Transfagarasan Highway, 2017

Transfagarasan Highway, 2017

Overview of Romania

Romania to most people means some poverty & corruption, a strong communist state till 1989, it joined the EU lately and of course “Dracula’s castle” (Bran Castle). The only name people may be able to name from Romania is Mr. (Nicolae) Ceaușescu - general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party who was executed along with his wife Elena in 1989 by firing squad and the fairly middle-class graves can be visited in Bucharest to this day. Romania is quite low on people’s holiday list which is quite sad as it was an epic trip.

As you will know by now, I love less travelled places and especially ex-communist places, and Romania ticks both boxes. Romania has lots to see and in seven days I managed to do a good chunk but it was not enough, and some sites like Peleș Castle are closed on certain days of the week so I missed that. Romania came before Moldova & Transnistria so was somewhat a one-way trip as I exited and flew back from Chisinau, Moldova after crossing the Romania-Moldova border by foot (or bus really).

The plan was standard, do a lot of research, write down a plan focused on an end destination (Iași, pronounced Yash), fly into Bucharest, hire a car (VW Polo or Gulf automatic), pre-book Bucharest hotel, book other hotels as I go along, drop the car off in Iași and cross the land border in my case.

Top Gear with the old crew of course did air an episode in 2009 which mainly covered the spectacular Transfăgărășan Highway which I do most of.

Seven days was not enough to do all of the sites and some would wonder how I did so much in seven days… I drive a lot, wake up early and get to the hotel location late. On the topic of driving. Back in 2017 the roads were poor, not quite as bad as Albanian roads but really bad compared to the rest of Europe. Imagine insane potholes or 100m when the road has been shaved off for “repair”. The drivers were a bit rough but again not as bad as Tunisian or Albanian drivers. Traffic was badish in the capital and barely any traffic outside of Bucharest. Do watch out for horse & carts, chickens, dogs, cats, cows, goats on smaller roads!

How were the people? Perfectly fine and I could survive with English only mostly. I even found a car mechanic to swap the blown/punctured car tyre with good English outside of a city. No scams were tried on me, and I was not even stopped once by the cops who I hear in 2025 are less corrupt due to body worn cameras.

What is there to see? Castles/forts, dams, springs, waterfalls, German villages, communist relics, museums, churches, parks, rivers, salt mines, gorges and mountains.

Day #1
  • Arrive in Bucharest in the evening
  • Night in Bucharest
Day #2
  • Palace of Parliament for a tour
  • Visited the Ceaușescu’s fairly modest graves
  • Arcul de Triumf (a knock off of the Paris version)
  • Dimitrie Gusti National Village Museum
  • National Geological Museum
  • National Museum of Natural History
  • Two-hour PM walking tour of the city
  • Night in Bucharest
Day #3
  • Drive through Curtea De Agres
  • Attempted Transfăgărășan highway but had to return near the end due to snow
  • Admire the snow, mountains, rivers, lake, waterfalls and Vidraru Dam
  • Go the same way I came back and drive to Brasov
  • Quick walk around Brasov
  • Night in Brasov
Day #4
  • Explore Brasov
  • Explore Rasnov, mainly for the fortress & Valea Cetatii Cave
  • Seven Ladders Canyon
  • Bran for Bran Castle & items nearby castle
  • Night in Brasov again
Day #5
  • Libearty bear sanctuary which is a charity not a “setup” bear tour
  • Prejmer fortified church
  • Harman fortified church
  • Codlea fortified church
  • Făgăraș mainly for the fort
  • Night in Sighișoara
Day #6
  • Explore Sighișoara
  • Biertan fortified church
  • Salina Turda (salt mine)
  • Drive to Gheorgheni
  • Explore Gheorgheni
  • Night in Gheorgheni
Day #7
  • Explore Red Lake
  • Drive through Bicaz Gorges
  • Targu Neamt mainly for its fort
  • Suceava fort
  • Homor & Voronet painted monastery
  • Drive to Iași
  • Explore Iași
  • Night in Iași & exited to Chisinau, Moldova the next day on a public bus

Would I return? Likely yes since I missed a few items like Peles Castle, Cantacuzino Castle (Wednesday, Netflix), Glod (Borat, Sacha Baron Cohen) and more.

Brasov County

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68

Bucharest

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27

Cluj County

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14

Harghita County

1
2
3

Iasi County

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

Mures County

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22

Neamt County

1
2
3
4
5
6

Sibiu County

1
2
3

Suceava County

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

Transfăgărășan Highway

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23

Contact Me

Thoughts, questions or do you want a review written?
Please do email me at: graeme@bumpytravels.com.

Who Am I?

Graeme of London who's main interests include:
Bunkers, castles, fortresses and communist relics.

Sorry, this website uses features that your browser doesn’t support. Upgrade to a newer version of Firefox, Chrome, Safari, or Edge and you’ll be all set.