-designed main CFR site and go straight to the domestic train timetable. Although you enter a specific date for a timetable enquiry, the results will show all trains for the relevant route, even if they only run on three days of the year. You therefore need to pay close attention to any flashing red lights in the "restrictions" column. Several cities have multiple stations, and you won't be given any clues as to the most appropriate one. For Bucureşti and Timişoara, the "Nord" station is normally the best option. Full details of fares are provided.

• CFR - Romanian Railways

  This is the main CFR Passenger Rail site. The home page takes ages to load over a slow connection, so if you are in an internet cafe in rural Romania you might not want to bother. If you look carefully around the rather messy site there are details of domestic fares per kilometre, a few special offers on international fares, and lots of pages "under construction", including the international timetable. If you are just looking for the domestic train schedule, use the previous link.

• RegioTrans

  RegioTrans is a small private train operator. Most of their services are on branch lines rarely used by tourists, although they have recently started running a daily Bucharest-Braşov-Sibiu train.

• Autogari

  Thankfully the online bus timetable keeps things nice and simple: an input box for the place of departure, another for the destination, what more do you need? The system doesn't seem to include shorter routes (e.g. Braşov to Bran), but it's useful nonetheless - I wish I had known about this site when I was in Romania during a train strike.

• Rural Tourism
  ANTREC

  Both sites have extensive listings of guesthouse and farm accommodation in rural Romania.

• Ministry of Foreign Affairs

  Includes visa information.

From the Travel Pages

• Trail of the unexpected: Easter in Transylvania

  The Independent, 03 April 2010

• Timişoara and the new face of Romania

  The Guardian, 26 January 2010

• There's more to Transylvania than Dracula

  The Independent, 01 March 2009

• The complete guide to Transylvania

  The Independent, 10 January 2009

• If you go down to the woods today (Bear-watching in Transylvania)

  The Telegraph, 18 November 2008

• The villages where time has stood still (Transylvania)

  The Observer, 18 May 2008

• Instant Weekend ... Bucharest

  The Observer, 30 March 2008

• A highway to heaven (The Transfagarasan Highway on a motorbike)

  The Observer, 9 March 2008

• Stranger than fiction (Transylvania)

  The Guardian, 3 November 2007

• Lost in Transylvania

  The Guardian, 12 May 2007

• Bucharest: A chequered past adds intrigue to a Bohemian city

  The New York Times, 25 December 2005

• Beyond the forest (Transylvania)

  The Guardian, 20 October 2005

• Water World (Danube Delta)

  The Independent, 18 June 2005

• Countless delights (Transylvania)

  The Guardian, 11 June 2005

• Ceaucescu's Folly (Transfagarasan Highway)

  The Guardian, 23 April 2005

Background

• Sapte Seri - Your Digital Guide

  The online version of Bucharest's entertainment listings magazine; they also have information about quite a few other cities in Romania.