Carpathian Mountains in Transylvania

Romania – Wow!

Back in early January of this year while researching for my travels around Eastern Europe, I soon became most excited about Romania. Of the dozen or more countries I researched, Romania looked like the most beautiful and exceptional of all. Photos I saw online of gorgeous Romanian mountains, historic towns, castles and Medieval architecture really caught my attention.

Partly for that reason I saved Romania to near the end of my Balkan travels. As expected, I didn’t reach Romania until October, arriving from Budapest, Hungary.

Although I’d researched Romania briefly in January, I hadn’t taken time then to uncover the specific Romanian destinations to visit. So when I finally headed to Romania from Budapest, I decided to start my Romanian experiences somewhere near the western border.

My plan was to start there then head slowly east into central Romania, then eventually down to the capital city, Bucharest. I didn’t want to miss any amazing castles, historic towns or stunning natural places around the country and I needed time as I went along to research in detail.

Starting my Travels in Romania

The day I finally caught a train from Budapest, Hungary to Romania, I was very excited to finally reach Romania, the country I’d been anticipating for nearly one year. So I must admit that I arrived pre-disposed to like the country. However, my high expectations were not to be disappointed. In fact, Romania immediately began exceeding my expectations, literally from the moment I crossed the border.

As my train chugged across through the Hungarian border and over onto Romanian soil and arrived at the first Romanian border station, I noticed a few sutble refreshing changes…

Everything seemed a bit more perky, fresh and inviting. The station wore a new coat of vibrant white paint. Small pots of bright red flowers decorated the platform and station verandas. Train station staff, and even the immigration officers were smiling, relaxed and talking in a friendly manner Math each other.

After the rather grim-faced, cold Hungarians in Budapest, the difference was immediately noticeable. Just by crossing the border, I sensed that Romania was a lighter, friendlier and perhaps more prosperous place than I’d just been.

Rolling through the Romanian countryside, I admit that it didn’t look much different from the Hungarian countryside. It was all flat open farmland, looking very much like Ohio or Indiana, USA. Boring.

The outskirts of the few cities we passed through were built up with lots of ugly industry, which wasn’t very attractive or promising. I later found that to be common throughout Romania. However, I also soon discovered that the cities’ historic centers are absolutely gorgeous.

Because of my plan to start close to the border of Hungary/Romania, I ended up, more or less by chance, in the stunning historic town of Timisoara. I had never heard of Timisoara before, having just discovered it a few days before I headed to Romania.

I had no idea I was about to land in such an amazing, historically-important and gorgeous little city, but I quickly found out when I arrived. I wrote all about amazing Timisoara here.

From Timisoara, I headed east into Transylvania, visiting the equally-stunning historic towns of Sibiu, Brasov and Sighisoara. I stayed 3-5 nights in each town, spending my days admiring the stunning & varied historic architecture, wandering cobblestone roads, gaping at elaborate Orthodox Churches and generally feeling amazed and astounded at all the beauty around me.

Romanian People

During my first days in Romania – in Timisoara – I also quickly discovered, much to my amazement, just how extremely helpful Romanians are. Time after time, day after day, I had Romanians go out of their way to help me get to where I wanted to go.

They’d stop, even if they seemed to be in a hurry, listen to my question, then take time to show me where to go. Instead of just pointing in the general direction, they’d say, “Come with me” and they’d walk with me, explaining where to go and staying with me until it was perfectly clear.

Time and time again, I was stunned. The Romanians super-helpful attitude is such a contrast to what I found in Poland, Hungary, Check Republic and most other countries around the Balkans. In those places, the response I normally received was a curt ‘no’ or ‘I don’t know’. Of course there were exceptions, but that seemed to be the norm.

An exception to that was Albania. Like the Romanians, I found the Albanians to be extremely helpful, going well out of their way to make sure I knew what to do/ where to go.

Romania’s Gorgeous Historic Cities

Timisoara, my first Romanian city, blew me away with its stunning architecture, abundant parks, riverside walkways, serious classical music culture and friendly helpful residents.

During my visit, Timisoara was in the midst of a big classical music festival. I attended a Philharmonic Orchestra one night and an organ concert in a huge Gothic cathedral another evening.

Sibiu was the second historic city I visited. It amazed me all over again, leaving me thinking that perhaps Sibiu was even better than Timisoara, particularly because it has an even bigger historic heart, filled with even more astounding architecture, as well as an even older Medieval section of town and a large portion of the city’s original wall and towers intact.

Coincidentally, I arrived in Sibiu the very week of their annual International Film Festival, showcasing independent films from around Eastern Europe and beyond. I watched several excellent films, as well as three short 3-D Virtual Reality films and a 360º domed film about the stars & universe.

After Sibiu I hit Brasov, the acclaimed heart of Transylvania. Amazingly, I had the same experience again…

Brasov has even more astounding architecture, more Medieval city walls and towers and gates, more museums, and yet another annual international festival. This time, Brasov was enjoying the Dracula Film Festival right before Halloween. It’s the perfect city to host that event!

Culture and Arts in Romania

As noted above, every city I visited was in the midst of one international cultural event or other. Timisoara was hosting the Classical Music Festival, Sibiu the International Film Festival, Brasov the Dracula Film Festival during my first week and the annual Blues & Jazz Festival during my second week in the city.

I once saw a listing of the various annual events and festivals in Brasov. They just go on and on, one after the other, all throughout the year.

Point being that I didn’t just happen to chance on the one season of festivals in Romania. They seem to be in full swing all the time!

Castles and Medieval Fortified Cities & Churches

I’d heard of Transylvania, of course. I knew it was an area in Romania famous the world over as the homeland of notorious Count Dracula.

Peles CAstle

But I didn’t realize just how large or amazingly beautiful and historically important Transylvania is. First of all, it’s one of the main states of Romania, situated in the center of the country in a region that includes a lot of flat farmland as well as the country’s highest mountains – the jagged Carpathian Range.

Brasov is the cultural center of Transylvania and has a gorgeous historic center filled with gorgeous buildings, churches, plazas, Medieval towers & gates and partial original city walls.

Scattered around the state near Brasov are dozens of amazing historic sites. They include elaborate castles, hilltop fortress ruins, Medieval fortified churches that are surrounded by thick walls as well as entire Mediveal fortified towns.

Dozens of these places are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Each place is different and has some of the most unique out-of-this-world Medieval architecture that I’ve ever seen. Many of the sites feel like a movie set from Medieval times.

Travel Logistics in Romania

Budget Accommodation & Hostels

I was surprised to discover that Romanian budget accommodation is on the expensive side, especially compared to neighboring countries. In most countries in the area, normal hostel bed rates are in the $6-9 US range in most places. I could easily find private rooms in many places for $10-12 US, sometimes as low as $6-7 US. Even the huge cities of Krakow, Poland and Budapest, Hungary have plenty of hostel options for well under $10 US.

So I was quite surprised, and dismayed, to discover that general hostel rates all over Romania are more like $12-15 US per night. For a dorm bed. And private rooms cost more like $20 US, which is well above my budget.

It’s also really hard to find all-female dorm rooms in Romania! In most towns, after a long careful online search, I was able to find ONE hostel that offers a female dorm. Luckily, that worked out ok for most destinations.

However, quite amazingly, in all of Bucharest, Romania’s capital, not one single hostel, out of more than two dozen, offers a single female dorms! I talked with several other women travelers who all despaired over not finding any female dorms in Bucharest. That’s just astounding!

Someone needs to start female dorms in Bucharest! They will have a never-ending supply of women travelers to fill up their room, that’s for sure.

Aside from the relatively high cost of dorms and difficulty in finding female dorms, I have to say that hostels in Romania are wonderful! All the hostels I’ve stayed in thus far are like designer boutique hotels, with amazing interiors, new high-quality ultra-comfortable mattresses & bedding and gorgeous furniture.

The hostels are housed in renovated historic buildings, which means spacious rooms with high ceilings, interesting interior architectural features and radiators for heat in cold months.

All the hostel owners & managers are super welcoming, helpful and service oriented. They all give every guest a large towel for showering. Beds come equipped with a reading lamp and thick curtains for privacy. Kitchens tend to be small and sparsely equppied, but adequate enough to cook basic meals.

The hostels are also superbly located right in the heart of each city’s historic district, within walking distance of all the beautiful buildings, churches, plazas, events and other attractions.

In Timisoara, my hostel was situated just one block from the city’s gorgeous main plaza and three blocks from the astounding Moldavian-style church. In Sibiu, my hostel was just off the main pedestrian walkway and one block from the main plaza.

Brasov’s beautiful hostel was located right smack on the city’s main plaza! It has clear views of the town’s famous Black Church (Gothic cathedral), Town Hall and the nearby forested Tampa Hill.

Besides Mexico, Romania is the only country I’ve visited where I actually LIKE the hostels! Most places in the world, I avoid them as much as possible, preferring private rooms. But here in Romania, I actually feel quite happy staying in the lovely designer-like hostels and the generally quiet, private & cozy female dorm rooms with their plush curtained beds and super comfortable mattresses.

Public Transportation

Romania is very easy and inexpensive to get around. There are inexpensive buses, trains, mini-vans for overland travel, while cities haveequally cheap buses, trams & trolleys. They all run regularly, frequently and mostly on time. So it’s all quite easy, affordable and straight-forward.

Eating

Eating in Romania is also quite affordable for budget travelers. While the main restaurants are slightly on the steep side, most towns also have cafeteria-style home-cooked meal restaurants where a large selection of freshly-cooked dishes are on display. Customers simply point out what they want; the staff dish it up; pay then sit down and eat. I just love eating like that! It’s like SE Asia.

Buying grocries and cooking also makes eating in Romania quite inexpensive.

So far, after three weeks of travel around Romania, I think my average daily food costs are about $6 US per day. That’s about the same cost as in SE Asian countries.

Summing up Romania

On every count, I am just loving Romania! It’s quite affordable, even for budget travelers. The people are incredibly helpful and friendly. The towns, cities, castles and other historic sites offer and amazing diversity of astounding architecture from various centuries of European development.

I’m already adding Romania to my top favorite countries list! Right along Math Japan, Bali Indonesia, Singapore and Mexico.

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