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T1.0 T1 Traveling to Romania - A Practical Guide

A Practical Guide to Traveling in Romania

If it’s your first time traveling to Romania, the advises below will certainly prove helpful:


Romanian cash – bank cards


Have Romanian currency: Lei(RON).

You can pay by card in many places: big shops/supermarkets, but there are still many places which accept only cash: e.g. taxi (except for Uber in Bucharest), local shops, to buy bus or metro tickets. In rural part of Romania it is very likely that you will have to pay with cash. A recent development in Bucharest is that you can pay by card for a bus and metro fare.
Start by exchanging a small amount, the equivalent of 100-200€/$ at the airport or at the nearest Romanian entry point. As expected the exchange rate you will get in the airport is not that favourable. You can exchange bigger amounts once you get to a bank/exchange counter in a Romanian city.

Activate your bank card(s) before your trip
Before leaving for Romania please do not forget to inform your bank to that you are planning to use your card during the trip in Romania especially if your bank card was issued by a non-EU(European Union) bank. This is valid for both your debit and credit cards. Otherwise you can have the unpleasant surprise of having the money on the card but not being able to pay. You could also check the fees attached to transactions in Romania charged by your home bank. Make sure you have the phone number of your bank in your phone contacts so that you can get in touch with them from Romania in case of problems with your bank card. Visa and Mastercard debit cards (including Maestro) are widely accepted in Romania.



GPS in Romania– which one?


Equip yourself with a GPS capable smartphone. Almost everyone has one nowadays. A GPS will prove quite handy while driving, but also walking to an address or a point of interest in Romania (e.g. train station). Even if you are traveling by bus, it’s useful to have a GPS, just in case. It can be a free service which will make your traveling in Romania easier. Please check the details below.

You need to consider two options:
1)GPS software that needs a data connection. This is usually good for driving, avoiding traffic jams. We recommend Waze, or Google Maps. Both are free and quite popular. You will have to pay for the data connection. Watch out if you are roaming from a non-EU country the charges can be substantial.
You might consider buying a Romanian pre-paid card. Please see as well the section below for more information on the Romanian Prepaid cards.

2)GPS software that does not need a data connection: Unfortunately Tom Tom does not have good maps for Romania. We recommend Google maps (it recently got an interesting functionality to download maps for offline use) or Igo.

You have to install the GPS software at home before getting to Romania. Do not forget to try out and make sure it works properly before arriving in Romania (e.g. check some cities in Romania on the GPS map).

Romanian Taxis


The price of a taxi ride in Romania is ridiculously cheap as compared to Western Europe or United States. In Bucharest the taxi average price is 1.4RON/KM (approximately 0.25€/0.27$/Km).

At the Bucharest airport (Otopeni/Henri Coanda) we recommend to use the special machines that allow you to order a taxi.

There are many taxi companies in Bucharest.
You can easily use Uber (except for the airport). You have the ease of already providing the destination in writing on your Uber app, without having to say it orally to the taxi driver, and you pay directly from your credit card. You do not even have to have Romanian cash with you. However, Uber is available in only a few Romanian cities.

For more traditional taxis, in Bucharest you can use applications on your smartphone such as “Clever taxi” or “Smart taxi”, or just call them. Please make sure you have enough Romanian cash with you as you cannot pay with a credit/debit card for a normal (not Uber) taxi ride.

Here are a few popular taxi companies in Romania with their phone numbers:

Taxi company name County in
Romania
Phone number
Cristaxi Bucharest 004.0723.349.466
Cobalcescu Bucharest 004.0723.00.9451
Meridian Bucharest 004.0730.33.9444
Pelicanul Bucharest 004.0722-339.665
Bratax Brașov 004.0268.315.555
Martax Brașov 004.0268.313.040
General Taxi Constanta 004.0241-617 844
Romaris Constanta 004.0241 69 00 00


If you need the contact details of taxi companies in other Romanian cities, just drop us a comment at the bottom of the page, and we'll reply asap.

Do not expect to have the smartest or the most honest taxi driver.
There are two rules to follow:
- If you are approached by someone asking you if you want a taxi ride, do not take it. Say simply “Nu, mulțumesc”. You can find more common Romanian words in our A0.1 Common Romanian words lesson
- Always place an order. Either via a smartphone app or a phone call. The taxi operator usually speaks at least a bit of English
-Even if there are taxis waiting at the taxi stand, it’s still better to order a taxi. By ordering the taxi company has a trace of your request and you can complain in the eventuality of disagreements with the taxi driver.

Another useful tip is to have a GPS software installed on your smartphone. If you are in doubt about your taxi driver taking the good/ shortest route, just switch on your GPS to see where you are heading.
To sum up, be careful, but do not necessarily expect the worst. Remember in all countries taxi drivers have a 6th sense to spot the foreigners and try to get a bit more from them. Hopefully by following the tips above you should be safe and enjoy your ride.


Romanian prepaid mobile phone card


Romania is one of the most competitive European countries when it comes to mobile communication services and telecom in general. The prices are very low and the quality is very good.
Our advice is to consider a Romanian mobile phone prepaid card especially if you are not an EU national. If you are an EU national starting with June 2017 there should be no more roaming charges within the EU.

If you are a non-EU national: e.g. from United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Turkey etc. check the tariffs that you will be charged in Romania by your home mobile phone operator.
It is important, but not essential, to have mobile data on your phone. It will prove handy in certain circumstances: e.g. order a taxi using the smartphone apps in Bucharest, find a hotel near you, the find the phone number of an information desk/museum, check the timetables of trains, buses, while driving trying to avoid the traffic jams.

At the moment of writing this article the Telekom Prepaid card for 7EUR offers via an option called „Optiunea 7”: 7GB of data at 4G speed + a bonus of 30GB/month, 2000minutes in all national and some fixed international lines, 250 minutes to call mobile phone operators in some countries other than Romania. We expect that the 30GB are a temporary promotion, while the rest of the offer should be the “normal/standard” prepaid card offering.

You need to invest a bit of time, and have at least an average knowledge of setting up an internet connection on your mobile phone, but the advantages are quite big. With 7GB of data you can call using Skype, or Whatsup or any other voice over ip applications virtually for free or at very affordable prices.
By default the prepaid card options are not activated, you will need to send an free sms to a free number. If needed we can write a detailed guide on how to do it. Just drop us a comment at the bottom of this page.

If you are not considering buying a Romanian prepaid card, we advise you to check with your home mobile phone operators if they offer a package for traveling around Europe.


Learn Romanian

While traveling throughout Romania is perfectly possible without knowing the Romanian language, you might want to learn the most common used words, at least how to say:
yes
no
thanks
I don't like..
On our website we offer very many Romanian lessons with audio and video. A minimum to know would be the lesson on the most used Romanian words. If you have a bit more time to invest you can check all our lessons

You do not need to become fluent in Romanian, but knowing a few words will definitely help in certain situations.


Scammers, cheaters… how to avoid falling into traps in Romania

Romania, as any other country, has a small share of its people that will try to mislead or take advantage of foreigners.
What can you do about it? First and foremost: use your common sense.
Be careful, but this does not mean to be crazily scared that you will have all your belongings stolen in Romania.
Common sense says that you do not keep all your money in cash with you. You must have some Romanian cash, but the rest can be kept on your bank card or in a safe place. There are ATMs in all Romanian cities.
If you are being approached by somebody asking you to buy something or even with a question, if you do not want to engage just answer: “Nu, mulțumesc”. You can repeat this answer several times if the person is insisting.

The second most important item is to know what to expect, thus do your homework: check how much is the price for one Km taxi ride in the city that you will be staying, check the online menu of one, two restaurants in the area where you want to dine.


Emergencies

If you ever get into trouble, and you are in an emergency situation in Romania: call 112. It is a free number and you can get immediate assistance from police, ambulance or fire brigade including search and rescue. It must be an emergency though. Most phones allow you to dial 112 even without a sim card in it.



Consumer protection

Romania has a consumer protection service that you can contact at: 0040219551. The office run by the Romanian authorities can be contacted for complaints over goods or services sold in Romania


Your feedback

With your help we can improve this article to the benefit of the other persons that will like to travel to Romania. We are interested in hearing your experiences in Romania. Just drop us a comment using the form at the bottom of this page. We'll update this article with the relevant information.

6 comments

Recruitment Agency

Hello,
It seems like ther is lot of this you guys are doing. I am expecting to have a partenering agency to recruit neplese workers from Nepal. I am expecting positive response. Thank You.

Traveling to other cities from Bucharest airport

Hello,

I was wondering if taxis are willing to travel to other cities. I want to head to Constanta after arriving at the airport in Bucharest. I've been able to do this in other countries, but I wasn't sure if it was the same in Romania. Also, are there any recommended Romanian phrases I should say when trying to coordinate transportation to Constanta?

Thank you! :)

How to get from Otopeni Bucharest airport to Constanța

Hi,

There is an easier and cheaper way to go to Constanța, you can go with a minibus from the airport straight to Constanța.
You can book and pay online your ticket here:
https://www.autogari.ro/curse?pid=16345&did=207&lang=en

You just need to choose the date and buy your ticket. Upon booking your ticket they will be asking your phone number and flight, just in case you might have your flight delayed, and the driver should call you should you be late.

These are regular fares, every day, to Constanța.
The mini-bus is waiting in the airport parking which is a few meters away from the airport and will drop you off in the train station parking in Constanța. From there you can take a taxi to wherever you want to go in Constanța. Sometimes they do a stop-over along the way.

This is the way Romanians do it. I would not advise you to travel by a regular taxi from the airport to Constanța, first of all I doubt that they might want to go, and if they do then it could get quite expensive.

You've asked as well about some Romanian phrases, can you please explain what would yo need as I couldn't fully understand what do you mean to "coordinate transportation to Constanța". I'd be happy to provide you with the translations, however, I want to make sure that I've understood what you need.
I guess you would be needing the vocabulary to tell the taxi driver where to go, or how to say if a taxi is free... or how to buy a bus ticket?

You should have a mask in any case as with the COVID situation in the mini-bus you will be with other persons.

I hope I've fully answered your questions, if you need further clarifications just let me know, I'm happy to help.

Excited to travel

Hello
Myself jones. I also want to travel in other cities and I'm too much excited to travel in taxi in Romania.

houses for rent for Erasmus students

Hello! Which site or app to rent an apartment or room would you recommend to Erasmus Students? Thank you in advance!

Hi Lucrezia,

Hi Lucrezia,

First of all I'd like to apologies for the late answer.
Could you please let me know which University you'll be studying at? Otherwise I can only provide you with a general answer.

1) Most of the times all Romanian universities have their own dormitories, where students that are coming from other cities can live. However it is not a given that you might get a place in those dormitories, or that you might want to use this option. Most of the times one room is shared between 2-4 students, typically only women/men. The room is not so big and sometimes the room can have it's own shower/toilet, sometimes it can be shared with all the students of the same floor. I find it worthwhile to at least check it out for your case. The price for living in the dormitories is quite low, much cheaper than renting on your own. The dormitories are also usually nearby within walking distance to the univesrity.
Here is a link to the "Regie" student campus
https://upb.ro/en/accommodation/

2) if you do not want/can't stay in a dormitory, then you will need to rent a studio, or share a room in an apartment. Since you did not specify where, I can't give you some examples. The site that all Romanians use to find apartments for rent is the one below where I have filtered it for searching a shared room.
https://www.olx.ro/imobiliare/apartamente-garsoniere-de-inchiriat/1-came...

Please check the article of how to rent a property in Bucharest as a foreigner:
https://www.learnro.com/expat-rent-bucharest

If you have any other questions I'd be happy to help, however it would be good to know to let me know the name of your university so that I can provide you a more personalised answer.

Happy to help!

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