Romania
Information | |
Language: | Romanian |
Capital: | Bucureşti |
Population: | 22,276,056 |
Currency: | Leu (RON) |
Hitchability: | <rating country='ro' /> |
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Romania is one of the newest members of the European Union, located in South-East Central Europe. 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, despite payment for the ride is often expected, foreigners usually aren't asked for anything. Make sure you're expecting to go for free before you get into the car, otherwise you might find yourself in a ugly situation. People expect to be paid for giving a ride, but if you tell them in advance that you are unable to pay, most will take you anyway; when talking with the driver say "Fora Bani" (without money) or "Nu am bani" (I have no money"). If you'll end up paying, it is still cheaper than trains and buses though. The local currency is the Leu (pl. Lei). When hitchhiking, it's best to hold a sign with the name of the place you want to go. The most common method is using the 2-letter county code for the place you want to go.
Getting a lift in a truck is much easier in Romania than in Western Europe: drivers don't care too much of the insurance, and they even pick up more people at a time despite it's illegal.
In most of the cities there are unofficial but locally known places for hitchhiking that you can ask to the people. But It might be a good idea to hitchhike a little bit further, because people stopping there are expecting to make some money. Many cities, such as Timișoara, have specific places where one can hitchhike from. They are interspersed around the city, so just ask someone where the nearest one is. They look like bus stops but you will notice they have no bus numbers or maps. Some are intended for short distances, e.g. towns and villages within 50 kilometers of the city, and others for longer distances, such as to the next major town or city. At these stops, there are unofficial taxis (called sharks) waiting there at most times of day that charge a fixed rate of about 6 lei (less than 2 USD) per person for a short distance, but they will only go if the car is full. If you are willing to pay for the other seats they will take you straight away. Regular cars often pick people up as well, and the advantage to this is that they will take you without demanding the car be full and you can give them a 5 lei note for about a 20k ride. However, that rate is not fixed, so some may argue a different price is appropriate.
Romania has a long established hitchhiking tradition from the communist era. Back then, few people had cars, and there was a constant fuel shortage, so sharing a ride was the best way to get from A to B.
Romania has very few kilometers of real motorway. You can stand directly on the national roads and thumb, though junctions are always best because cars go more slowly there.
Contents
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.
Regions
> 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
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:
- Hungary
- Moldova
- Serbia
- Ukraine:
- Dyakove-Halmeu
- 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 private boats that may ferry travelers, but they ask into the hundreds of euro for the service.
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