Romania

Romania
Information
Language:	Romanian
Capital:	Bucureşti
Population:	22,276,056
Currency:	Leu (RON)
Hitchability:	<rating country='ro' />
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<map lat='46' lng='25' zoom='6' view='0' float='right' height='320' country='Romania' />
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Romania a county in southeastern Europe, a member of the European Union and a member of the Schengen zone since January 1st 2014. It shares a border with Hungary and Serbia to the west, Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova to the northeast, and Bulgaria to the south.

Hitchhiking in Romania is usually very easy. Payment for the ride is often expected, however. Make sure to tell the driver that you are travelling without money (fără bani ‘without money’ or nu am bani ‘I have no money’) before you get in the car. Most drivers will agree to take you anyway, but if you don't tell them beforehand, they can aggressively demand payment when you get out later. If you wish to pay drivers like local hitchhikers do, it is still cheaper than trains and buses though, about 5 lei (1.25€) for every 100 km.

At the exits of most cities, there are established places to hitchhike and you may find yourself competing with local people who will pay drivers. In some cases, it is better to walk a little bit down the road and hitchhike where you can stand alone. The common practice is to hold a sign with the name of the place you want to go; Romanian usually write the two-letter code of the county seat they are going to (e.g. "CJ" for Cluj).

Romania has very a couple of hundred kilometers of real motorway, in the south of the country. Elsewhere, long-distance traffic is going on national roads with E numbers. You can stand directly on the national roads and thumb, though junctions are always best because cars go more slowly there.

Language

Romanian is one of the few non-Slavic languages of Eastern Europe. It uses the Latin alphabet and is related to French, Italian, Spanish etc. Speakers of one of these languages will find it easier to pronounce and understand Romanian.

• Romanian phrasebook

File:Lien-hitching-one-car-before-romania.jpg

guaka spotted his room mate from Brussels at the side of the road in August 2010, this was a couple of minutes later

Regions

• Transylvania
• Wallachia
• Moldavia
• Dobrogea

Romanian cities with more than 100.000 inhabitants

> 1.000.000: Bucureşti

300.000–500.000: Cluj-Napoca • Constanţa • Iaşi • Timişoara

100.000–300.000: Arad • Bacău • Baia Mare • Botoşani • Brăila • Braşov • Buzău • Craiova • Drobeta-Turnu Severin • Galaţi • Oradea • Piatra-Neamţ • Piteşti • Ploieşti • Râmnicu Vâlcea • Satu Mare • Sibiu • Suceava • Târgu Mureş

Roads

The roads are very outdated. There are only 3 motorways in all of Romania:

• The A1 going 127 km from Bucureşti to Piteşti – the only fully operational motorway in Romania
• The A2 or Sun's motorway, going 204 km from Bucureşti to Constanţa – only 75 % completed
• The A3 or Transylvania motorway, going 588 km from Bucureşti to the border with Hungary – under construction, due 2013

Most of the other roads are in poor condition, the European routes being the best. Even so, hitching a ride is quite easy, especially on the major European roads that get a lot of traffic.

Number plates

Political map of Romania: historical regions and counties

The most used type of license plate uses a cc-99-xyz format, where cc is the 2-letter county code, 99 a random 2-digit number, and xyz 3 random letters.
It's quite possible to see Bucharest registered plates (B-99-xyz) all over the country, as all the leasing companies are based in Bucharest, and people are obliged to use Bucharest plates while their cars are in leasing.

County license plate codes

County	Code	Residence	County	Code	Residence	County	Code	Residence	County	Code	Residence
Alba	AB	Alba Iulia	Buzău	BZ	Buzău	Gorj	GJ	Târgu Jiu	Prahova	PH	Ploieşti
Arad	AR	Arad	Caraş-Severin	CS	Resiţa	Harghita	HR	Miercurea Ciuc	Satu-Mare	SM	Satu-Mare
Argeş	AG	Piteşti	Cluj	CJ	Cluj-Napoca	Hunedoara	HD	Deva	Sălaj	SJ	Zalău
Bacău	BC	Bacău	Călăraşi	CL	Călăraşi	Ialomiţa	IL	Slobozia	Sibiu	SB	Sibiu
Bihor	BH	Oradea	Constanţa	CT	Constanţa	Ilfov	IF	Bucureşti	Teleorman	TR	Alexandria
Bistriţa-Năsăud	BN	Bistriţa	Covasna	CV	Sfântu Gheorghe	Maramureş	MM	Baia Mare	Timiş	TM	Timişoara
Botoşani	BT	Botoşani	Dâmboviţa	DB	Târgovişte	Mehedinţi	MH	Drobeta Turnu-Severin	Tulcea	TL	Tulcea
Braşov	BV	Braşov	Dolj	DJ	Craiova	Mureş	MS	Târgu Mureş	Vâlcea	VL	Râmnicu Vâlcea
Brăila	BR	Brăila	Galaţi	GL	Galaţi	Neamţ	NT	Piatra Neamţ	Vaslui	VS	Vaslui
Bucureşti	B	–	Giurgiu	GR	Giurgiu	Olt	OT	Slatina	Vrancea	VN	Focşani

Border crossings

• Bulgaria:
  • Ruse-Giurgiu, the major international route
  • Calafat-Vidin
  • Durankulak-Vama Veche
• Hungary
  • Ártánd-Borş
  • Nădlac-Nagylak
• Moldova
  • Galaţi-Giugiuleşti‎
• Serbia
  • The Iron Gates
  • Stamora Moravița-Vatin
• Ukraine:
  • Dyakove-Halmeu
  • Sighetu Marmației-Solotvyno border crossing
  • Siret-Porubnoe
  • There is no border crossing between Ukraine and the Danube Delta region of Romania. Travelers going between eastern Romania and southern Ukraine must pass through Moldova. There are privately owned boats that may takes travelers, but they ask into the hundreds of euro for the service.

Countries of Europe

Albania • Andorra • Austria • Belarus • Belgium • Bosnia and Herzegovina • Bulgaria • Croatia • Cyprus • Czech Republic • Denmark • Estonia • Finland • France • Germany • Greece • Hungary • Iceland • Ireland • Italy • Kosovo • Latvia • Liechtenstein • Lithuania • Luxembourg • North Macedonia • Malta • Moldova • Monaco • Montenegro • Netherlands • Norway • Poland • Portugal • Romania • Russia • San Marino • Serbia • Slovakia • Slovenia • Spain • Sweden • Switzerland • Turkey • United Kingdom • Ukraine • Vatican

trash:Romania