Romania Travel Guide

Romania Travel Guide is a collection of individual travel guides about the country of Romania in South Eastern Europe. As of July 2020, the population of Romania was estimated to be 19,231,908 according to worldometer. A well known visited tourist destination in Romania is the capital Bucharest.

If you are planning on a visit to Romania as a tourist then a great Romania holiday is so much more than just lying on a beach or shopping until you drop, to get the most from your travel adventure to Romania you need to know where to find the right places to see and tourist information that will enable you to get the best from your visit. Romania is a country waiting for you to explore and discover its cities, towns and villages, people and culture.

This is a massive undertaking for one person to capture a county the size of Romania but I will endeavor over time to populate Romania Travel Guide with information about travel, tourism, geography, history, culture, the economy and many other helpful and fascinating details about the cities, towns and villages across Romania.

Interested in Romania? - If you would like to share with others what you have learned about this East European country, consider writing on this guide.

Flag of Romania

Brief Romanian History

Europe's Great Survivor - Romania fits this description very well as it as been overrun so many times in it's history. Today's population is largely made up of Romanians, Hungarians, Germans and Roma. Today's Romania did not include areas such as Wallachia or Moldavia until 1859 and Transylvania remained part of the Austro-Hungarian empire until 1918.

650 BC - Dacians are recorded in the area now known as Transylvania due to their trade with the Greeks and established settlements at Callatis, Tomis (now Constanța) and Histria.

Ad 106 - Dacia became a Roman province which lasted for 175 years until the Goths forced Emperor Aurelian to withdraw to below the River Danube.

896 - The Magyars move and settle into the Carpathian Basin merging Transylvania with Hungary.

1000 - A number of historical records from the Byzantine, Slavic, Hungarian and Oriental groups mention the existence of Romanians under the name of Vlachs.

1241 - After the invasion by the Tatars of Transylvania, King Bela IV of Hungary offers land to entice German Saxons to help with the defence of the region.

1330 - 1400 - The Battle of Posada is the name of a military conflict between the Kingdom of Hungary and Wallachia, which took place in the autumn of 1330. This battle marked the emancipation of Wallachia from the tutelage of the Hungarian crown. Prince Basarab I (the Basarabs, also Bazarabs or Bazaraads, were a family of likely Cuman origin, which had an important role in the establishing the Principality of Wallachia, giving the country its first line of Princes, one closely related with the Mușatin rulers of Moldavia.) establishes the first Romanian principality of Wallachia. The region is known as Țara Românească meaning Romanian Land. Wallachia existed between the 14th and 19th centuries.

1431 - Vlad Tepes or Vlad the Impaler was born. He was the second son of Vlad Dracul, who became the ruler of Wallachia in 1436. During his eight years of power he became known for terrorising and slaughtering the invading Turks. He is often considered one of the most important rulers in Wallachian history and a national hero of Romania.

Counties of Romania

According to the Constitution of Romania, its territory is organized administratively into communes, towns and counties.

At the county level there are 41, plus one city with special status, Bucharest, which is the capital of Romania. At the town level there are 103 municipalities and 217 other towns/cities (for urban areas), and 2861 communes (for rural areas). Municipality (municipiu) status is accorded to larger towns, but it does not give them any greater powers.

Below communal or town level, there are no further formal administrative subdivisions. However, communes are divided into villages (which have no administration of their own). There are 12,957 villages in Romania. The only exception is Bucharest, which has six sectors, each with an administration of its own.

Thank you to Wikipedia for the above information.

 

Name of County Seat Region
Alba Alba Iulia Center
Arad Arad West
Argeș Pitești South-Muntenia
Bacău Bacău North-East
Bihor Oradea North-West
Bistrița-Năsăud Bistrița North-West
Botoșani Botoșani North-East
Brașov Brașov Center
Brăila Brăila South-East
Bucharest Bucharest Bucharest-Ilfov
Buzău Buzău South-East
Caraș-Severin Reșița West
Călărași Călărași South-Muntenia
Cluj Cluj-Napoca North-West
Constanța Constanța South-East
Covasna Sfântu Gheorghe Center
Dâmbovița Târgoviște South-Muntenia
Dolj Craiova South-West Oltenia
Galați Galați South-East
Giurgiu Giurgiu South-Muntenia
Gorj Târgu Jiu South-West Oltenia
Harghita Miercurea Ciuc Center
Hunedoara Deva West
Ialomița Slobozia South-Muntenia
Iași Iași North-East
Ilfov Buftea Bucharest-Ilfov
Maramureș Baia Mare North-West
Mehedinți Drobeta-Turnu Severin South-West Oltenia
Mureș Târgu Mureș Center
Neamț Piatra Neamț North-East
Olt Slatina South-West Oltenia
Prahova Ploiești South-Muntenia
Satu Mare Satu Mare North-West
Sălaj Zalău North-West
Sibiu Sibiu Center
Suceava Suceava North-East
Teleorman Alexandria South-Muntenia
Timiș Timișoara West
Tulcea Tulcea South-East
Vaslui Vaslui North-East
Vâlcea Râmnicu Vâlcea South-West Oltenia
Vrancea Focșani South-East

Romanian Travel Guides

Below is a list of the cities, towns, and villages that are presently covered by Romania Travel Guide. There are smaller places but it is impossible to cover all the locations in a large country like Romania. We would love some help to write this guide about Romania, so if you are interested please get in touch.

 

Name of Place Information
Baia Mare Baia Mare is a city on the Săsar River in northwestern Romania; it is the capital of Maramureș County.

Tourist Information in Romania

This Romanian Travel Guide may include details of other tourist organisations operating in Romania. They are welcome to contact me for details on how to display their information on Romania Travel Guide.

Romania - Ministerul Turismului - Bulevardul Dinicu Golescu, nr.38, Sector 1 București, is the main tourist organisation for Romania.

Transport in Romania

In order to explore and write articles for Romania Travel Guide I have found getting around Romania is easy as it has very good transport links both internationally and internally.

The railway network in Romania is run by Căile Ferate Române, the state railway carrier of Romania. As of 2014, the railway network of Romania consisted of 10,777 km, of which 4,029 km are electrified. The total track length was 22,247 km, of which 8,585 km was electrified.Căile Ferate Române, Address: 38 Dinicu Golescu B-vd., District 1, code 010873 Bucharest – ROMANIA

The road network has seen the most development over the past few years with updates on the main roads into Romania. There are no motorways in Romania.

By far the most common mode of transport (after the car) is to travel by bus.

The national airline is Romanian Air Transport - TAROM - which was established on 18th September 1954. It is now part of SkyTeam, the global alliance group of airlines.

WARNING - I booked a flight with an Romanian low cost carrier called Blueair but after just a few days they cancelled the flight and I am still waiting to get my money back. It was the first and last time I will use this airline. I do not recommend it to anyone.

Other airlines flying from the UK to Romania include British Airways and is well known for its service right around the world flying to many destinations.

WizzAir is an east European low cost airline based in Hungary flying from Luton, East Midlands, Gatwick, Liverpool, Glasgow and now Norwich. You may find them cheaper by booking in advance.

Long-distance international coaches continue to operate between London and Romania despite Brexit. The pan-European coach network Flixbus operates a daily coach service from London to Bucharest (Bucuresti). The connection also stops in several Romanian towns and cities along the route, namely: Arad, Timisoara, Lipova, Lugoj, Dava, Orastie, Sebes, Sibiu, Fagaras, Brasov and Ploiesti, with this route allowing access to many Romanian cities and towns.

David's Travel Guides can do no better than send you to Seat61.com for rail travel information on London to Warsaw and Poland by train. You will find very helpful details on the site. I wish that airlines and other travel providers would treat their customers with the respect that this man does.

International Airports Romania

Name & Website Type
Bucharest Henri Coanda Airport International
Avram Iancu International Airport International
Traian Vuia International Airport International
Iași International Airport International
Bucharest Henri Coanda Airport International
Avram Iancu International Airport International

 

There are other smaller international airports which may or may not have any international flights, such as:-

  • George Enescu International Airport (Bacau)
  • Sibiu International Airport
  • Transilvania Airport (Targu Mures)
  • Craiova International Airport
  • Mihail Kogălniceanu Airport (Constanta)
  • Ștefan cel Mare Airport (Suceava)
  • Oradea Airport
  • Satu Mare International Airport
  • Baia Mare Airport

How to use Romania Travel Guide

Flag of RomaniaThis travel guide is a travel exploration and educational project with the aim to provide a clear and easy to navigate site, showing useful travel and tourist information on various subjects about Romania including articles on the villages, towns and cities found throughout the country, accommodation, restaurants, out-door activities, the economy and great things to do while visiting Romania.

Each place listed has it’s own page that includes information on, accommodation, activities, attractions, geography, history, museums, places to eat, tourist information, travel information and a listing of websites associated with the location.

Romania is a major country in the modern world with a strong manufacturing and economic base exporting to many different countries. It consistently strives to become a tourist destination and has much to offer all different tastes and budgets.

I will be constantly changing and updating the guide and I hope that you will enjoy looking through the many and varied pages about Romania. If you are from Romania or you have an association with the country I would be delighted to receive your own articles. Especially articles about where you live or about the local economy, travel, culture, geography, history or tourism, and don’t forget to include photographs of your village, town, or city.

As Explained elsewhere Romania Travel Guide is primarily a city, town and village guide of places within the country.

You may experience a problem with viewing Romania Travel Guide if you are using older versions of Internet Explorer. In order to see the site correctly please update your browser.

There are a number of ways you can locate and find the place you are interested in but if you are just browsing, you may wish to find the region (province) that interests you and then click on the place you want to find out about.

All the places shown on this site have their own individual page. You will of course need to type in the spelling of the place as it is shown on this web site.

I hope you enjoy visiting Romania Travel Guide and exploring the country of Romania with me.

David Smith - editor of Romania Travel Guide

Brexit

Boarders and different countries came about because of pride and attempt to reach God by man's own hands (Tower of Babel) so the Almighty confused their language. God offers us forgiveness and reconciliation with Himself and then requires us to care for others and try to get on with others no matter where they originate from.

In other words, God did not originally design people to be separate from each other, this came about because of man's sin.

In God's new world to come, there will be no divisions among people and we will be united under Christ. No fighting, no borders, no wars, no discrimination. God's new world will be at peace and those who love God in this world will get on together without any problems.

This is why I like to travel and visit other countries and associate myself with different nationalities and cannot understand why a multicultural country like Britain wishes to leave Europe. Sure, not all is well with the EU but turning your back on 27 neighbours makes no sense to me.

 

 

Romania Travel Guide
David's Travel Guides