How to get to Romania | Romania travel guides

Getting to Romania is easy from nearly all parts of the world, due to its position, as well as the fact that it is served by an array of transport types and companies.

Romania is a member of the Schengen Agreement but has not yet fully implemented it. For EU and EFTA Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland citizens, an officially approved ID card or a passport is sufficient for entry. In no case will they need a visa for a stay of any length. Others will generally need a passport for entry.

Travel to/from any other country Schengen or not from/to Romania will as of now result in the normal border checks.

Inquire at your travel agent, call the local consulate or embassy of Romania.

The visa list is already consistent with those of the Schengen countries fully implementing the agreement.

As of January 2011 only the nationals of the following non-EU/EFTA countries do not need a visa for entry into the Schengen Area: Albania*, Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Australia, Bahamas, Barbados, Bosnia and Herzegovina*, Brazil, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Croatia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Israel, Japan, Macedonia*, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mexico, Monaco, Montenegro*, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Saint Kitts and Nevis, San Marino, Serbia*/**, Seychelles, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan*** Republic of China, United States, Uruguay, Vatican City, Venezuela, additionally persons holding British National Overseas, Hong Kong SAR or Macau SAR passports. These visa-free visitors may not stay more than three months in half a year and may not work while in the EU.

Note that

while British subjects with the right of abode in the United Kingdom and British Overseas Territories citizens connected to Gibraltar are considered "United Kingdom nationals for European Union purposes" and therefore eligible for unlimited access to the Schengen Area,

British Overseas Territories citizens without the right of abode in the United Kingdom and British subjects without the right of abode in the United Kingdom as well as British Overseas citizens and British protected persons in general do require visas.

However, all British Overseas Territories citizens except those solely connected to the Cyprus Sovereign Base Areas are eligible for British citizenship and thereafter unlimited access to the Schengen Area.

Further note that

* nationals of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia need a biometric passport to enjoy visa-free travel,

** Serbian nationals with passports issued by the Serbian Coordination Directorate Serbs residing in Kosovo still do need a visa and

*** Taiwanese nationals need their ID number to be stipulated in their passport to enjoy visa-free travel.

If you do need to obtain a visa from outside your own country, try obtaining it from somewhere else beside Budapest, where it can take 3 to 4 days. From Ljubljana the process can sometimes be done in a day because they are not so busy.

Getting to Romania is easy from nearly all parts of the world, due to its position, as well as the fact that it is served by an array of transport types and companies.

Travel to/from any other country Schengen or not from/to Romania will as of now result in the normal immigration checks, but travelling to/from another EU country you will not have to pass customs.

Inquire at your travel agent, call the local consulate or embassy of Romania.

The visa list is already consistent with those of the Schengen countries fully implementing the agreement.

Only the nationals of the following non-EU/EFTA countries do not need a visa for entry into the Schengen Area: Albania*, Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Australia, Bahamas, Barbados, Bosnia and Herzegovina*, Brazil, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Croatia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Israel, Japan, Macedonia*, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mexico, Monaco, Montenegro*, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Saint Kitts and Nevis, San Marino, Serbia*/**, Seychelles, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan*** Republic of China, United States, Uruguay, Vatican City, Venezuela, additionally persons holding British National Overseas, Hong Kong SAR or Macau SAR passports.

These non-EU/EFTA visa-free visitors may not stay more than 90 days in a 180 day period in the Schengen Area as a whole and, in general, may not work during their stay although some Schengen countries do allow certain nationalities to work - see below. The counter begins once you enter any country in the Schengen Area and is not reset by leaving a specific Schengen country for another Schengen country, or vice-versa. However, New Zealand citizens may be able to stay for more than 90 days if they only visit particular Schengen countries - see (http://www.safetravel.gov...) for the New Zealand Government's explanation.

If you are a non-EU/EFTA national even if you are visa-exempt, unless you are Andorran, MonÃ©gasque or San Marinese, make sure that your passport is stamped both when you enter and leave the Schengen Area. Without an entry stamp, you may be treated as an overstayer when you try to leave the Schengen Area; without an exit stamp, you may be denied entry the next time you seek to enter the Schengen Area as you may be deemed to have overstayed on your previous visit. If you cannot obtain a passport stamp, make sure that you retain documents such as boarding passes, transport tickets and ATM slips which may help to convince border inspection staff that you have stayed in the Schengen Area legally.

Note that

Further note that

* nationals of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia need a biometric passport to enjoy visa-free travel,

** Serbian nationals with passports issued by the Serbian Coordination Directorate residents of Kosovo with Serbian passports do need a visa and

*** Taiwan nationals need their ID number to be stipulated in their passport to enjoy visa-free travel.

Citizens of Canada, Japan and the United States are permitted to work in Romania without the need to obtain a visa or any further authorisation for the period of their 90 day visa-free stay. However, this ability to work visa-free does not necessarily extend to other Schengen countries.

By bus

Even though Romania has not been traditionally seen as a 'bus country', buses are becoming a more and more popular way to reach the country from overseas, especially from the Balkans and the former USSR, but also from Western Europe, e.g. Germany and Switzerland. Even though trains are still the most popular way of getting to Romania from Central Europe, due to good service, train services to the Balkans and former USSR are of a considerably poorer quality and are less frequent mainly because railway infrastructure in these countries is a lot poorer than Romania's infrastructure. For this reason, a slew of private bus operators now provide quicker and arguably more comfortable coach services to and from cities such as ChiÅinÄu, Kiev, Odessa, Sofia and Istanbul.

A general rule of the thumb on whether you should use bus or train is this: if trains are available just as frequently, and at around the same price, and take around the same amount of time, then definitely use them. Otherwise, consider the buses.

For all information about buses in Romania and online reservations and tickets i.e. timetables and prices you can use www.Autogari.ro (http://www.autogari.ro/) "Autogari" is the romanian word for bus-stations. They accept also payment with credit card.

By plane

Romania has 17 civilian airports, out of which currently 12 are served by scheduled international flights. The main international airports are:

Bucharest's Henri Coanda Otopeni Airport (http://www.otp-airport.ro...) is the largest and busiest, it has flights to nearly all the major cities in Europe, to a few Middle Eastern capitals, to all other Romanian cities, but no direct flights to the USA; Besides traditional carriers, some low cost airlines such as Easyjet, Vueling or Niki operate flights on this airport.

Bucharest's Aurel Vlaicu Baneasa Airport (http://www.baneasa-airport.ro/) recently became a major low cost airlines hub; Blue Air and Wizz Air have a hub on the airport, connecting Bucharest to destinations in Italy, Spain, Britain, Germany, Belgium and France. Italian MyAir used to also have a hub before its bankruptcy. Germanwings also serves this airport from three German destination. During summer, the airport also doubles as the main charter airport for flights to Tunisia, Egypt, Turkey and Greece.

The Traian Vuia International Airport (http://aerotim.ro/en/home...) in Timisoara is the second largest in the country; it has flights to several large cities in Germany, Italy, Austria, Hungary, Greece, Ukraine, Moldova, France, United Kingdom as well as to various cities in Romania. The airport is the base of Carpatair and a focus city for low-cost Wizz Air. Lufthansa and Austrian Airlines are also important operators on the airport.

Cluj-Napoca International Airport

(http://www.airportcluj.ro/), as the largest airport in Transylvania it is served by a growing number of flights from various European destinations; It is one of the many hubs of low-cost Wizz Air, with services to over 10 destinations daily. Lufthansa also serves the airport.Other smaller international airports are located in:

Sibiu flights to Austria, Germany, Britain, Italy and Spain on Lufthansa, Austrian Airways and Blue Air. Focus city for Blue Air.

Bacau flights mainly to Italy and London on Blue Air. Secondary hub for Blue Air.

Constanta - The only Romanian airport served by Ryanair to two Italian destinations. Also served by Air Berlin from Berlin. A small number of inbound seasonal charters also serve this airport, as well as a small number of seasonal domestic flights from Transylvania and Bucharest.

Suceava - Two flights to Italian destinations.

Iasi - One daily flight to Vienna and one to Budapest

Targu-Mures - flights to Hungary, Germany, Britain, Italy, France and Spain on Wizz Air. Domestic flights to Bucharest on TAROM. Focus city for Wizz Air.

Arad - Seasonal flights to one or two Italian destinations.

Baia Mare - Seasonal and very infrequent international flights.

There are three important Romanian airlines:

TAROM

(http://www.tarom.ro), the Romanian flag carrier, based in Bucharest Otopeni

Carpatair

(http://www.carpatair.ro), based in Timisoara, connects this city with eight Italian and three German destinations, and also has collector/distributor flights to the following Romanian airports: Cluj-Napoca, Bucharest, Constanta, Oradea, Sibiu, Iasi, Suceava, Satu-Mare and Bacau .

Blue Air

(http://www.blueair-web.com), the only Romanian low-cost airline, based in Bucharest Baneasa with a secondary hub in Bacau and a focus city in Sibiu.

In recent times Romania became increasingly attractive for low cost carriers. Blue Air, a Romanian low-fare airline, serves various destinations in Europe from Bucharest Aurel Vlaicu Airport, Arad, Targu Mures and Bacau. A Hungarian budget airline, Wizzair (http://www.wizzair.com), introduced direct flights from London Luton to Bucharest in January 2007. Several others, including Wind Jet (http://w4.volawindjet.it/), AlpiEagles (http://www.alpieagles.com/), Ryanair (http://www.ryanair.com), GermanWings (http://www.germanwings.com), and AirBerlin (http://www.airberlin.com/)) already operate flights to Romania. Easyjet (http://www.easyjet.com) operates flights from London, Milan and Madrid, SmartWings [ (http://www.smartwings.com) operates flights from Prague.

By ship

Cruises on Danube are available, very expensive though, starting from Passau or Vienna and having a final destination in Danube Delta. These cruises will stop in every major port along the road, in Austria, Hungary, Serbia and Romania. There you can travel by rapid boats, fisherman's boats on endless channels to watch huge colonies of pelicans, cranes or small migratory birds. You can enjoy a local dish, fishermen's borsch, prepared using different species of fish, but take care, they use the Danube's river water!It is the only way to travel around the Danube Delta, and the only way to get to the city of Sulina.

There are ferries across the Danube to/from Bulgaria in several ports: from Calafat to Vidin runs about ten times per day, depending on the volume of traffic, from Bechet to Oryahovo daily and from Zimnicea to Svishtov only on weekends.

There are reportedly but not confirmed ferry connections over the Black Sea from Varna in Bulgaria to ConstanÅ£a. The ferry service between Odessa and ConstanÅ£a is no longer operating at this time.

By train

Romania is relatively well connected with the European rail network. There are daily international trains to Munich, Prague, Venice, Vienna, Budapest, Zagreb, Belgrade, Sofia, Thessaloniki, Istanbul, ChiÅinÄu, Kiev and Moscow. But due to the poor quality of rail infrastructure in the region train travel on long distances takes considerable time.

Nonetheless, trains are the ideal way of reaching cities in western and central Romania such as Brasov, Sighisoara, Oradea or Cluj-Napoca coming from Central Europe.

International trains to Romania include EuroCity trains which are of a relatively high standard and night trains. Romania is part of the Eurail pass offer.

A cheap way of traveling to or from Romania might be the Balkan Flexipass.

By car

You can easily drive into Romania coming from countries in the West, but when coming from the East you will have to drive through Moldova and you may experience troubles there. There is not a direct border crossing between Ukraine and Romania in the south-eastern corner of Romanian Moldavia Reni/Galati, you must go via Giurgiulesti, which is in Moldova a small stretch of about 500 meters. Moldovan border control officers will ask several times for money ecological tax, road tax ... up to 20 â¬ in July 2007. Coming from the north Ukraine, can also be time-consuming, times can vary from 1 to more than 5 hours.

Also be aware if you plan to drive to Romania, the road infrastructure is fairly modest compared to Western and Central Europe. There are few motorways and only in the south of the country. The upside to this is that most european roads which you will mostly be traveling on are well maintained and are denominated with an E followed by a number e.g. E63, are scenic roads and cross some spectacular scenery of mountains, valleys and forests. The roads especially in Transylvania are built on top of the old medieval routes and there is always something to stop for and visit on your way.On the roads linking Romania to its western borders take particular care as traffic is heavy and with most roads having one or two lanes each way, and for the most part are unlit.