Feedback from Romania-Part 1

Barge1914

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There is not a lot of information around about motorhome travel in Romania so I thought I would put a few notes together about our recent trip that may help our fellow motorhome travellers thinking of travelling this way. This isn’t a comprehensive travelogue, just useful snippets about roads and places for Motorhomers to stay from our journey in our 5.7m Bessacarr E412.

Our route through Romania lasted most of September 2018 and was a continuation of our 3-month circuit of the Carpathian Mountains, which is the second longest mountain range in Europe. We left Hungary and entered the northwest corner of Romania at Carei, making a complete circuit of north, east, south and western Carpathians. We didn’t travel to Bucharest, so can’t comment on the southern plains.

Wilding, although strictly speaking not allowed, seems to be generally tolerated, provided one is discrete and avoids prominent places in towns, national parks and tourist hotspots. There are very few campsites; in most rural areas tourist infrastructure is yet to develop. Many are somewhat grotty; Dutch or German owners invariably run the few decent ones. In northern and eastern Carpathian regions very few campsites are suitable for larger motorhomes, and for them some of the roads may also be a challenge. Useful sources of information are Campercontact and Park4night apps; Acsi doesn’t do Romania.

By and large Romanians are welcoming, friendly and cheery. Those who speak English are mostly the younger people who learn it at school, and seem very happy to gain practice. Older people generally learnt Russian at school. In the southeast a lot of people speak German as a first or second language, and some Hungarian. If you speak Italian you can figure out a lot of written Romanian writing, but it doesn’t help much with understanding the spoken word.

In rural areas, particularly in the north and east of the country where the population is more of original Romanian descent there seems to be a fairly laissez-faire attitude to most rules…especially speeding and parking. There are a few ancient rusted Gatsos here and there, but like everything else I doubt they’ve seen much in the way of maintenance, or indeed film, in a long time. In the north there seem to be few police cars and those you do see are old bangers. In the south/ south east, where much of the population is of Austro-Hungarian and German descent there is more of a sense of order, and on the trunk routes and motorways there are plentiful speed cameras, and relatively new fast police cars.

What you will see everywhere on main roads are new number-plate recognition cameras checking that you have a valid Rovignetta (road tax). It’s hopeless to think you can get anywhere from town to town on main roads without buying one; its not expensive, and most easily obtained on line (in English) before you enter the country; this is one service that does seem to work fairly efficiently!

Romanian roads…how good is your suspension? In the north and east Carpathians areas, Maramures and Neamt, roads generally leave much to be desired! In places reasonable main roads suddenly deteriorate into badly potholed sections often with undulating ridges and troughs to send the crockery flying, then into a creviced patchwork of loosely connected tarmac, then miles of stony or rocky gravel dirt track. Main roads in south, central and western areas tend to be better, and the motorways excellent, although not extensive. Many minor rural roads are generally pretty rough, and often deteriorate into dirt tracks; some rural villages have roads of loose (partially) crushed rocks. It is evident much money and effort is going into road improvements, but organisation of the work seems very chaotic and patchy.

Much of the countryside, especially the mountains and national parks, is beautiful. Sadly however Romanians seem to be blind to litter and rubbish which is strewn everywhere, the countryside around towns and villages is copiously bedecked with fly tipping. Lakes and rivers accumulate logjams of floating plastic and bottles…sad.

We hoped to do a lot of walking; however, Romanians don’t seem to share the Germanic enthusiasm for walking in the countryside. Maps suitable for walking are hard to come by, and information (including Open-street-map digital apps), and signage, is often inaccurate and out of date. Only a few tourist parks and populous areas in the south-central and eastern regions have marked trails, generally fairly tame and not very long. In a few popular rural spots there is evidence of efforts to create marked trails at some time past. However these have often fallen into disrepair and never been maintained. Too many times we started out on hikes only to find that trails fizzled out at decrepit or collapsed rope bridges over rivers and gorges, or faded away into dense bushes surrounded by disturbingly recent bear pooh… which may explain the lack of enthusiasm for hiking! I don’t think we met any other walkers anywhere.

There are more than 6000 European brown bears in Romania; in the remote rural and mountainous areas they are reputedly very shy and tend to avoid humans if they can hear them coming (hence we resurrected our Canadian bear bell). In some urban, well-frequented rural areas they may be bolder and come down especially at night to forage and raid the bins. These are not, as I at first mistakenly thought, like the smaller black bear, but cousins of the rather larger and distinctly more grumpy Grizzly. In spite of seeing evidence of bears we didn’t actually see any; dogs on the other hand are a different matter, especially groups of large fierce shepherd-dogs. In Romania animals wander everywhere.

In some national parks for ecological reasons entry is limited to only a few days of the week, and sometimes only in guided groups. A striking exception is the mountaintop skiing areas on the southern section of the Transalpina Pass where there are a number of well-signed and marked trails.

Taking our route: from the border to Carei the road continued the bounce, rock and roll we had become accustomed to in eastern Hungary. Why Carei? It has the only campsite near the border. Not an auspicious town, it looks run down and unattractive. Camping Klass (47.671402, 22.456033, very cheap) at the Strand Termal (baths) is not easy to find. With a bouncer on the gate, the dodgy looking Joy Club (if you Google the site you’ll find an advert for naked ladies) is in fact the right place. Round the corner is a gated grassy compound; hot showers in a crappy painted chipboard and rusty-nail shed.

The busy DN19 road heading east out of Carei towards Satu Mare and DN 1C to Baia Mare across the dreary plain passes through poor-looking dismal villages festooned with poles and spiders webs of wires. The traveller is welcomed at Baia Mare by an ill planned industrial wasteland scattered with rubbish and thrown-together commercial sheds (The small preserved fragment of old town is apparently quite interesting). By this time you may wonder why you came here! A short diversion south along a very bumpy road DJ128B leads to the village of Sacalaseni, not itself a great attraction apart from its ancient wooden church, views at last of mountains, and walks along the river. It is home to the pleasant small Camping Naroc Maramures Campsite (47.583071, 23.567038) owned by a friendly young (English speaking) French couple, who can give good advice on routes and places to visit.

Following said advice, instead of ploughing north and east along the busy DN18, we forked off on the surprisingly good little DJ184-DJ109F roads that wind up and over the Maramures mountains and pass through interesting villages, and tiny ski resorts, eventually arriving at Breb and the quiet delightful Camping Babou Maramures (47.746319, 23.893748), run by a helpful young Dutch couple. The campsite, that has tremendous views of the Carpathians, lies on the far side of the village and is accessed by steep torturous narrow rough stone tracks, and hence only suitable for smallish vans with good ground clearance. The rustic village, probably the most unspoilt in Romania, looks as if life here has hardly changed in hundreds of years. Horses and carts, and one or two small ancient tractors are the main mode of transport. There seem to be very few young people. Elderly inhabitants wearing traditional garb wield scythes in the fields building beehive shaped haystacks. Everyone grows their own fruit and veg and keeps their own livestock. Cows, goats, cats, dogs, hens wander everywhere! Everyone gives a smile or wave as they pass. Every house no matter how modest has a grand gateway, ostensibly to keep out evil spirits, but more practically they keep out all the animals. Unlike many villages there are a number of hiking opportunities here; the circular walk round the village is especially interesting.
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Moving on, via Budesti, the DJ186B-DJ185 winds through more interesting little villages to Barsana and its monastery. Southwards, the DJ186 leads through a pleasant rural valley and over the mountains to pick up the main D18 north-south route. At Viseu de Sus is the fascinating Mocanita narrow gauge railway, which provides a car park ‘aire’ to stay overnight (47.71500, 24.44360). Using the railway is not a condition; it’s nevertheless a very popular attraction, albeit expensive, and gives a grand day out climbing up an otherwise inaccessible mountain valley parallel with the Ukraine border. It also has a free collection of curious rolling stock and locomotives.
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Further south on the D18 we forked off at Borsa, up to Borsa Baille and Campsite Laura (47.696594, 24.722451) at a hotel run by an English/ Italian speaking couple. Good wcs and showers, but not much to do here. (There is also a campsite in Borsa)

Continuing south the road climbs over the Prislop Pass, with its eponymous monastery at the summit; an excellent road going up, but coming down the ‘highway’ degenerates into a bone-jarring rubble and dirt road and continues thus for many miles until it meets the DN17. The tarmac lasts as far as Vatra Dornei, an uninspiring town with ski slopes and a nice park…and supermarkets. The terraced campsite (47.348088,25.348529) is ok, and the reception friendly, but sanitaries are old and dirty.
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Beyond Vatra Dornei the DN17B starts off ok, but soon becomes crockery-rattlingly bumpy (with bits sliding off down the hillside here and there) and remains thus, even after joining the DN15 for some considerable distance as far as Bicaz at the foot of Lake Izvorul Muntelui. Anticipating nowhere of interest to stay in Bicaz we diverted off up DN15/DJ155F to the little mountain resort of Staiunea Durau in the Ceahlau National Park. Here, the tiny Camping Ursluetul (at 47.004189, 25.910443) lies at the end of a rough track (enter at 47.006733, 25.910443), definitely not for large vans with long overhangs!!! The site has a nice mountain-view but atrocious toilets and showers. Good hiking is possible in the Park, but restricted to certain days and involves an entry charge.
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Instead of continuing south we chose to travel west up the famous Bicaz Gorge, a deep cleft amid limestone cliffs and crags. After Bicaz on the DN12C road condition improved markedly, up to this point it had been impossible to average more than 20mph. Near the summit is a good ‘aire’ at Hotel Lacu Rosu (46.792942, 25.793496); pay at the hotel and get the door code for the immaculate luxurious showers and toilets; not cheap. If planning walks, unlike us, ask for local advice, some of the marked tracks round here fizzle out.
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Continuing west on DN12C and DN138 took us over mountain ranges to Sovata and the pleasant German-run Camping Vasskert (46.591426, 25.072128) with its rudimentary sanitaries, to visit the Salt Lakes (and dodge bears), and do some shopping.

South again leads on good roads to Sighisoara, a very popular little city with a grand cathedral, attractive hilltop historic old-town, castle and church. Camping Acquaris (46.22291, 24.79653) huddles in the walled yard of a Pensiune in the town centre next (excellent sanitaries).
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A short hop south along the DN13 took us to Rupea and the ruins of an old fortified citadel (cheap to visit). It’s possible to overnight in the car park here, but more pleasant above the castle next to the track.
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Against our better judgement we travelled south again via Brasov to Bran to visit the famous Bran Castle (allegedly Dracula’s Castle). Terrible roads, innumerable road works, enormous traffic jams, and rain. The castle albeit well preserved and interesting to see, was seething with weekend visitors and tourists, we were glad to escape! The nearby Vampire Camping (45.527925, 25.371667) is ok, although much frequented by those large convoys of French, German, Dutch, and Belgian motorhomers who need to travel en-mass for mutual protection…don’t know how they would cope with north-eastern Romania!
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Escaping Bran by the bendy DN73A lead us along a pleasant rural valley to Fagaras, for lunch by the walled and moated Citadel, behind which wildcamping appears possible.

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Continuing east on the D1 took us to the charming neat and tidy Germanic village of Carta, (a handy jump odd point for the Transfaragasan Pass) and the pleasant Dutch-run Camping Oude Wilg (45.78384, 24.56728)…so nice in fact we stayed longer than intended.

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The Transfaragasan Pass, DN7C, a silly but excellent military road built by Ceausescu to ward off Russian invaders, who never arrived. According to Jeremy Clarkson the best road in Europe…but good all the same! Through innumerable hairpins and clinging to cliff-sides it climbs up to Balea Lake at the summit, before plunging through a tunnel, and descending steeply through more hairpins and gorges and scary bridges, eventually reaching the southern plain. Half way, it is just about possible to squeeze into the small camp Dracula (43.34973, 24.63305) and climb up to Poeana Castle, allegedly the real castle of Dracula, but probably not as attractive to the tourist masses thanks to the steepness of climb and proliferation of signs warning of BEARS! There are only a few potential wildcamping possibilities along the pass, mostly suitable for small and 4X4 vans. We continued to the tiny Camping Arges (45.09560, 24.65431) near Curtea de Arges: quiet, modest facilities, and accessed along a very long bone-shaking dead end track.
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Next, east we went again, skirting the northern fringe of the plain on the DN33C-DN7, not exciting and in places dismally industrial, branching off up a nice valley to visit Horezu Monastery at Romani de Jos. Overnighting is possible in the car park (45.16538, 24.00561), very cheap but noisy until late evening from the café; better on the road, free, outside the Monastery gates.
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Through Horezu, on the DJ665 a short rural hop eastwards leads to the interesting Polovragi Monastery, the car park there would have made a much quieter and more pleasant stopover (45.19101, 23.78857). From the monastery we took three friendly local stray dogs for a walk up the gorge to Pestira Polovragi (cave) (Lynn keeps telling me not to talk nicely to dogs…as this always happens!).
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The DJ665 continues through nice hilly country to join Romania’s other famous pass the Transalpina (65C). Unlike the Transfaragasan, the southern part of this road seeks the high ground all the way, marching boldly via endless hairpins up ridges and over mountaintops, always with extensive vistas. There are very few wildcamping opportunities. We stopped in the car park at a Pensiune (very cheap) in Obarsia Lotrolui at the halfway junction with the 7A.
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The southern part of the Transalpina is in excellent condition. The top-coat on the northern part is starting to break up…beware the potholes! This section runs in deep valleys through forests. We branched off on the 106E climbing steeply up and over through interesting high villages stacked with logs in preparation for being cut off in the forthcoming snows, to the nice little town of Saliste. After some navigational struggle we found Casa Rudi and Ella (45.790298, 23.892401) which has a nice garden-type ‘aire’ in a courtyard (quiet with good sanitaries). Some walking possible…with a bear bell! Interesting beehives in Romania...
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Saliste makes a handy stop to take a taxi to visit the nice Sibiu old town and it’s Octoberfest…nightmare in a motorhome.
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A quick trip along the A1 (motorway) and DN1 leads to Alba Lulia. There are wildcamping spots by the river here, but they didn’t look very inviting, and are a long walk through unattractive urban areas into town. We found a good quiet spot (46.06450, 23.57480) in a free car park at the end of a road just beneath the walls of the enormous fortified citadel with its two cathedrals, the main reason for visiting the town.
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Forsaking the busy D1 at Aiud, we forked off on the DJ107M heading into the West Carpathian Mountains. Then via the DN75, we took the narrow single track DC184 up to the campsite (46.50200, 23.44950) at the charmingly rustic tlittle village of Runc. The slippery gravel campsite entry is so narrow and steep that it’s only suitable for small campers and panel vans; even we couldn’t make it. Instead we wildcamped in a lovely quiet spot by the river and watched the cows making their own way back from the hills to be milked, chivvied by an half-bent ancient old dear brandishing a stick to persuade them to go home in orderly fashion to be milked one at a time.
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Onwards along the DN75, ever upwards, we stopped and crossed an unsigned gated concrete bridge just short of the little ski resort of Arieseni. The German ‘Family Sipos’ have a small inexpensive campsite (46.4725, 22.761330). Mr Sipos was so tickled to welcome the first English visitors in 14 years that we had to pose with our van on the bridge for his website photo! There’s some quite nice but vigorous walking with grand views to be had around here, amidst more pointy haystacks and barking dogs.
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From Aresieni the DN75 leads steeply down to join the busy DN76, and on to the bustling town of Beius from where the exceeding bumpy DJ764 leads out to the village of Remetea and the attractive Camping Turel (46.734442, 23.344131) located in a walnut grove (and they were in season!) with some views of distant mountains; excellent facilities.
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Back to the DN76 and on to our final stop in Romania in the bustling city of Oradea, where we tracked down Camping Robinson Country Club (47.068400, 21.940290) at the end of a very steep narrow street. Vans park in a cramped yard with no outlook. For what you get it’s expensive. The sanitary shed has been tarted-up, but it’s rather more Heath-Robinson than Country Club! The owners are friendly and entertained us by noisily pressure washing an old van all evening! The city sports numerous communist era tower blocks, some parts particularly the Little Vienna district and the city park are quite grand, but much of the town is a work in progress with a lot of building work and refurbishment afoot.
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All in all, Romania was an interesting experience, a curious melange of ancient and modern. In rural areas it was like stepping back in time. Much poverty was evident. The worst we saw was a shanty plastic-sheet Roma settlement high in the Maramures Mountains; it must be horrendous in Romania’s bitter winter. Despite the general poverty of rural areas everywhere were immaculate religious edifices, both ancient wooden churches, and more recent stone and marble churches and monasteries dripping with gilding and embellished with artwork and statuary. Manyounger people have clearly deserted rural areas to seek work in towns, cities and abroad, leaving the elderly to continue traditional lifestyles, and fields and orchards to be abandonned. Many well-educated young people are clearly overqualified for the work they are doing. In recent years there has been a great push to improve infrastructure, fuelled largely by EC funding, and this has supported a rapid, and not always pretty expansion of industry and commerce. In this however the remote mountainous northern and eastern regions continue to be left well behind.

We found people to be friendly and helpful; and I have to say despite the dire prognostications of those who have never been there, we felt more safe in Romania than in many urban areas of UK, France and Italy…well, apart from the bears and dogs! And oh yes, the drinking water in rural villages is best avoided, but there are plenty of Lidls and Pennys selling big bottles.
 
Apparently "You do not have permission to view this page or perform this action. " when I try to view the pictures. Having spent a great deal of time in Romania in the Carpathian region it would have been nice to see some up to date piccies, but alas I do not have permission---ah well
 
Thank you Barge1914 for what for me is one of the most comprehensive reviews I have seen for Romania. Adding Co-Ords is brilliant, and I will plot your route on Google Maps over the next few days.

Like oppy, I don't have the access read rights for any of your photos, which is a shame. You might like to review them to make them visible to all.

I have acquaintances who have lived in the country for about 7 years and I've often thought about popping by. They tell me it's a simple drive, but they would. :)

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I think Barge 1914 has his photo album settings at 'Private', preventing members from seeing the photos, so I have sent him a message.
 
Excellent article - superb blend of local culture and practicals about roads and campsites. Now if you could just get the pictures sorted
 
Thank you Barge1914 for what for me is one of the most comprehensive reviews I have seen for Romania. Adding Co-Ords is brilliant, and I will plot your route on Google Maps over the next few days.

Like oppy, I don't have the access read rights for any of your photos, which is a shame. You might like to review them to make them visible to all.

I have acquaintances who have lived in the country for about 7 years and I've often thought about popping by. They tell me it's a simple drive, but they would. :)

.
Likewise, we too have friends out there. We set up a ministry just outside Sighisoara and although we have passed it over to others and closed down our charity, we still have an interest there and support the work as and when we can[000179].png
 

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I've seen the photo of a cutaway Trabant being pulled by a pony before, but I've never seen the photo of the lady pulling a plough wearing a bikini.

Not sure if I'm brave enough to show it to Mrs H-S. :)
 
I've seen the photo of a cutaway Trabant being pulled by a pony before, but I've never seen the photo of the lady pulling a plough wearing a bikini.

Not sure if I'm brave enough to show it to Mrs H-S. :)
I took those pictures in 1991 along with many others when I first went over with RomAid, but did not publish them for a few years and then after we set up our own charity we needed some publicity shots and a couple of years later I was prompted to copyright them. The roads then were interesting. A kilometer before and a kilometer after a town they were great and then for the next 100 they were cart tracks. We also worked on the Hungarian side based in the town of Nyrabeltec on the border and on several occasions we'd come across dead horses in the middle of the mountain passes as we drove over the border (the town had a crossing without guards). But the Romanian people were and are wonderful and the hospitality is second to none. It's now a few years since my last visit but Sue and I do hope to be able to go over again before we fall off our perches.On the subject of pictures, should you want any early ones, I've over 1000 on the hard driveRomania 3 #5 2004-1.jpgPICT0185.jpgold woman0001.jpgIMG_1142_3.jpgBrooms+for+Sale+Transylvania-1.jpgDCP_00461.jpg
 
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wow, I really enjoyed reading about your travels and the pics....I would love to travel further than the usual bits of Europe.....
 
Cracking thread, thank you for sharing your adventures with us.

And also thank you Oppy for your contributions. Just the thing for a lazy morning.

Cheers

H
 
Only just spotted this. So useful - have emailed the page address to myself so I can find it again.
Guess you’re currently in sunny Scotland.
 
Hi. Sadly following unnatural contortions (for my years anyway) during a caving trip we had to rearrange our usual winter excursion to Bonny Scotland so won’t be there until Mid Jan-Feb. We’ll be at the Frog in Feb (El Ninjo and Easterly beasts permitting) lest you be passing that way.
 

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