Just to make clear for oncaming riders, some explanation reffering route cause is not clearly indicated on the road. After passing lake Oasa and pass Tartarau, turn right on next crossing to Petrosani, and after aprox. 2 kms you can see on your left side big boarded sigh that road is not for civil trafic! Here turn left and after 1 km again left, you have to cross over very nice wooden bridge, that is needed route. After bridge, you cannot miss, just ahead!
Regards,
AnteK, XTZ 660

Santhasz -

What a great itinerary! ;-) I do appreciate your job. All route is already plotted in my GPS/mapping software, ready to transfer to a receiver.

Thanks a lot.

Kris

Very nice list of roads which Santhasz has listed up! I did some of them in 2004. Great enduro riding country.

When travelling in Maramures/Suceava I'd suggest to take the small forest roads. There's a scenic dirt road from Borsa to Prislop Pass (better other way round) and another back-country road from Carlibaba via Izvoarele Sucevei to Brodina and Putna monastry.

Although the secondary roads are often in a bad condition as Santhasz wrote, this is absolutely no problem for bikes. Besides that, these roads are less frequented which allows you to enjoy the landscape instead of watching for the traffic. The main roads usually have heavy traffic and some people drive like maniacs ;-)

Hans

Szabi,
I've just seen your itinerary.. now I know where I will spend my 2006 summer holidays!! :-)
Very good work! Thanks a lot!!
Best regards
Winfried

Hi all,

thanks for all those perfect information; now I've got a clear picture where to go/what to see. Just one question left: which currency is better: EURO, USD or ROL ?

Thanks, Chris

RON is best, but Euros as a reserve. The local currency changed in July 05 and it can be confusing as they are still using both - I think 40 New Lire is the same as 4000 old ones and the notes look very similar. Its very confusing at first but luckily I didnt find anyone trying to con me - possibly because it had only just happened and they hadn't thought of it yet. I didn't now this when I arrived and I was worried that it seemed so expensive !

I just dug out some of the addresses where I stayed overnight in 2004:

District Maramures:
- Viseu de Sus, Str. Prislop Nr.82: Pensiunea Nagy. Very comfy, lots of infos on dirt roads in the vicinity. Old steam train.
- Putna, Pensiunea Corola, phone 0230 414 188, cellular 0745 295 149. Comfy, low price. Beautiful monastry.
- Busteni (near Brasov), Str. Plenna Nr.3: Ilie Ion, phone 0244 321 631, cellular 0744 687 768. Nice rooms. No breakfast. Ilie rides a Suzuki and knows nice views in the vicinity.

The better is RON, followed by Euro and USD.
But, because the old lei is changed to new lei (10.000 old lei or ROL = 1 new lei or RON), and to avoid (your) confusion, pay by card, anywhere you can (hotels, restaurants, petrol stations, lot of shops)!
Do not change at black market!

Szabi

A beautiful country. I cycled there 3 years ago. Be aware of DOGS! At least in 2003 there were plenty, but should not be such a problem like when cycling. And also, bear in mind that when it starts to rain it will rain for days or more (I had to wait in Petrosani for 3 consecutive days to stop raining).

qwer1234, can you remember where to find cheap acommodation in Petrosani?

Well, it wasn't very cheap in Petroshani, about 13 euros/night with breakfast.
I stayed in Hotel Onix, on the main north-south street.

Santhasz

I too am going to Romania. Are there plenty of Campsites? Do hotels have garaging for bikes or only rarely?

toby4

Hi!
There are some campings but I think you can forget the european quality campings.
You can bush camp. Although it is illegal, no one will disturb you, if you camp on the mountains or anywhere not close to roads (maybe a bear, some shepherd dogs or some courious locals).

The hotels generally are cheap if you want a decent one and not luxury (25-30 euro with breakfast). I'm sure that anywhere you'll be able to find secure hotel parking place. Generally they haven't garage but their own yards and they close the gate for night. If no, try to find another, or ask for security. Do not let your bike on the street for overnight in big cities (Bucuresti (why to visit it?), Timisoara, Constanta etc). Try to find no Hotel but pension. Theese are generally more cheaper than hotels.

I think there are no real security problems!

Best regards,
Szabi

Hi Santhasz:

Thanks for all the excellent information you have provided so far in this thread, it is wonderful.

I need to ask you a question about meteo in Romania: What is the climate like there around the end of April - beginning of May for the purpose of motorcycle travel? Is there a lot of rain that time of year? Is it cold, with the possibility of snow?

I have a meeting in Germany (Wolfsburg) April 20, and plan to spend the next two months riding. I am trying to decide if it would be best (from a meteo point of view) to head down to Brindisi, go to Greece, then come up through Romania towards late May, or, if it would be possible (not freezing cold) to do Germany - Slovakia - Romania - Greece in late April.

Would appreciate your thoughts.

Michael

Hi to all bike travellers to Romania !

My name is Chris, i'm a motorcycle guide around Cluj Napoca mountains. Don't hesitate to contact me for any issues you may have. If you pass around my town i'll be happy to help you(don’t have to pay anything for that!).Just look for our site transylvania motorcycle tours for contact details, and maybe we can meet and have a chat about where to go what to see in Romania. ha. Cheers Chris.