Romania

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Flag of Romania Romania
Information
Language: Romanian
Capital: Bucureşti
Population: 22,276,056
Currency: Leu (RON)
Hitchability: <rating country='ro' />
Meet fellow hitchhikers on Trustroots or BeWelcome
<map lat='46' lng='25' zoom='6' view='0' float='right' height='320' country='Romania' />

Romania a country in southeastern Europe, a member of the European Union but not yet a member of the Schengen zone. 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.

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

Romanian cities with more than 100.000 inhabitants

> 1.000.000: Bucureşti

300.000–500.000: Cluj-NapocaConstanţaIaşiTimişoara

100.000–300.000: AradBacăuBaia MareBotoşaniBrăilaBraşovBuzăuCraiovaDrobeta-Turnu SeverinGalaţiOradeaPiatra-NeamţPiteştiPloieştiRâmnicu VâlceaSatu MareSibiuSuceavaTârgu 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


trash:Romania