Romania Road Trip with My Kid

Romania is like a different world. World of beautiful lands, kind and helpful people, delicious food. It’s also a land of surprises. We were supposed to be there way longer, but life made it short. We’ll be back for more, as once you come to Romania, you cannot forget it.

And yes, we did think about vampires a lot.

The things yo should know about Romania:

– it’s safe to travel by van- as Romania is not number 1 destination (not yet at least) this will be most probably, one of the first things you will try to figure out. We parked in the wild, in towns and villages and the only thing that you can expect from the locals is that they will invite you for a breakfast.

– it is extremely beautiful, so try to discover as much as possible.

– road condition is not the best, there are many constructions on a way and it will slow you down, but highways are awesome.

– some roads like transalpine are closed for half of the year, so check it out before going there. We did not and we had to go back.

– you can see a lot of food stands on the road, buy your food there as it’s delicious.

– horse carriage on a road is a regular view, which does not mean that I was super excited each time I saw it.

– there are many castles and each of them is advertised as Dracula’s. It may be not, but it is still worth visiting. These places have a hell of history and by visiting you support it.

– you should have a cash on you, as there’s not so many places on the road where you can pay by caRD. Obviously big cities are easy, but countryside not that much.

– Romania has a crazy good internet and internet deals. You can get a SIM card with 60GB for a very good price. I love Romania for this, it made my life so much easier.

– How to find a place for the night – We found many perfect spots for the night just by driving. We usually start to look around at 5-6pm. I can get that at the beginning, it may be difficult for you, or you think it will be. There are many apps and www that can help you and since the internet is not a problem in Romania, use them as much as possible. Examples: Park4night, iOverlander, furgovw.org.

– Romania is super child friendly. My 3 year old loves it and Romanians loved her. She got a lot of food for free and a lot was forgiven (I’m talking about her creative mess).

– food is important in Romania, so when you order something, order as much as you can eat, don’t leave leftovers.

– talk with people. A lot of people speak English, but it will be helpful and well seen (as everywhere in the world) to speak some local expressions.

Try placinta and mici!

OUR ROUTE:

Apuseni Natural Park – we got here at night, straight from a border. I found a spot for the night online and we set it up as our first destination. We got there at night and I must say that it was pretty scary. We were driving with a stone road, trying to drive around big stones and holes, it was narrow, I could not see where I am, Internet was not working and I could not turn back. We got to the spot which was supposed to be the spot and there was nothing. There was a fog and I kept thinking about vampire movies. We were so tired that I stopped on a side of the road and I went to sleep. When we open the for two dogs started to bark like crazy. I read about homeless dogs in Romania so we closed ourself in the van and decided to drive away first thing in the morning. When I woke up at 5:30 am, ready to drive away, I saw horses sleeping next to my car. One of them was licking our side mirror as it was covered in saliva. The sun was rising and the place I’ve been in was so beautiful, that I stood next to a horse and I stared. There was a hut where a lady was selling local treats, meantime sheep and cows were making their way through the park and just next to our car. Tomasz set up his office in a shadow of our van and I was playing with Mia in a muddy pad. It was so beautiful, that I wanted to stay there forever.

Muzeul Castelul Corvinilor – it is quite a place. I am a big fan of castles in general, so I’ll always advise to visit as many as possible. In this one you can learn a lot of history and it is simply cool to walk around and imagine how it used to be. We stopped for a night at a parking just next to the castle, so I could easily reach it for the sunrise with no-one around.

Sibiu is simply beautiful. The architecture, food, people, vibe, all in one make a beautiful city. I think my favourite 🙂 It was fairly easy to find a parking and definitely too difficult to find a place to eat. Why? Because each one looked good 😀

Viscri someone wrote me that Prince Charles has a couple of houses in this tiny village and I must tell you, that I wanted to buy a property over there as well. It is not only beautiful, but friendly and relaxing. In the morning you can see women sitting on benches in front of their houses and making socks. The blacksmith will invite you over to see how he lives. To walk around this village is such a pleasure itself.

Sighisoara – it is as beautiful as Sibiu, just bigger (or at least this was my impression). We had a delicious lunch over there and wandered around. Because this is what you do in cities 😀

Transalpina – one of the highlights of our trip to Romania. It was an incredible drive. Just look at the pictures. It reminds me of Italian mountains and Norwegian as well. We were stopping quite a lot just to look, most of the times I even forgot to take a picture. There’s so many beautiful places to park your car, like just next to a river or in a big forest. Transalpina has some limitations on driving, so please google it before you go.

We did not see many places in Romania, as our car had a serious issue and we had to go back. I honestly regret it and this made me like Hymer way less (later on we’ll have more reasons). As we like to see the glass half full, we can go back to Romania in Autumn, which is apparently the best time to visit.