I'm looking for ideas on good roads in Romania: I can enter romania anywhere in the NW--via Satu Mare, Oradea, Arad, etc., and want to head down to Brasov, then from Brasov to Histria, then up to Tulcea. Trip planned for early May...

Any suggestions for good roads would be greatly appreciated. I define good roads as roads through beautiful countryside with little traffic. I will be on a GS so rough tarmac or dirt are OK, although I want to avoid icy/snowy/closed mountain passes.

Also, currently planning to stay in Brasov and Tulcea--should I stay somewhere else? Mainly looking for basic hotel, decent food, cold , and ideally, some kind of night life--suggestions welcome!

To start with Welcome to Motoromania.com - Your online guide to motorcycling in Romania I wish every country had the same sort of site!!!! It was great site for me to plan my trip.

I've done the road up to Brasov from cimpulung (sp?) which is nice.

Also the transfargazen (no doubt misspelled!!!) which is an amazing road up through a pass in the same vicinity, but it could well still have snow in May.

No tips to offer for those towns specifically, didn't actually overnight in them.

Also - I came in via Arad - down the main road you can see on google maps. Avoid this if you can!!! Was full of commercial traffic (trucks etc.), slow going due to this and not a lot of fun when I did it. I really didn't enjoy, but it was also 40 degrees that day, which is not good when you are stuck behind a queue of trucks going up a hill.

Good luck.

Dear Graham,

took a quick peek at that site, looks very helpful, thanks a lot. Will take some time to look at it this weekend.

I already checked on the "transfag" but it is apparently closed till late June or so, so I'll have to save that for another trip. Hopefully will find some very nice roads, though, even if a bit less spectacular.

Coming into RO at Satu MAre, I'd suggest to drive eastwards instead of down to Oradea and Arad, because the latter isn't very interesting. Eastwards from Satu Mare along the ukranian border the country is very mountainous, very scenic. To begin with, visit Sapanta (incredibly funny cemetery and wonderful greek orthodox church). Further south is the village of Surdesti, boasting a wooden church with the highest steeple and very old ceiling paintings.
Further east is the small town Viseu de Sus. If you're interested in old steam railways, this railway travels into the mountains, takes a whole day in & out. Brilliant! Carrying on eastwards are some beautiful mountain passes, like Prislop pass. From here either take small roads to the monastries like Putna, Sucevita or others reknown for their painted biblical stories inside and outside the church.

Life isn't only religeous, so take the road via Campulung Moldovenesc and Bicaz down to Brasov. Wonderful landscape, very scenic! Brasov has a nice old city centre. Make a detour to Sigishoara and go see the fortification. There is a guarded parking area below. When there, carry on to Biertan which has the largest fortified church in Romania.

I would also suggest to ride up the Transfagarash, either from the south as far as possible, or from the north up to the tunnel. This is a skiing area and just before the entrance to the tunnel there are two mountain huts to your left. Try the second one. The proprietor & his wife are of German descent, the food is delicious nad they offer bunk-beds. Both parts of the Transfagarash are very scenic.

That's quite a bit to see, and all of it is worthwhile visiting

If you need more infos, send me an email. The best road maps I have found where the folding map published by the "Reise Knowhow Verlag" Rumänien, Moldau (1:600.000) (very tough, fairly waterproof, very exact) and a road atlas published by "Freytag & Berndt" freytag & berndt - Erweiterte Suche - Rumänien Superatlas (very detailed, but not as handy as the first one). Most other maps are often incorrect.

Hans

__________________
Only when we pause to wonder
do we go beyond the limits of our little lives.
(Rod McKuen)

Sorry mate, forgot the accommodation...
Look for rooms ("Camera") or "Pensiunea" (B&B). Not expensive.

__________________
Only when we pause to wonder
do we go beyond the limits of our little lives.
(Rod McKuen)

Hi

Had 2 weeks last year in Romania plus also a trip into Moldova and the Ukraine, came back into N.E of Romania on my way to Hungary to find most of the roads had E.U funding and had been dug up and left !!! travelling at 5mph on a loaded Triumph Daytona 1200 for miles and miles is not fun !!!, but hopefully these will have been filled in by now.
The Transfarg.... was advertised as being open last year on 1st June, I tried end of May and only got half way before being stopped, make sure tyres and brakes are in good condition !!, if you have a Sat Nav you'll see in advance how interesting the route will be as it will show the road going round and round and round and ..................!!
The Black sea resorts are worth a visit, they had just finished a new motorway from Bucharest, possibly a toll needs paying now as ''boothes'' were being built.
Our opinion of Bucharest was of a dump and wouldn't be going again.
I used a Garmin Zumo 550 which worked very well in the country.
I met huge ( easily 5+ miles long ) queues going into every half decent town which had to be filtered through.
Be very careful with your credit cards, i thought i was until my credit card company stopped a transaction for 2 flights to Canada on mine !!!!!!
Beware of the dogs !!!!! i just escaped with some wild filtering and dangerous speeds in traffic that a despatch rider would of been proud of, from a pack of very hungry looking dogs !!! how we laughed......after !!!
Apart from Bucharest ( in our opinion ) its a really nice place and we'll be going back in a few years time

Hans, thanks much for the useful info, this is exactly what I was looking for. But I've got to ask what qualifies as an "incredibly funny cemetery"!

Haven't seen one of those before!

Hi motoreiter,

As a romanian citizen, i'd like to say welcome in our country. Like an eastern european country, it has only a few km of highways and bad roads. In the last years they became better. I can advise you to come into Romania thrugh Oradea because this border has the best road/traffic average. Romania is famous of it's medieval castles and churches. Make shure that you don't miss them. I left you a pm with my e-mail, so if you have any particular questions, or need any help or accommodation in central romania, feel free to write me.

Hy! i am like harge a romanian citizen.When you came in RO i would like to meet you.i am from Bucharest.i just want to say good luck

Quick one on similar topic. We're heading from romania into bulgaria (ultimately to Sofia). We will be spending a couple days in the mountains around brasov, and likely do the transfagarasan and head south from there.

Would anyone recommend the best route down towards Sofia. From what I can see, there isn't many border crossings over the danube, so it's either to Bucharesti then come back across, or southwest through craiova then get the ferry near Vidin there.

Any other options? And out of these two, any recommendation as to which would be the nicer ride? Both seem a similar distance/time.

Hi,
the road from Bucharest to the danube bridge is your best bet. It's in better condition than the road down to the ferry at Calafat.
In my humble opinion Bulgaria is a much better looking country than Romania, but maybe I'm biased, since I run a campsite there. Look us up on Sakar Hills Camping
We are in the south-east corner of Bulgaria, which has a really good mediterranean climate. We are about 3 hours from Sofia. In Bulgaria look out for police by the roadside with radar.
Cheers
Martin T. Jeffes
Sakar Hills Camping

I was in Romania July/August last year. A lot of new road building going on, But the roads were still being used, and involved miles of dirt tracks along the side of the road building. Traffic consisted of Horse drawn trailers, HGVs old cars and smoking Trucks, you need your wits about you. On other main roads the driving went from poor to mad, no matter what speed you are doing someone will try to pass you. Also near and in small villages beware of Horse and carts well loaded, oxen Too.
I only went as far as Brasov, I would think by now the roads will be better. Also in the country roads can be very rough tracks(2 hours to travel 50kms). I was on a well loaded GS1150, when approaching rail crossings with no barriers local drivers will stop and drive over them dead slow the same with Speed bumps in some Towns.
I did not stop in any big cities as i was camping, except for one night in a cabin, which was a wooden hut with a bed and room for your luggage. Also the locals in the other cabins did seem to like to drink and dance outside till it got dark. Keep a eye on your gear as there are a lot of poor people in Romania, wild dogs too.
The weather was hot (40ish) while i was there. Do enjoy but be aware. Ride Free Ron&Rocket

Hi Graham Kawa, i really enjoy travelling in Bulgaria but the roads are not the best, off road is excellent though. if you are looking for accomodation in Sofia (very nice city) try Hostel Mostel - Home they are in the city centre, very friendly and have secure parking. Andy

Thanks all three of you for your answers, very helpful! Looking forward to my trip. I think i've sketched out the majority of my route now which is good.

Unfortunately like last time I'll get a week into the trip and start changing everything anyway, but thats half the fun isn't it

Hi Graham:

I toured rural Romania (mostly the north and west portions) two years ago on my Honda ST1100 - most definitely not a dual-sport bike!

I had a delightful time. I avoided all the major cities (I don't like big cities) and generally stayed on the secondary roads. Had no difficulty of any kind. You need to be alert for horse-drawn traffic on the secondary roads when you are out in the countryside, and also be alert for the occasional extremely reckless driver coming at you in the opposite direction (in your lane!), but other than that, it is a fine country to tour through. There was lots and lots of road construction (EC funded improvements) taking place, so, I am sure that two years later, you will find even better roads than I did.

You will have no problems of any kind with your GS.

I never made any kind of advance hotel reservations - I just looked for a simple place to stay (guest house, pension, etc.) in the smaller villages, and was always able to find suitable accommodation easily. The advantage of staying at smaller places is that they always have a garage, shed, or barn out back where you can park your motorcycle, out of sight.