Getting ready to put the finishing touches on my travel plans...

26 May - YYZ-AMS
27 May - AMS-VIE
30 May - VIE-AMS-OTP
02 JUN - OTP-AMS-YYZ

:-: updated :-:

Thanks to everyone who is participating in this calendar. Is it working? Are people meeting up?

mcrt, enjoy your 2nd round. Your handle came up at dinner (FT mini-mini DO) last night in ref to this calendar.

I can't believe I'm going to do this! In coach! And BoyWillMyButtBeSore! YVR-AMS/AMS-OTP starting this Thursday night. My return is on the 18th (but I'm not actually in BUH at all, except for the evening of the 17th...let me know if you happen to be kicking around). :)

finally got it together:

TRIP 1

10 May - YYZ-MSP-AMS-OTP - Intercon for 6 nights
17 May - OTP-AMS - Schiphol Hotel
18 May - AMS-SEA - SeaTac Hotel
19 May - SEA-AUS


TRIP 2

28 May - AUS-YYZ - Airport Hotel
29 May - YYZ-MSP-AMS-OTP - Intercon for 1 night
30 May - Constanta, Sofia, Moldova...??
06 Jun - OTP - Intercon for 1 night
07 Jun - OTP-AMS-SEA - SeaTac Hotel
08 Jun - SEA-AUS

Did you nest these trips to get one starting from YYZ, the other from YVR/SEA?

:-: updated :-:

I was wondering that myself, but MrHalliday is a seasoned deal-runner so I posted what he did.

BAMAT, I'm not sure if you're spending your time in AMS or OTP, so I had to guess.

Happy travels, everyone!

Share Cab downtown
 

Anyone interested in sharing a cab from the airport downtown ("spre centru in Romanian) on Sunday May 27th. If so, PM me. We are a party of two so we could share with one or two others. We are going to the Marriott at Piata Unirii area.

Well, I leave at the end of the month, so I'm more than happy to meet up if anyone's in Vienna May 27 - May 30 or in OTP May 30 - June 1. I still haven't worked out my OTP details but I'll probably end up renting a car and driving around Romania.

Bowgie's Trip Details for Calendar (5/22 to 6/6)
 

The OPT Yahoo! trip calendar already has the YVR/AMS/OPT legs correctly listed for Mr. & Mrs. Bowgie, so I'm posting this again just for the sake of addiing hotel and intra-Europe legs:

5-23 LAX to YVR UA8472 (AC)
5-23 YVR to OPT (via AMS) KL682 and KL1361
5-24 OPT Intercontinental Hotel
5-25 OPT to BUD (Wizz Air)
5-25 thru 5-28 Kalvin House in BUD
5-28 BUD to TGM (Targu Mures on Wizz Air)
5-29 thru 5-30 Casa Legenda in old Sighisora
5-31 thru 6-1 Brasov
6-3 OPT Intercontinental Hotel
6-4 OPT to AMS KL1358
6-4,5 AMS A-Train Hotel
6-6 AMS KL681
6-7 VYR to BLI (Amtrak)
6-9 SEA to LAX UA1175

I need some feedback folks; I have a total of 6 nights in early Aug. in Romania and thanks to the IC deal really can't change the last two nights. I kind of want some time in Bucharest to get over the jetlag, etc and am holding space at Marriott at present. However, am thinking about booking at least the middle 2 nights at the Hotel Ambient in Brasov and wondered if anyone has stayed there. Is Brasov a good choice to get out of Bucharest and see some sights? Are there many castles nearby and is it easy to arrange tours? I've heard Bran Castle is a bit of a let down once you've seen it but are there any other better sights/castles to substitute it with? Is 2 nights in Brasov too short?

I'd appreciate some feedback as I've got to make some decisions that I've been putting off for a while.

:-: updated :-:

Bowgie, that's quite an itin. Have fun!

I hope someone can help tcook out with some info. If not, did you try the Trip Reports thread?

Hi folks,

I'm arriving in Bucharest on June 8th, staying until the 10th. Interested in hotel recommendations. The JW Marriott looks lovely but I'm an Engineer, not a Tycoon! US $330 a night, ouch.

The Intercontinental looks nice as well - and "only" € 127 a night for a basic room. Then I looked up the exchange rate and that's now $172 (thanks Dubya!). Erm ... ouch.

Any other decent options? Like in the $100 - $150 range or so?

If it matters, I should note that I expect to collapse upon arrival for a good 12 hours (I'm flying LAX-YVR, then YVR-MSP/MSP-AMS/AMS-OTP in one go!), hopefully get up in time to spend 12 hours on an all-day sucker countryside tour from 8:00 AM - 8:00 PM, collapse again and leave the next afternoon.

Also, has there been any consensus on OTP-to-hotel travel, do I just take this 783 bus into town and hail a taxi from there to the hotel d'jour? (And pray the cabbie will understand a scribbling of hotel name and address)

Brasov - Perhaps?
 

The Marriott and Hilton are both superior properties, although the location of the Hilton is arguably a bit better; however, their prices are inflated relative to the general economy.
Brasov is wonderful. Quite trendy, yet a pleasant juxtaposition with its historic characteristics.
My son and I bunked in at the Capitol for 3 nights, which is affiliated with the Aero.
It was adequate but the only decent breakfast occurred on the first day when a large bus of tourists from Germany encamped. Thereafter, the buffet evaporated, dependent upon the diminishing number of guests.

The Ambient looks fine and it is only a couple of blocks away.

Bran castle is a bit of a dud but it was suitably Transylvanian when we walked up with the wind blowing fiercly and with a bit of a chill. Basically, it is a 5 minute "castle."

Peles Castle is only 30 km. or so away and is truly sensational and there seems to be a decent castle in Rasov which is 10 minutes away.

The ski resort is only 15 minutes by express bus and is also moderately interesting, but great for hiking, it would appear.

We took a taxi back from Brasov to our hotel near OTP for about US55.00 including tip.

It is about 145-150 km. and takes 2 hours and 15 minutes or so.

There are some good Italian restaurants in Brasov clustered near the square - generally, Romanian food is not great and the ordering by the 100g. is "work."

Have fun!

I agree with most of what you said. The only thing I wouldn't necessarily recommend is taking the cab from Brasov to OTP. You can take train to Bucharest and from there a cab or a bus to OTP, but if you'd rather not deal with that, it's understandable.

The Peles castle is in a place called Sinaia. There are several cool things about Sinaia and there are frequent trains from Brasov. There's also another smaller caslte close to Peles, it's called Pelisor and I think it's definitely worth seing. If you're there eat at the Serb's Tavern - good food, HUGE portions, decent wine... the whole deal.

I could recommend a few places in Bucharest. There isn't a lot of cool stuff to see; I do know some good restuarants and such. I'll even be there 6/3-6/14 and 6/23-7/4.

Oh, and I definitely recommend taking the 783 bus from the airport into the center and from there a cab. (Although if you're staying at Intercontinental you don't need to because it stops there.) Avoid the "Fly Taxi" cabs.

6/2 CVG-DTW NW2971
6/2 DTW-AMS NW68
6/3 AMS-OTP KL1359
6/14 OTP-AMS KL1390
6/14 AMS-LIS KL1697

I'm still playing around with the rest of the trips and dates; I'll post more when I know for sure.

How much is the train? I'm wondering for 3 persons whether it might be cheaper and faster to take a cab if it is only $55?


Perhaps Sinaia would be an alternative to Brasov for a couple of nights away from Bucharest? Seems like a town with a lot of interesting history and culture.


We will be in Romania July 2 to 7 (Northwest forced us to make other travel plans while they were refusing to allow inbound flight changes, so we are probably stuck with those dates). Staying at the Intercontinental Bucharest July 5 and 6 and possibly July 2. Recommendations much appreciated, and maybe we can catch you somewhere along the line someplace?


We get in on the midnight express flight from Vancouver and don't know what the heck we are going to do for the 8 or 10 hours it is going to take for everything to open up in town (or maybe there's an overnight train to somewhere on which we could get a little shuteye?). Very reluctant to reserve a hotel ahead of time for that night because that leaves you stuck with a big bill for nothing if you don't end up making it for the night plus the chance of being walked at 2 or 3 am when you finally get there is very unappealing. Just not worth it. So how late / how early does the "783" bus run? Wondering whether we will have an alternative to trying to navigate through the hordes of shyster cabbies to find an honest one (at least that's what it sounds like it will be like).

How in the heck are you doing this? :confused: Northwest told me absolutely no changes of any kind any time for any reason.

mcrt, are you available to post florin's itin to the calendar? If not, I can a week from now. TIA

I'm not on the mistake fare; it's basically business travel and a vacation to Portugal in the middle.

It depends on what train you take. It looks like the most expensive train (the IC - intercity) 3 tickets (2nd class, which is fine) come up to some $40-45. This is where you can check out info about the trains. You might be better off taking a cab, but consider 2 things: (1) not all cabs are willing to take you that far and the price is just something you negotiate - $55 is not a fixed rate. (Tip: if you negociate in $ as opposed to lei, that throws the off a bit and gives you a better leverage;)) If you do this, ask around first, give yourself some time. (2) Sinaia-OTP can take 2 hours but it could also take longer. During the summer a lot of people from Bucharest hit the mountains, mostly on weekends. The trip has taken me over 4 hours once (due to traffic). You should be ok if you don't head back to OTP on a Sunday afternoon.

Sinaia is on the way from Bucharest to Brasov (very close to Brasov). It does have some interesting history and is in general a very relaxing place. You can also do some hiking, and summer is a great time to be there. A couple of days there should be very nice. There are lots of trains that go between Sinaia and Brasov and it's a short ride. You could plan to stay in Sinaia and if you get bored or want to see something different you can always go and spend an afternoon in Brasov.

I should be there possibly 6/23-7/4. It's a business trip so I won't have too much time on my hands but a dinner or something should be doable. If you stay at the Intercontinental there's an excellent Turkish restaurant close by called Golden Falcon (5 minute walk). I, for one, love that place!

I take it you arrive to OTP on the KL flight that lands at 12:30 am? The bus definitely doesn't run that late. The last one out of there leaves at 10:30 or 11:00 (I think). You're at the mercy of FlyTaxi... it's not THAT bad tho. They're 'crooks' because they won a very dubious bid to have exlusive rights at OTP, and the prices are very high compared to other cabs (you pay 3-4 times more to/from the airport). Otherwise they're ok. They may try to rip you off if you don't have Romanian currency. There are ATMs in the airport, use those. Exchange rates at OTP are awful. A fare to Intercontinental may be something like $30-40 (not sure tho). Speaking of ATMs... you should always have cash with you in Romania. Not all places take CCs and the lines or POS' are down often enough to require a backup plan.

There should be plenty of overnight trains. Assuming you get to the train station around 2am, you should be able to get a trip somewhere. I would stay away from P or A trains (the slow, crappy ones). I suppose it's just a matter of looking up the schedule and finding a convenient RT.

Thanks for the rail website. I just might spend all 4 nights I have available in Sinaia and maybe rail it to Brasov for a visit one whole day.

I stayed at the IC Bucharest on Thursday night, and other than it was a very long haul in very heavy traffic from OTP, I thought it was great (particularly with the Priority Club points deal). I got a great room with a lovely view, a nice, big bathroom with a bidet and a ginormous amenity kit with nail polish and a few other interesting goodies (ok, the guys won't be as excited about the nail polish as I was, perhaps, but still...). I thought the hotel staff were very helpful and efficient.

I didn't have a ton of time because I didn't get to the hotel until around 7:00 pm and I had to leave the hotel by 3:30 am for my flight home, but I did spend a few hours walking around. There was a little shopping area not too far from the hotel that was fun, and wow...the shoes! I was travelling with just a small rollaboard, so I could only squish in one pair, but they are great! It was interesting to see how there is a real mix between all the new construction and businesses (the Ikea by the airport was unexpected), the renovation of some beautiful, old buildings, and the "early ugly" cement, square kinda buildings.

It was an interesting (and brief) trip to the city, and I'm glad I got to see a tiny bit of it.

Wizz Air AIrport Change at Bucharest
 

I have a Wizz Air Flight from Bucharest to Budapest on 5/25. A few weeks ago, they e-mailed a notice that the Bucharest departure changed from BBU to OPT airport. Today, I got another e-mail from Wizz reversing the change -- My flight now departs from BBU (the low-cost carrier airport closer in to Bucharest).

Not sure what Wizz Air's "final answer" is going to be, but a heads up to those with LCC flights out of Bucharest -- verify your departure airport!

Visa/Passport requirements?
 

Two quick questions:

Do US citizens need to obtain the $40 visa first? I've seen conflicting sites. I got the impression from the Romanian Embassy site that if we're going to be in Romania for less than 90 days, we (US citizens) don't need a visa. Yes or no?

I just discovered, after not having checked for awhile, that my Passport expires 4 months after the trip :eek:

Romania seems to be one of those poopy countries that requires you to have a Passport that doesn't expire for 6 months after you leave (someone explain this bass-ackwards rule to me please?!?). I'm leaving in 2 weeks and 2 days! If I go to the Post Office tomorrow and ask for an Expedited renewal, do I have a prayer?

US citizens do NOT need to pay anything for a visa because in fact they do not need one.
As far as TIMATIC is concerned:
From what TIMATIC is showing your passport needs to be valid only for your indended stay. I doubt you're going to spend 4 monts in .Ro so you should be fine IMHO :)

If you want I can call the Consulate here in LA tomorrow for you and ask them.
Not sure how much luck you're going to have with the expedited service at the post office given the influx of tons more of passport applications recently.
You might have more luck going to a passport center and show them your imminent trip details. (i.e. make an appointment for the Federal Bldg. on Wilshire since you're LA based)

Regards,
Chris

(deleted)

Thanks Chris,

I think I'll ring them tomorrow myself, no worries :) I think you're right, I don't need a Visa (but printed out the form just in case).

As for the Passport renewal, it appears that you don't have to go to the Federal Building unless you've got less than 2 weeks before your travel - and in the morning it'll be 15 days for me. I'll stop by the Post Office and ask if they can do the expedited deal, or whether I should just go to the Federal Building (ugh - I live a ways from there) anyway.

Next I gotta plot when to try for the CO 20k upgrade ;)

Oh, while I'm here - at the end of my trip I get into AMS at almost Midnight - and the trains stop running at 1 AM. Am thinking of staying in Haarlem. Wondering if I'll be able to get on a train into Amsterdam and back out to Haarlem before they stop running?

What's the best way to check train schedules? I found multiple websites and it was difficult to figure out how to check train schedules comprehensively. I think one needs to have the exact Romanian spelling for every city and check each of them one by one at the site I found.

Also, florin, special thanks for the excellent info and tips you provided! :)

http://www.mersultrenurilorcfr.ro/

Was the website florin provided last page of this thread I've been using. I found a nice hotel in Sinaia and will spend my 4 nights outside of Bucharest there and give the trains a try. Can't be that hard to get to Brasov.

I can confirm that US citizens do NOT need a visa to visit Romania.

It's possible, but that would be tight. If your plane gets there on time, you have no bags to pick up and you zoom through the airport, you may get to AMS at 12:30. So in the best scenario you'd have some 20-30 mins there. I'm not sure if it's worth it. I'd consider staying in Amsterdam instead.

www.bahn.de is the best and most reliable

use bucuresti for bucharest

also http://infofer.ro/default_engleza.asp?lng=2 for domestic routes only.
use "Bucuresti Nord" for Bucharest's main railway station, Gara de Nord

IC Hotel to OTP - How long (traffic concerns?)
 

I understand that traffic in Bucharest can be quite nasty. My GF will be staying at the InterContinental Bucharest, and needs to get back to OTP for the 2:15PM flight to AMS.
What time should she leave the city in order to catch her flight, assuming she'll be taking public transportation?

Also, how easy is it to get to OTP with the public busses? http://www.toandfromtheairport.com suggests taking bus #783 - where does one find this bus (and where does one purchase tickets?)
This trip will be on a Sunday afternoon, BTW.

Last time I went to OTP with her, we had less than 1 hour between flights, so we obviously stayed inside the airport (using the international-to-international transfer shortcut).

Thanks for the help!

I've done that. the bus 783 takes ~1h to the airport (there is road construction and heavy traffic) it leaves every 20min. When you leave the IC, the bus station is in front of you on the other side of the road. When you come up from the undercrossing (metro) just go 20m ahead and there it is. can't miss it :) I bought the tickets at the airport when I arrived - just ask for a return ticket. doesn't cost alot. But I guess you can get them in the city as well. the bus leaves the airport from the lower (domestic) arrival level.

I've modified my routing ad dates somewhat, so here's how it should now read:

04AUG YYZ-MEM-AMS-ARN
09 AUG ARN-AMS-OTP-AMS
30AUG AMS-IAH-EWR
31AUG EWR-YYZ

Thanks!

:-: Updated :-:

Only 2.5 months of travel left on this fabulous find . For the gazillionth time, thank you, hudson!

I took a taxi because I was kind of tired (it was late afternoon). The traffic was insane and it took about 1 3/4 hours to get to the IC hotel. I would guess 2 hours would be on the safe side...

I made this journey last Saturday (July 7th) for the same KLM flight.

The Intercontinental is on the north east side of University Plaza. Bus 783 is on the southeast side. She should walk down the tunnel that leads to the metro and under the streets but stay left and get to the south side of the square.

| IC
-------
| bus 783

If she doesn't have a return bus ticket yet, then she will have to buy one from the stand. Just say "Otopeni Airport" and they'll figure it out. For some reason, it seems they only sell it as a return and that it's 5 Lei. The way down, though, I was able to just pay 2 Lei to the bus driver (??) Near the stand there is a small covered bus area. 783 will pull up to it - just wave when she sees it.

The journey on Saturday took me about 1:15 (11:15 am - 12:30 pm), due to traffic and construction on the route to Otopeni. I would imagine it would be a bit worse on weekdays. The bus was very crowded towards the end but I enjoyed spending just a couple dollars to get to the airport. Note: There are two stops at the airport. The first is the domestic terminal and the last is the international terminal.

Leaving OTP tomorrow morn. Hypodermic needles and Gypsies!
 

We'll be leaving tomorrow morning, after a mostly good trip to ARN and OTP.

We went on a day trip to Sinaia yesterday (166 RON for 3 people RT), which was a nice break from Bucharest. On leaving Gare Nord, we had a hell of time finding a taxi that would take us the relatively short trip. It was after 10pm, and we were charged on the #3 rate on the meter. Not sure if that was right, but we had gotten the same thing during the day, which I knew was a rip off.

Upon getting out of the taxi at the IC, I noticed that there was a capped hypodermic needle right where I was sitting. Really freaky. The taxi driver acted like it was nothing to be concerned about.

Today we went to a pizza/pasta place in the vicinity of the Hilton that we had enjoyed last time. Walking through the plaza there, the little Gypsy boy who had been holding the new year lamb the last time I was there, attached himself like glue to me again. He kept repeating his mantra, "1 Euro, 1 Euro, 1 Euro". I was about 15 meters away from the restaurant when I glanced down, and found the kids hand in my pants pocket!

I yelled at him, and held him his hand at a pressure point. After he was sure I wasn't going to smack him, he just took it like a normal occurance (which I'm sure it is). I let him go, and he took off. Later he walked back by about 10 meters away with a big smirk on his face.

Ah, such fun in Bucharest!

Watch out for the short changer at the Money Exchange window at Gara de Nord. Was given 1.1 Lei per US dollar. After some tense discussions about this, she finally forked over the remaining Lei due us. When traveling on the train, missed our stop because the station was unmarked (station was under construction) and we couldn't get off in time by the time we figured out where we had stopped (train literally started to move as we were trying to get off). The nice onboard agent gave us a special price for going to the next stop (about 85 Lei when it should have been 10 Lei); and then, because of a break in schedule, it took us 4 hours to go back a single stop to our destination.

On the other hand, we found a great Taxi driver at the departures in OTP; he took us to Bucharest and back for 10 Euros each way which, after our initial negotiation period, he seemed quite satisfied with. Very nice gentleman.

The Intercontinental was nice except the air conditioning worked poorly in the room, could barely keep the temperature at about 80 to 85 F or so. Also, nothing there was anywhere near worth the cost; for example, a single cup of tea cost $18 US.

A few observations about OTP/IC/Taxis
 

Well, I'm at AMS now, on the tail end of my YVR-ARN-OTP trip. I survived, even with the nonsense with Taxis and thieving kids.

I took the bus from the airport for 5 RON a ticket (had to buy RT ones, so 5 x 2). Traveling with 3 people, this doesn't always work out so well, but still much cheaper than a taxi. It took 43 minutes from the airport to the the Intercontinental. This was on a Wednesday afternoon. The construction traffic seemed much better than last time.

Going back, I had the IC call a metered taxi. They charged 1.2 lei for in-town, and 2.4 once you go outside town (a bit past the Ikea). 32 RON total. No problem.

In general, I had a so-so experience with taxis. A few charged too much during the day, other were fine.

I had a good experience at Gare de Nord train station. A lady in line helped me out with the ticket to Sinaia, and when I was short on RON (they didn't take credit cards), they held the tickets while I found an ATM. This was a Rapid train, 2nd class, seats were assigned. When we got on the train later, we found people sitting in our seats, but they begrudgingly moved.

It was a nice day trip, and it's certainly nice to get outside of BUH.

The IC was good in general. We got a nice corner room, with a wrap around balcony. The king bed was big, but the quality was not there. My back ached every day for the first 30 minutes.

They have the fitness center/pool/sauna on the top level which is nice. There were only a handful of people up there while I was there.

The prices quoted for internet were quite high. I had to find an internet cafe up the street (1 km) to check email and such. I mainly used taxis and the metro and found them pretty easy to use.

We ate at KFC once, and only once while we were there. Pretty untasty breading on the chicken, and be ready to cough up 75 cents for a nasty little container of ketchup that wouldn't be acceptable to any North American's taste buds.

MRP Alert was came in early this morning, so I got to meet him as I was checking out at 4am this morning.