Travelling by bus in Romania: everything you need to know

When you want to go hiking in a foreign country, travelling by public transport can be pretty useful. You may not want to leave your (rental) car at the trailhead unsupervised and unused for days. Besides, buses are often faster and run more frequently than trains. Also, some routes are just super gorgeous. I love the journey south from Brasov over the Rucar-Bran pass, and the super scenic route from Deva to Petrosani. In a past post I explained how to travel by train in Romania; now let’s talk about buses.

Although I love travelling by train in Romania, the train doesn’t always get you exactly where you want to be. Travelling by bus offers a wealth of other options! Trains don’t always stop exactly where you want them to, whereas buses go to almost every corner of the country. However, finding out which buses go where and when can be tricky. So here is your ultimate guide to travelling by bus in Romania. This post focuses on ‘intercity’ and ‘interstate’ bus travel; I’ll dedicate a separate post to public transport in cities.

more “Travelling by bus in Romania: everything you need to know”

Travelling by train in Romania: everything you need to know

If you are travelling to Romania but you don’t have a car or a driving licence, the train is likely to be one of the first transport modes you’re going to look at. You may have noticed that planning your journey isn’t always straightforward! However, travelling by train in Romania is definitely both doable and enjoyable. In this post, I explain how travelling by train in Romania works (and sometimes doesn’t work). Learn where to buy your tickets, which operator to use, train types, pros and cons, and more.

more “Travelling by train in Romania: everything you need to know”

Travelling to Romania during Covid-19

Normally I would shout out about my arrival in Romania immediately, but this time round I decided to keep quiet for a while. The main reason being the ten-day quarantine that was imposed on me upon arrival. This didn’t come as a surprise; I was well prepared and knew everything I needed to know about Romania’s Covid rules. In case you are thinking of travelling to Romania too this year, you might like to learn more about the current rules and regulations. So here is my experience with quarantine in Romania and other Covid-19 regulations. One thing is clear: there is no reason to let Covid deter you from entering Romania! I’ll brighten up this slightly dull read with some snaps taken on my first hikes in Romania this year, in the Padurea Craiului region.

more “Travelling to Romania during Covid-19”

Seven things I learned in Romania in 2018

Oh dear. It’s March. In fact, it’s spring! This means I’ve been back for over four months and still I haven’t written my reflective 2018-post. Of course it is a bit ridiculous to publish it this late but since I kept a things-I-learned-list I would like to share these insights with you. Also it is a good exercise for me to get back into writing blog posts. It’s not that I don’t write; in fact I do little else. The deadline for my guidebook to the mountains of Romania is end of April and I have no clue how I am going to finish it in time. But I will. Besides that, I’m working on lots of exciting new projects that I can’t quite talk about yet – but what I can say is that I never dreamed the Roamaniac adventure would roll on like this after the guidebook part! In short, I’m juggling a lot of balls at the moment, so here is a little distraction from all these frightful facts for myself, and for you from whatever it is you need distracting from.

more “Seven things I learned in Romania in 2018”

Traversing Europe by train: how and why

I’ve wanted to travel from Romania to Belgium (or vice versa) by train for a long time, and now I’ve finally done it! I am more than a little pleased. Initially I felt a little daunted by the length of the journey: it took me two days to get from Oradea (RO) to Ghent (BE) via Budapest and Vienna. I decided to split it in two and spent two nights in Vienna. That way I made sure I didn’t get overstimulated by the journey and was able to do some sightseeing at the same time. After all, it would be a shame to pass through one of the pearls of Europe and not see it. I could have stopped in Budapest as well but had already been there several times. In this post I will explain how to travel across Europe by train. It is a little more challenging than booking a plane ticket, but well worth the effort!

more “Traversing Europe by train: how and why”