Romania

Romania
Information
Language:	Romanian
Capital:	Bucureşti
Population:	22,276,056
Currency:	Leu ( RON )
Hitchability:	(very good) (very good)
Meet fellow hitchhikers on Trustroots

Map of Romania

In Romania payment for the ride is often expected, although foreigners often aren't asked for anything. It is still cheaper than trains and buses though. The local currency is the Leu (exchange rate: 1 Euro = aprox. 3.5 Lei). When hitchhiking, it's best to hold a sign with the name of the place you want to go. People expect to be payed for giving a ride, but if you tell them in advance that you are unable to pay, 4 out of 5 will take you anyway.
Getting a ride can sometimes be difficult, as some of the cars that pass seem tiny, ancient and packed with more people than there are seats. This is probably due to the low rate of car ownership in some areas, and the fact that hitching is still a common way for locals to travel, particularly in the country.
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.

Language

Romanian is one of the few non-Slavic East-European languages. It is related with French, Italian, Spanish etc. Speakers of one of these languages will find it easier to pronounce and understand Romanian.

• Romanian phrasebook

Historical 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

Number plates

Political map of Romania: historical regions and counties

Romanian license plate numbers usually have two formats:

• Regular number plates: XX-yy-ZZZ (black writing on white background, blue strip on the left, with the country code "RO" and the Romanian or EU flag)
• Temporary leasing number plates: XX-yyyyyy (red writing on white background, blue strip on the left, with the country code "RO" and the Romanian or EU flag)

Where XX is the two letter code of the county (see below), y is a random number, and Z a random letter.

There are also special number plates:

• diplomatic: TC-xxxxxx, CD-xxxxxx (blue writing on white background, blue strip on the left, with the country code "RO" and the Romanian or EU flag)
• Ministry of Internal Affairs: MAI-xxxxxx (blue writing on white background, blue strip on the left, with the country code "RO" and the Romanian or EU flag)
• Romanian Army: A-xxxxxx (non-reflective, black writing on white background, no other markings on the plates)
• some cities have special, internal, or local license plate numbers, usually used for machinery (excavators, rollers, public transport ...)

Where x is a random number.

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

---