Entry requirements | Organizing your trip | Visiting | Eating | Paying | Speaking |

Entry requirements

Passport and visa service

The visas issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Visa HQ

Diplomatic representations

List of Romanian diplomatic representations

For more information

Embassy of Romania in Greece
7, Emmanuel Benak St
154 52 P Psychico
Phone: 2106728875, 2106728876
Fax: 2106728883
romaniaembassy@romadsl.ondsl.gr

Organizing your trip

Means of transport recommended in town

Recommendation

By taxi in the big cities.
Bucharest has a metro (metroul).

Maps of urban networks

Maporama
Mapblast
UT Library on line

Means of transport recommended in the rest of the country

Recommendation

By bus, train.

Rail companies

Railway company in Romania

Flight from Greece

The following aircraft companies offer direct air connections between Athens and Bucharest :Olympic Airlines and Tarom Airlines. To find out air connections from Greece to Romania click here

Traveling by yourself

Recommendation

The quality of the roadways is inconsistent. The only highway is from Bucharest to Pitesti. Roads are often congested with horse drawn wagons, unlit at night, and used by vehicles with defective lighting. It is therefore recommended not to drive at night. Fuel is readily accessible and plentiful. The speed limit is 50 km/h in cities and 80 km/h on all other roads. One should bring an international driver's license and validate their auto insurance.

The bus and train are two means of transport most commonly used. The rail network is dense and it is very easy to travel from one city to another. Beware of rush hours because tickets are often only available for sale one hour before departure. Local buses travel over short distance and are often the only way to get to some small medieval villages.;

Road maps

Romaniatourism

Find an itinerary

Visiting

Different forms of tourism

Historical

- The city of Bucharest,
- The Black Sea,
- The Valleys of the Prahova,
- The Monasteries of northern Moldova,
- The Danube Delta,
- The Maramures,
- The Apuseni Mountains,
- The Oltenia ....

 See the page on medieval tourism in Romania.

Cultural

Museums are often closed on Monday and in some villages on Sunday as well.

Religious

Churches and monasteries (classified as World Heritage Sites by UNESCO) attest to the medieval legacy.
See page of the Office of Tourism.

Thermal

Spas and thermal cures are numerous in Romania.
Visit the site of the Organization of Spa Owners or to book a trip online to a seaside resort.
Also see the site of the Romanian Tourism Office. 

Beach

In summer it is nice to visit the Romanian Black Sea coast, particularly in the south between Mangalia and Mamaia. There are sandy beaches and numerous spas and thermal cures.

Outdoor activities

Fishing in Bolitza and in the Aries valley.
Hiking: in the Apuseni, Maramures, and Bucovina mountains, or in the mountains of Moldova.

Tourism organizations

Romanian Tourism Board

Eating

Food specialties

The Romanian cuisine is extremely rich in specialties: the mamliga (polenta) that is often eaten with cheese is commonly served at breakfast.
Other dishes of vegetables, meat or fish are served throughout the day:

- sarmales: stuffed grape leaves
- zacusca: an appetizer of vegetables, mushrooms, and herbs preserved in oil or brine
- mititei: small grilled sausages
- ciorba: sour fermented vegetable soup
- muschi: barbecue
- cozonac: a sweet yeast cake swirled with a raisin walnut, and poppy seed filling

For more information on traditional recipes.

Drinks

Romanian beer, red wine and rarely white wine, following the meal a small cup of Tuica or Rachiu, the traditional plum liquor, is an "eau de vie".
In areas near the borders, schnapps or vodka is also served.
‘Ceai’ is Romanian for ‘Tchai’, a tea infusion.

Dietary restrictions

Serving rare meat is unthinkable in Romania, so if you really want a rare steak, you will have to give instructions about how long to cook the steak. Snails are not generally consumed.

Paying

Domestic currency

Romanian New Leu

ISO Code

RON

To obtain domestic currency

The Romanian currency is the Leu (“Lei" in the plural) (pronunciation: lay). Bills are in the denominations: 1, 5, 10, 50, 100 and 500 lei. The coins are in the denominations: 1, 5, 10 and 50 bani rooms (pronunciation: bahnee) 1leu = 100 bani. The transition to the euro (EUR) is expected in 2012.

Foreign currencies can be exchanged at banks and official exchange bureaus ("casa de schimb" or "birou of schimb valutar"). Money exchange bureaus are available in airports and major hotels. The ATMs are accessible at major city banks, airports and shopping malls. However they are rare in villages. Credit cards American Express, MasterCard and Visa are accepted at major hotels, car rental agencies and shopping malls in large cities. Far from the tourist centers and large cities, credit cards are not so widely accepted.

Possible means of payment

It is prefered to pay in cash rather than with credit card.

Exchange rate on

Automatic Teller Machines (ATM)

To find out the locations of ATMs in in Romania, click on the link to your credit card: Visa, Mastercard or American Express

Speaking

Official language

Romanian, spoken by 89.4 % of the population.

Other languages spoken

It is important to note that the Hungarian and German are also widely spoken in the country. Regarding foreign languages, the most commonly spoken in Romania are English and French. After a decade, the speaking of Russian has slightly diminished.

Business language

French, English and German.

Getting some knowledge

For courses Romanian: Easyromania.com
To learn a few phrases: Romanianlessons.com

Free translation tools

Tranexp - Translation software and handheld translators
Ectaco - Handheld translators
Eurovoc Thesaurus - Multilingual thesaurus (21 official European languages)
IATE - Interactive Terminology for Europe

We can translate your foreign-language documents.

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Last updates: May 2012