Hello, my friends! Welcome back to another blog. Because you clicked on this blog, we’re going to talk about a country that I just spent about 2 months living in: the majestic Eastern European country of Romania. Today, we’re gonna get into the details. Romania already is a budget-friendly destination, that’s why it’s on my bucket list. So, I am focusing on the tips and tricks part here. Also, we are going to tell you some historic parts and why people visit. Let’s get started…
Why people visit Romania.
Let’s start with a country background so you can better get to know what’s going on in Romania without getting into crazy detail. We can just say that Romania has had an incredibly storied and varied history, with various empires and peoples calling this land home. The most important things to note about Romanian history are the presence of the Dacians or the pre-Roman Empire peoples who occupied Romania. A lot of the Romanian language, this weird mix between Latin roots and Slavic roots, still has some old Dacian words, which is notable. Another significant time in history is when Romania was part of the Roman Empire, which is, of course, why it’s called Romania today and which made this country in Eastern Europe very particular as they have heritage both from the romance Western European Latin world and from the Eastern European world that it finds itself in, taking parts of the language from both. After the fall of the Roman Empire, lots of other empires in the region influenced Romania, with parts of it ending up in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, part of it in the Russian Empire, and part of it in the Ottoman Empire.
This is where you get the biggest myth of Romania, which is Dracula. Really shortly, he was a major character in the fight against the Ottoman Empire and the subsequent fall of Wallachia into the Ottoman sphere. Instead of keeping Romania whole, the whole story about Dracula being a vampire and all the other stuff really isn’t related to Romania; it was only the character that Bram Stoker made in his Dracula book. But people, of course, visit Romania specifically to see Dracula’s castle, which is a castle that Vlad the Impaler barely lived in, but people go to it. I really think it’s a waste of time to go visit, and we did it with my friend, and they guaranteed that it’s also a waste of time, but nonetheless remains very interesting.
Today, the last chunk of Romanian history that’s notable is when Romania fused together all these different parts: Wallachia, Moldavia, and all these parts that were part of different empires. They came together and then were subsequently ruled by some kings and then, of course, the socialist, sort of Eastern Bloc state that defines modern Romania today. They had a very notorious dictator in Ceausescu, and a lot of his palaces and crazy things that he did are a very good reason to also visit Romania. And modern Romania today is much like a lot of the Eastern Bloc states, getting better, getting wealthier, coming out of a very tough late ’80s, early ’90s where the country was poor and had a lot of work to do to get to be a modern European nation like it is today.
Important note on Visa
So, do you want to come to Romania like me? You’re going to need a visa. Visas are super important. If you’re American, you can stay in this beautiful land in this city or around the country for 90 days. This is really helpful, also if you’re playing the game of Schengen zone hopping. What I’m saying is the Schengen zone, which is the major free trade zone of the EU, encompasses most of the EU nations. Romania is in the EU, Previously i mean before 31 march it was not in the Schengen zone, but today this is in the schengen zone with Bulgaria.So, all the rules will be same like other members. when i visited there it was not the part of Schengen zone, I had 90 days here, which is super clutch. A lot of digital nomads are using this bouncing back and forth for a longer and kind of like easier trip in Europe. So, if you have schengen visa you can enter without extra visa.
Currency
We’re going to talk now about money. Romanians use the leu; they do not use the Euro. That does not mean, however, that if you have Euros, you cannot use them. You can use the Euro; some places will take them, a lot of restaurants, a lot of shops, because obviously this is close enough to the EU space where that would be a normal thing. €1 is basically 5 lei or about $4.6, and if you need to get money, for example, you can come Uber here to one of the various banks that they have. Tons and tons of banks to withdraw cash, and the city is also filled with different exchange shops. So, if you have cash on you here, you can definitely do an exchange. I wouldn’t necessarily do one that says 0 commission or ones in the old city center because lots of tourists, and they’re here to rip you off. With that being said, well, you can use cash or you definitely don’t need to. I basically pay with everything on my card. It could be a grocery store, it could be hotels, it could be basically like a cup of coffee somewhere. All the card, all the time is all good.
Transportation
Patiently traversing the great streets of Romania, how do you get around them? So here in Bucharest, as the capital, you have some major options. We can take buses through the city, you can take the metro, which I’ll show you in a second, we can take taxis. But really, like, never ever take a taxi in the Balkans, always order Uber or Bolt. They meet most places in the city for around €5 to €10, so pretty good deals, and you see them driving around all over the place. As you can see, Bucharest has a lot of traffic; it’s pretty congested. And many of the cities and highways are quite congested because there’s not really good traffic flow in these older cities. Since we’re in the Old Town, it’s always congested. You’ve got old buildings, you’ve got new buildings, and a lot of different transportation options. If you see yellow taxis, you see them all over the place. Don’t bother with the yellow taxis; you’re in Bucharest.
You have the option to take the metro, and you can come down here. They have a pretty big underground network built to get around the city. Also, getting from city to city, you can take buses and trains, and what you can connect to through the metro. Getting around Romania does take some time because Romania has big mountains in the middle, the Carpathian Mountains, which is what they call a Romanian Alps, which are big and they cause a lot of traffic. So, that being said, Romania is a very large country. If you want to go to cities like Iași, cities like Cluj-Napoca, they are all kind of far away from Bucharest. So if you want to bid do a big trip, realize you’re going to spend a lot of time in cars, buses, planes, and a lot of people do take domestic flights.
What you will find in Romania
So, what are you going to expect to find in Romania? I think if you’re talking about kind of defining this, it’s an awesome place to look. there is one of the old Brutalist ’70s communist-style architecture that everybody loves in the city. Here, we have this beautiful old imperial building, probably built in the mid-1800s, very epic. And then you will see there the new modern updated Romania. The people are also kind of the offshoot of this. So everyone here, I don’t know, it’s Eastern Europe but it’s also Europe. It’s Italian feeling because the Latin language sounds very Italian but with a lot of Eastern European slang words. It’s a big mix here, and I think that’s what’s so cool about Romania. It’s like a little of the West, a little of the East, a little of the communism, a little bit of the modern capitalism. It’s like a big nice cocktail.
Foods
Now, let’s talk about food. Romanian food is awesome; big, big fan of it. And these are some of the dishes that you can expect to find here and actually eat in this place, pretty good in downtown Bucharest. But this is kind of what you’re going to find. So, this is the national dish of Romania, it’s called sarmale, stuffed cabbage rolls, with polenta or mămăligă and some cabbage, with beef. The other thing we could probably try here is mici, which are these little kabab-type things served with a little mustard sauce. They honestly keep it pretty heavy, and when you think of Romanian food, it’s just heavy, lots of meat, lots of polenta, and lots of various dishes. And this is my personal favorite dessert here, which is called papanăș, which is like a fried donut covered in sour cream and some sort of jam.
You would kind of assume that it would be more Balkan here, but it’s really a mixture of sort of a little bit of the Ottoman Empire ruling Wallachia here in the south. So, a little bit of Ottoman influence in its food, but mostly it’s like Central European-type food, very heavy, starchy, rich, good beer. This is a really famous food street here, obviously during the day so it’s pretty much dead. But tons of bars, lots of beer, lots of big meat plates, and all that stuff.
And that’s it. If you go to the northern part of Romania, you can find more Transylvanian and Hungarian-influenced dishes, things that you’d finally only find in Hungary, like pörkölt, like langos, which is a potato fry bread, and stuff like that. And most importantly, beer and the national alcohol of Romania called țuică, which is a fruit distillation of grapes and/or plums. It’s normally 40 or 50°, very, very strong, very, very tasty though. Or you could just go buy one, get one free, you gotta ask the waiter.
Safety
How about safety here in Romania? Well, I would say that this is a very, very safe place. I would say that just like any other European capital, you know, like here in Bucharest, you have people, there’s a little bit of homelessness happening, there’s a little people doing weird stuff. There’s a lot of drunk people because there’s a lot of partying, a lot of bachelor parties here in Bucharest, especially with cheap flights from Italy and from the UK, so it’s just a bunch of drunk dudes all the time. But overall, you know, you worry about pickpockets. And also with the taxis, you’ve got to be careful; the taxis don’t scam you. Don’t let anyone show you anything that doesn’t have a clear price. So, just like those little things, little tips and tricks that’s always in Eastern Europe, Balkan’s sort of thing, just always ask the price before you commit to anything and you should be fine.
I find that there’s a lot less sketchy homeless crime kind of stuff than you find a lot in Western Europe, especially in Paris and London. It’s not comparable here. And in other cities, it’s just not sketchy. You go to a smaller town in Romania, it’s just not sketchy at all. So, it’s a very enjoyable time.
Top 5 places to visit
Now, in the blog, I’m going to give you my top 5 favorite places to visit on a trip to Romania – some places that are worth spending a couple of days, a couple of hours, or even longer.
Number one has got to be visiting Bucharest. As the capital, it’s the lifeblood of the country. You’ve got beautiful old architecture like this old Ottoman trading post and a beautiful church in the Old Town. Bucharest has it all – good restaurants, a modern interpretation of the country, big city life, really good nightlife, and bars. It’s just a nice time.
Number two, you have to go to the Transylvanian region and visit one of these sort of Austro-Hungarian cities that sit high in the mountains. You can go to Brașov, Sibiu, or Sighișoara. There are a lot of other cities in that general region, but the vibe is very different. It’s very mountainous, rural, and kind of Germanic in many ways, with rolling hills. You’ll find a lot of really nice people, beautiful buildings, and architecture. It’s an excellent place to explore the countryside and the mountainside.
Of course, you can go to Dracula’s castle, but I think it’s super overrated and definitely not worth the price. There are a million other beautiful castles in Romania, like Peleș Castle, really close to Sinaia. Peleș Castle is a beautiful, beautiful castle that many people go to on tours. If not, there are a million other castles in Romania to visit – castles, palaces, and national historic sites.
Number four for me would be going all the way west, near the border of Serbia and Hungary, and visiting the really nice imperial city of Timișoara. The vibe in the city is completely different from what you find in Bucharest. You have a virtually Austro-Hungarian appeal, the city center is absolutely beautiful, the food is delicious, and it’s just something different. It’s also much closer if you’re touring to Belgrade or Budapest, closer than the southern parts and the rest of Romania.
Number five, and last, would be to visit two places. You can visit Iași, which is on the border of Moldova. It’s a very interesting place with a lot more Moldovan culture. You can really see a little bit of the culture from Moldova, which is really the country that is the brother of Romania but was lost a long time ago. So there are a lot of similarities but also a lot of differences. Another option would be to go to the Black Sea coast to Constanța, which is a beautiful city with a big, notable casino that’s very old and beautiful for good beach time during the summer, late-night parties, and overall good vibes.
Romania is a vibrant and awesome place to spend 10 days, 15 days, 2 months, or even a whole year if you’re really into it. Thank you guys for reading, please support me on Patreon, and if you have the chance, check out my other content. You will find all the budget travel tips around the world.
Thank You so much.
