Field guide

Romania

Europe • Southeast EuropeBucharestRomanian leu (RON) · lei

RO, Rumania, Roumania, România

This page stitches together our stored feeds—expect warm, human-readable snippets rather than dry data tables.

Snapshot metadata

Last generated December 20, 2025 at 5:37 AM

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Names & aliases

RomaniaRORumaniaRoumaniaRomânia

Quick facts

Need-to-know at a glance

Capital

Bucharest

Currency

Romanian leu (RON) · lei

Languages

Romanian

Population

19,036,031

Area

238,391 km²

Calling code

+40

Driving side

Right-hand

Pre-trip intel

Safety & entry

Advisories and border basics from our stored feeds.

Safety outlook

Romania - Level 1: Exercise Normal Precautions

There were no changes to the advisory level or risk indicators. Advisory summary was updated. Advisory Summary Exercise normal precautions in Romania. Romania has moderate seismic activity and a history of strong earthquakes. Bucharest faces the highest risk. If you decide to travel to Romania: Enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) to get important updates and alerts from the U.S. embassy or consulate. Enrolling helps the U.S. embassy or consulate contact you or your emergency contact in an emergency. Review the Country Security Report for Romania. Visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website for the latest Travel Health Information  for Romania. Whether you’re a first time or frequent traveler, use the International Travel Checklist . We highly recommend that you buy insurance before you travel. Check with your travel insurance provider about evacuation assistance, medical insurance, and trip cancellation coverage. (Updated October 14, 2025 at 12:00 AM)

Exercise normal precautions in Romania.
Romania has moderate seismic activity and a history of strong earthquakes. Bucharest faces the highest risk.
Enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) to get important updates and alerts from the U.S. embassy or consulate. Enrolling helps the U.S. embassy or consulate contact you or your emergency contact in an emergency.
Review the Country Security Report for Romania.
Visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website for the latest Travel Health Information for Romania.
Whether you’re a first time or frequent traveler, use the International Travel Checklist .

Full advisory

Source: U.S. Department of State

Entry & Docs

Visas, customs & paperwork

Getting to Romania is easy from nearly all parts of the world: it is served by an array of transport types and companies. Romania has borders with the following countries: Ukraine, Bulgaria, Serbia, Moldova, and Hungary.

Getting to Romania is easy from nearly all parts of the world: it is served by an array of transport types and companies.
Romania has borders with the following countries: Ukraine, Bulgaria, Serbia, Moldova, and Hungary.

Source: Wikivoyage

On the ground

Getting around & connectivity

Practical notes from Wikivoyage sections.

Transport

Getting around

thumb|The great square of [[Sibiu.]] Romania is relatively well connected with the European rail network. There are daily international trains to Munich, Venice, Vienna, Budapest, Zagreb, Belgrade, Sofia, Istanbul, Chișinău, Kyiv, and Moscow. But due to the poor quality of rail infrastructure in the region, train travel on long distances takes considerable time. Nonetheless, trains are the ideal way of reaching cities in western and central Romania such as Brasov, Sighisoara, Oradea or Cluj-Napoca coming from Central Europe. International trains to Romania include the (relatively high standard) EuroCity trains and night trains. Roma…

Romania is relatively well connected with the European rail network. There are daily international trains to Munich, Venice, Vienna, Budapest, Zagreb, Belgrade, Sofia, Istanbul, Chișinău, Kyiv, and Moscow. But due to the poor quality of rail infrastructure in the region, train travel on long distances takes considerable time.
Nonetheless, trains are the ideal way of reaching cities in western and central Romania such as Brasov, Sighisoara, Oradea or Cluj-Napoca coming from Central Europe.
International trains to Romania include the (relatively high standard) EuroCity trains and night trains. Romania is part of the Eurail pass offer.
A cheap way of traveling to or from Romania might be the Balkan Flexipass.

Source: Wikivoyage

Connectivity

Wi-Fi, SIMs & staying online

Romania uses the pan-European standard number 112 for all emergency calls since 2004. Therefore, this is the only number you will need to remember for police, ambulance and the fire department.

Romania uses the pan-European standard number 112 for all emergency calls since 2004. Therefore, this is the only number you will need to remember for police, ambulance and the fire department.

Source: Wikivoyage

Local wisdom

Etiquette, tipping & staying well

Etiquette & respect

thumb|A shepherd in the Făgăraș Mountains Romanians are quite hospitable. In the countryside and small towns, they welcome foreign tourists and, occasionally, they might even invite you for a lunch. As is common with Romania's Balkan neighbours, Romanians will insist when offering something, as "no" sometimes does not mean "no", and they just consider it polite for you to refuse and polite for them to insist. You should take some normal precautions to study your hosts first. It is common for friends and family to kiss both cheeks upon greeting or parting. Respect towards the elderly is highly appreciated and is a good representation…

Romanians are quite hospitable. In the countryside and small towns, they welcome foreign tourists and, occasionally, they might even invite you for a lunch. As is common with Romania's Balkan neighbours, Romanians will insist when offering something, as "no" sometimes does not mean "no", and they just consider it polite for you to refuse and polite for them to insist.
You should take some normal precautions to study your hosts first. It is common for friends and family to kiss both cheeks upon greeting or parting. Respect towards the elderly is highly appreciated and is a good representation of your character. The phrases used to greet friends and strangers alike is "Bună ziua" (Boo-nuh Zee-wah) which means "Good day" or "Good afternoon." During morning and evenings, the phrase changes to "Bună dimineața" and "Bună seara", respectively.
Handshakes are a basic form of greeting, used very often and with every meeting. It is always expected to shake hands with everybody when entering a room or gathering of people. Although nowadays it is commonly accepted in Romania for men to shake hands with women, some men still prefer to kiss hands instead, out of tradition (mainly the older ones).
Courtesy is highly expected in Romanian society, especially toward females. It is customary to let women go first in doors, help with heavy baggage or give up seat on public transport (particularly to elderly, pregnant women and very young children).
When entering someone's house, the guest is expected to take off shoes. Not doing so will be a disappointment for the host, although the host probably will not be open with showing it.
It is impolite to get drunk in public. If a person gets intoxicated, they are expected to still behave calmly, not noisy nor using foul language.

Source: Wikivoyage

Tipping guidance

A tip is usually 5-10% of the bill and is expected in restaurants, coffee shops, taxi, hair dressers.

A tip is usually 5-10% of the bill and is expected in restaurants, coffee shops, taxi, hair dressers.

Source: Wikivoyage

Health & wellness

Tap water is generally potable, but most people choose to drink bottled water instead.

Tap water is generally potable, but most people choose to drink bottled water instead.

Source: Wikivoyage

Scams & street smarts

Romania is a very safe country, where random attacks are almost non-existent. While violence against foreign tourists is rare, this does not mean you should leave your common sense at home, if you decide to vacation in Romania. Generally crime is limited to petty thefts and common scams, and not much else that would concern the tourist. Wherever you may be in the country, ask trusted locals about the surroundings, they will gladly give you a few pointers. Although racial prejudice exists in Romania, especially toward those who look like Roma (“gypsies”), hate crimes are rare. Some homophobic prejudice also remains, for instance an annual gay pride parade in Bucharest has been the scene of violent protests in past years.

Romania is a very safe country, where random attacks are almost non-existent. While violence against foreign tourists is rare, this does not mean you should leave your common sense at home, if you decide to vacation in Romania. Generally crime is limited to petty thefts and common scams, and not much else that would concern the tourist. Wherever you may be in the country, ask trusted locals about the surroundings, they will gladly give you a few pointers.
Although racial prejudice exists in Romania, especially toward those who look like Roma (“gypsies”), hate crimes are rare. Some homophobic prejudice also remains, for instance an annual gay pride parade in Bucharest has been the scene of violent protests in past years.

Source: Wikivoyage

Tempo & rhythm

Climate & timezones

Ground truth from Open-Meteo, REST Countries, and webcams.

Climate (Capital proxy)

MayJunJulAugSep

Jan

-1°C

40 mm

Feb

1°C

38 mm

Mar

6°C

53 mm

Apr

11°C

53 mm

May

17°C

70 mm

Jun

21°C

101 mm

Jul

24°C

71 mm

Aug

24°C

56 mm

Sep

19°C

54 mm

Oct

13°C

46 mm

Nov

6°C

56 mm

Dec

2°C

46 mm

Source: Open-Meteo Climate

Timezones

UTC offsets

UTC+02:00

Webcam IANA zones

Europe/Bucharest15 cams

Source: REST Countries

Webcam aggregate: Webcam DB aggregates(prisma://webcams)

Practicalities

Money & essentials

Money & costs

GDP per capita: $20,080.21 · 2024

GDP (PPP): $48,731.325 · 2024

Inflation: 5.7% · 2024

Currency: Romanian leu (RON) · lei

Source: World Bank GDP per capita

Power & plugs

View plug reference for Romania

Source: WorldStandards (plugs)

Highlights

Top places to explore

01
Poiana Brașov
— in south-eastern Transylvania, its main attractions are the well kept medieval downtown, the nearby luxury resort of and the proximity to the Râșnov fortress and the Bran Castle.
02
Black Sea
— Romania's main port and one of the major commercial hubs in the region. The northernmost district, Mamaia, is one of the best Black Sea resorts.
03
Bukovina
— the main city in and the medieval capital of Moldavia; it can be used as starting point for visiting the Painted Monasteries of the region.
04
Banat
— the largest town in the region, one of the most prosperous and modernised cities in Romania; it was here that the 1989 Romanian anti-communist revolution began.