UK - Romania - Bulgaria/Black Sea ?

[mickba]

I'm hoping to set off around Easter on an XTZ750 solo as above. I guess I'll go southish via Italy but I'd like any tips re Romania and/or Bulgaria. I'm assuming that once they're in the EU from January the paperwork will be reasonably straightforward and I'm even thinking my Carol Nash insurance and roadside assistance will apply. Am I being over optimistic? I haven't found out about currency i.e. will it be euros by then?
I'm thinking I'll go open ended and see how it goes - up to 3 months ish. I'm a bit of a beginner outside the usual trips into France, Spain, Germany, Italy etc. I presume lots of you have done this trip but I can't find anything.

[Stephano]

Just a few points:

• In my experience, road conditions can be pretty bad especially in Bulgaria (potholed and rutted)
• Take it easy on the roads. There are a lot of slow moving vehicles including horse-drawn especially in Romania. Be extra careful going around bends and expect something to be in the road.
• Don’t speed either, you’ll give the local police a reason to pull you over.

Have fun. Stephan

[fcasado]

Originally Posted by Stephano

Just a few points:

• In my experience, road conditions can be pretty bad especially in Bulgaria (potholed and rutted)
• Take it easy on the roads. There are a lot of slow moving vehicles including horse-drawn especially in Romania. Be extra careful going around bends and expect something to be in the road.
• Don’t speed either, you’ll give the local police a reason to pull you over.

Have fun. Stephan

These are good points!

We found the road in Bulgaria to be a lot better than in Romania (especially in the north east)
Policeman were very nice in both countries, but I think we were lucky.

LEARN how to read cyrillic, 'cos off the beaten track you WILL need it!

Enjoy, both are nice countries!

[silverwolf]

HI Mickba...
Stephano is right about that. Go slow, keep you eyes open

I found a lot of info recently as I too am planning to do Romania in 2007
out of Austria...

Perhaps these couple of Links/Urls will help you.
All in English...good pictures too (for an idea of the Areas).


If I remember correctly, there are good maps in this Page too.
1.www.romaniatravel.com


This is a possible contact and overnight there...right at the Carpathian
Mountains...Rodger from England and his wife Lili from Romania have a
nice B&B there in Campulung...in the middle south area.
They love guests and have a lot of infos too...just contact them if you
like.
2.www.visionsofromania.co.uk/


This next Website is not necessarily what you might be interested in, but
info anyway...pictures are interesting tho...is an enduro page...

On the Website, in the Navigation on the left side...find 'Arrivals'.
Check that out...will give you good entrance and driving infos.
3.www.xventure.net/en/anreise.php

Currency...Romania & Bugaria 2007...there will probably be, as of
January 1, 2007, a currency transition period there. maybe a year or two.
This simply means the currencies of both countries will still be valid...as will also the Euro there, which means two valid currencies .

...In Slovenia it was so...during the transition period, everything will be adjusted into Euros. That does take time...
Collecting and gathering in the old currency and rearranging all the other stuff.

I hope this helps a little. If your german is ok, I have more infos for Romania and Bulgaria too...motorcycle tours and travel stories, perhaps accomodations.

At any rate enjoy working your trip out. That's half the fun.

...keep the wheels down. Greetings from Vienna.
Richard aka silverwolf

[usl]

Went through both countries at the end of May. My impressions ;

Romania : Roads between Buch.-Const. and black coast is ok. But North and North-east sections are quite bad. Do expect every thing at the corners you cannot see. There can be anything there including biig bumps or potholes. US dollar is excepted and prefered ( as to Euro)

Bulgaria : Coast line is slow pace trafic since its only one line in each direction but beatiful scenery. Roads are ok.

In believe in both countries fuel is diluted. So carrying octane booster might be a good idea.

Cheers,

[mickba]

Thanks everyone for such quick and useful replies - plenty to go at already. I've already started preparing the bike. I have two XTZ750s and the one I'm planning to go on has only done 4k miles but there's still lots to do to make sure everythings OK and there's luggage system, crash bars, electrical mods etc etc to sort. I bought a third bike with fairly good plastic so i'll probably t/f that for the trip so that I don't have to worry too much if I have the odd scrape. Looks like I have plenty to do this winter planning the route etc..
Thanks.
Mick

[dapleb]

Mick,

I did a similar jaunt this summer on a TDM (with a friend also on a TDM). But ferried from Venice to Igoumenitsa in Greece and then bimbled back up through Bulgaria and Romania. Really enjoyed biking in Northern Greece. some great areas, like the Pindos mountains.

In the unlikely event that either Bulgaria or Romania don't get into the EU before you travel: Carole Nash are not always right in the advice they give about Romania and Bulgaria. They may well tell you that you are covered for Bulgaria and Romania and that you don't need a green card. "Just use the back of the insurance document". You will need Bulgaria and Romania mentioned by name somewhere on your insurance documentation, unless you intend to buy Ins. at the borders.

In Bulgaria there is a small village called Melnik (off the E79) by the Greek border. We found it by mistake after getting lost on a variety of dirt tracks. Was a really pleasant place.

I particularly enjoyed the Trojan area. The #35 road off main road #6 was a belter.

In romania. think easter is going to be too early in the year for you to go over the Tranfagarasan Highway, which is a shame.

As already mentioned, the roads are a crazy mixture of horse and cart and arcticulated lorries! With lots of potential road kill thrown in for good measure.

Hope you arent too scared of dogs....you will get chased.....ALOT. And get your waving arm in practice.....we did only back roads and spent lots of time waving and stopping to chat with people....including being stopped by workers in the middle of roadworks!

We had no problem with police. Without fail we were flashed by oncoming traffic miles before seeing police.

If you go back via Hungary, there is good camping/bunks here: www.magyarroute66.hu with a bike workshop.

Sure you will have a blast. Its also worth contacting the HU communities for these areas. I got LOADS of very useful info from Andrei about romania before travelling.

Boop
dapleb

[mickba]

.........forgot to ask - is satnav any use out there and if so which one - garmin or which?
Thanks
Mick

[Kumuya]

Originally Posted by silverwolf

Currency...Romania & Bugaria 2007...there will probably be, as of
January 1, 2007, a currency transition period there. maybe a year or two.
This simply means the currencies of both countries will still be valid...as will also the Euro there, which means two valid currencies .

Not so true ....... Euro is not a valid curency in Romania .... it will be in 2008-2009 .... but now you still have to change in Lei

People accept euros ... but they trick you .... YOU CAN'T PAY IN EURO!!!!

[PanEuropean]

I visited Romania in the summer of 2006 on a Honda ST 1100 and thought the whole country was just delightful. Nice people, good food, very low cost compared to western Europe. What Kumuya said in post #21 about roads and driving is very true. You have to slow down, you will be sharing the road with horses, horses and carts (in rural areas), and the big truck drivers really are jerks. Passenger cars that have Romanian plates on them are fine, no worries. Passenger cars (especially larger ones) with Western European plates on them are the big problem - they are being driven by expat Romanians who are home for a visit.

Motorcycles (other than scooters in the city) are uncommon in Romania, so, I don't think drivers are really used to looking for motos... that's the heart of the problem. Keep your headlight on and wear an orange or yellow safety vest when you ride.

Roads themselves fall into three main categories: Brand new and as good as you will find in Switzerland, kind of old and not really the best, but fine nonetheless, or (more commonly) being dug up to make the transition between the two states mentioned first.

Keep your wits about you, don't rush into anything you can't see, and you will be just fine.

[bemAri]

Hi Kumuya,

Do you know about road conditions in east Romania, especially in Galati area.
I'm travelling in Odessa next April and one plan is to continue route Odessa-Galati-Bucharest-Brasov. On that route I have to ride through Moldova. We as EU citizens dont need a visa anymore, but is the border crossing working nevertheless ?

[Kumuya]

Originally Posted by bemAri

Hi Kumuya,

Do you know about road conditions in east Romania, especially in Galati area.
I'm travelling in Odessa next April and one plan is to continue route Odessa-Galati-Bucharest-Brasov. On that route I have to ride through Moldova. We as EU citizens dont need a visa anymore, but is the border crossing working nevertheless ?

Moldavian roads are 90% good on major route - like Suceava to Bucharest, Galati - Bucharest is not bad but I don't know how are secondary roads.
Now depend from Galati what route you choose to Bucharest, If you take Galati - Braila - Slobozia - Bucharest ... Is a good road at least Slobozia Bucharest is ok.

Or if you take Galati-Focsani- Bucharest ..... also Focsani - Bucharest is a very good road ... but in Galati area depend if it will be again a flood ... roads will be affected

Bucharest - Brasov is a good road only if you will go on week-end you should expect many cars

ALSO many roads will have radar systems - Bucharest - Brasov already has, but if you go along many cars you will notice where are radars because all are slowing down
On moldavian roads last summer were a lot of police cars with radar or "our favorite" unmarked police cars with radar. Luckily car drivers signals a radar so if you see some cars flashing their lights you should verify your speed.

Also romanian road legislation says that motorcycles must always have lights on, and cars only outside cities.

I don't know about border crossing from Ukraine to Romania ... but you shouldn't have problems on romanian border.

As I wrote on previous post take care of your pockets in Galati area or if you stop at a gas station don't loose sight of your luggage - is valable for Bucharest too - especially when you see gypsies.

[Caminando]

Originally Posted by mickba

I'm hoping to set off around Easter on an XTZ750 solo as above. I guess I'll go southish via Italy but I'd like any tips re Romania and/or Bulgaria. I'm assuming that once they're in the EU from January the paperwork will be reasonably straightforward and I'm even thinking my Carol Nash insurance and roadside assistance will apply. Am I being over optimistic? I haven't found out about currency i.e. will it be euros by then?
I'm thinking I'll go open ended and see how it goes - up to 3 months ish. I'm a bit of a beginner outside the usual trips into France, Spain, Germany, Italy etc. I presume lots of you have done this trip but I can't find anything.

Hi Mickba

These replies say all that I was going to tell you. You'll have a great trip. There is more info on this topic on the HUBB from previous years -check it out.

Good luck
good roads

[mickba]

........such a brilliant response - i never expected so much help - just to let you know i'm soaking it all up, as no doubt others are - i'll get back to some of you later if i may, as the trip gets more detailed
thanks again
Mick

[quasaar]

Hi Mick,

I don't know much about Bulgaria, but I was in Romania two times. First by bike and second by car. It's a great country, with very good hospitality, people are very helpful,...

Check my website : www.motodiary.info I tink you will find some info for your trip.

Good road !!!