aSiAnRiCk

I scored a nice fare YYZ-AMS-BUH-BCN-YYZ with a 3 days layover in Amsterdam, 7 days in Bucharest and 4 days in Barcelona.

I need help with Bucharest as I don't know anything about the city as well as Romania and I'll be staying there the longest out of the whole trip

Has anyone been there before? Any places to recommend? Any travel warning? Is renting a car recommended or public transportation is pretty easy & dependable? Should I get a packaged tour from a local travel agent and call it a day?

Thanks in advance for the help! ^

-Rick

bcmatt

As always with Eastern Europe, it is worth checking out the local In Your Pocket Guide for the latest information and to get some ideas.

I've been to Bucharest a couple of times, it may not be the prettiest city in the region, but there are things to see and do. It depends what you like - there are still some historic Orthodox Churches and museums, on the other hand there is the bizarre Soviet kitsch of 'Ceausescu's Palace'. Do try some hearty Romanian cuisine (unless you are a veggie)!!

There is no travel warning (stray dogs are the biggest worry, and even that is better than it used to be) just use common sense. I wouldn't bother with car hire, the Metro is pretty efficient. As to whether you need a packaged tour, it depends on how comfortable you are exploring somewhere new on your own. Some English is spoken, but as Romanian is a Romance language French or Italian would get you further.

Aviatrix

Don't know to what extent I can help you... but having been to Bucharest three times in the last three years I think I'll give it a try!

The reason I'm not so sure if I can really help is that I never visited Bucharest independently - twice I stayed with friends, once I was at a conference (at the very nice Marriott) but again spending much of my free time with my friends.

Despite its population of 2 million Bucharest seems quite compact - you can get around quite easily on foot, and the public transport system seems pretty good (I have used the Metro which is excellent). Taxis are plentiful and cheap, but according to my friends you have to be careful because drivers will often try to pull a fast one on foreign visitors (I had one try it on me - he tried to short-change me, but gave me the correct change, with a sheepish grin, when I made it clear that I wasn't having any of it!).

English is not as widely spoken as in many other parts of Europe, but I didn't find this to be a major problem.

One thing to be aware of is the currency - they have just had a currency reform where they chopped off several zeros, but the old notes are still in circulation so you can end up handing over 100 Lei and getting 10000 Lei change.

I don't think you will need a car to get around town, but as you have a whole week you may wish to head out into the country for a while. My friends often spend the week-ends somewhere up in the mountains, I could ask them where.

rankourabu

On my last visit there, we walked in through the wrong entrance into the Palace of the People, and were escorted by big guys with guns out, and had to walk around to the other side (took like 20 mins) to find the tourist entrance.
An interesting tour in English is available inside, well worth it

I am looking forward to actually seeing more of Romania on this deal now that I have 8 days

QF ExLurker

My second cousin, Dan Mizrahy, the pianist and composer (please buy his Romanian songbook on sale at a music store or directly from him), stays at Predeal in the mountains, about 2 hours drive from central Bucarest. I have been there once. I would not call it spectacular, but certainly green and a pleasant change from to the city.

In Bucarest, there is a kind of village theme park with old wooden houses moved to there from the country.

Aviatrix

I went there on my first visit back in 2001 - definitely recommended.

Clincher

I have found a train that goes from Bucharest to Istanbul. However it goes through Russia to get there?!!! It is called Bosfor. Is there no direct trains from Bucharest going south into Turkey?

bcmatt

The Bosfor Express does indeed run from Bucharest to Istanbul, however it goes via Bulgaria, not Russia.

You might be getting confused with the Bulgarian city of Russe/Rousse in on the border with Romania?

As always with train travel, Seat 61 will probably have some excellent information.

jneugeba

Bucharest is probably one of the least favorite places I have been. I really don't know what you will do there for 7 days. I would suggest taking the train up to the mountains (Brasov, Bran Castle, etc.), where I thought the country was much more enjoyable.

One tip in Bucharest - the taxis are notorious for overcharging tourists. Make sure you negotiate the fare before hand, and don't feel bad about not paying what they are asking.

bumpme

On the opposite end, is there any problem with doing a layover less than 12 hours at the airport. Is it best to get a transit visa or not needed if you aren't going out of the airport?

bcmatt

That depends on whether you actually need a visa or not!

You don't say where you are from, but most North Americans and Europeans do not need a visa for Romania. Further information can be found here.

Clincher

Great website, was able to e-mail and recieved a response from seat61, nice guy very helpful. Thanks!

WillTravel

I read somewhere that many Romanians speak French, and you might do better with French than English. Is that true? In Bucharest, how likely is it that train staff, waiters, etc. will speak sufficient English to manage transactions in English?

=====================

My trip with this bargain fare is over 10 months away, but I can't help but try to plan possible itineraries. Right now, this is looking like a good option. I have three nights in AMS before flying to Bucharest. From there, I'll do something like this:

Land in Bucharest August 14
Stay in Bucharest 0 or 1 nights
Fly from Bucharest to a German city with a budget airline (Frankfurt, Dortmund, Cologne are all possibilities on Wizzair or SkyEurope), and then the same day or next morning:
Train to Berlin - stay X nights (5 or 6 hours travel)
Train to Prague - stay X nights (5 or 6 hours)
Train to Vienna - stay X nights (5 or 6 hours)
Budget flight back from Bratislava (near Vienna) to Bucharest
One or two nights in Bucharest and then return flight on August 26.

That would be the central Europe itinerary version. My daughter is lobbying for a large UK component, but I'll definitely be considering price in all of this. I prefer non-rushed travel, but I am thinking it's not quite so disruptive to take a train every 2 or 3 days as it is to take a flight.

apx068

Hi there to all of you getting flying in from Canada!
I've been going to Bucharest often for quite a few years now. Overall, if you're not visiting somebody it's an OK place to go. The younger generation have reasonable language skills so if you're completly unable to speak Romanian, they should be able to understand! ^
It's not really a tourist city so if you're there for a week you may be searching for things to do.
Here are a few points to help:

Arriving at OTP
It's a pleasant little airport. The formalities and baggage claim are simple and straighforward. Once you are out of the baggage claim you will only need to wait for about 3 seconds until somebody offers you a taxi or to help carry your luggage. It's best to decline both and go for the official taxis directly in front of the terminal. These cost about 50 new lei (10GBP, 20USD) into the city centre hotels, are pleasant and seem to be OK.
There is also a bus into the city (number 173) but in 7 years I've never managed to find where it actually goes from!

Money
Romanian lei is a bit of an odd currency. I believe it is still technically illegal to remove it from Romania which means you are probably not going to find it in any foreign exchange (although I did see it on the list at STN one evening). How this will be after 1st Jan 2007 with EU accession, I don't know... Anyway, there are MANY cash machines (ATMs) all over the city so it's easy to get hold of some cash. As mentioned previously, the currency has shifted, 1 new lei = 1000 old lei. It can be confusing to get the mix of notes in any change!
Oh, there is a machine in the public area of the arrivals area at OTP which is handy to get the first bit of cash (useful to pay the taxi to the city)

Places to stay
Normall I stay with friends or family but once I stayed in the "Capital Hotel". It was 50 euro per night including breakfast and they wanted payment up front in euros.

Getting around Bucharest
It's actually quite easy once you've got your head around it all
I wouldn't rent a car to drive around Bucharest. It's a mad mad mad city to drive in. The main street in the centre has wonderful countdown timers on the traffic lights to you know *exactly* when to accelerate away. It can be your very own attempt at drag racing! Best to sit in a taxi and let an experinced driver do it. I'm getting the hang of it and quite enjoy it now
Oh, the Romanians use really small cars. A "Tico" is technically for 4 people but if you're coming from the US/Canada you really won't believe it and may think it's actually meant to be one car per person!
Taxi's are plentiful and cheap. In many cases you'll be stung for the "dumb foriegner tax" but frankly even if you are, the taxi fares are cheap and it doesn't really matter.
The metro is OK but doesn't go to too many places. You can buy a 1 day pass ("Zi billet") for about 3 lei (0.80 GBP or 1.60USD) and that gives unlimted rides.
To get anywhere and everywhere in Bucharest, take a bus. You need to buy a block of tickets from the many kiosks all over the city before you get on the bus and then you cancel the ticket in the punch machine on the bus. It's easy to spot the out-of-towners as it seems virtually all the Bucharest inhabitants have month passes or just don't pay!

You can buy a map of the bus network from the kisoks ("carte de autobus" might be the right phrase) or you can look on the RATB (the transport agency for Bucharest) website: www.ratb.ro

Places to go
I don't know too many of the tourist spots as I travel to visit specific people, not the sights.
Places to check out though include the Peasant museum, The Village Museum and the Arc de Triumph. (Really!) The park by the last two is really nice and there are some good resturants on the lakeside.
There's also the People's Palace (I think it's the 2nd largest building in the world) and have a look in Revolutionary Square and count the bullet chips/holes in the surrounding buldings.

Travel Outside Bucharest
The train takes you all over Romania. It's cheap (by internation standards although the Romanians complain about the cost) and seems to run to schedule. There are a number of places you could go:
The mountains. Take a train to Sinaia or Predal. The skiing's bette at Predal but Sinaia has the old Royal Place to look at.
The coast. Take the train to Constanza. It's a large(ish) city with reasonably nice beachfront areas.
The Danube Delta. This is quite a trip and is probably best well planned out rather than just doing it.
Dracula! OK, you know the story... The "real" castle is at Bran. I think that there is no railway to Bran, the closest main station is Brasov. There are probably buses over to Bran from near the station. Oh, Brasov itself is interesting - make sure you vist the Black Church.

Leaving
After your trip, you'll need to get back to the airport. If you just grab a taxi, expect to pay over 100 lei for the return journey. The thing to watch for though is the traffic congestion on the way there. It *will* take you longer than you planned - don't risk a tight check-in.

Have a good trip!
Jason

apx068

Hi there,
There is really not very much to do at the airport. 12 hours could be utterly boring. There is a lounge that's shared between all airlines. That in itself should give you a clue as the size of the airport. On the bright side though, there is a free and unlimited supply of beer, wine and spirits in there.
You cannot get in the lounge by showing *any* bit of gold/platinum coloured plastic. The only way in is if you a) pay or b) jhave a paper invitation . These are given to you when you check in.

I'm really not sure that the transfer people at OTP will understand the concept of a mileage run with direct turn-around and are almost certainly not going to have the lounge invitations. That is if they are actually there! If you're doing a turn around, go through immigration, walk across to the departues terminal and check in as normal.

Frankly though, if you have more than about 5 hours between flights, I'd recommend looking for something to do. I have seen a sign at the road entrance to the airport that there is an aviation museum there but I have never actaully been myself.

Cheers,
Jason