Most foreign tourists chose traveling by car to reach Romania. Romanians like their steering wheel on the left as most other Europeans and European licences are recognized and valid.
Most of the highways (not really highways, actually; in Romanian they’re called either “drum european” – european road – or “drum national” – national road; a highway is called “autostrada”) have a mere two or four lanes. National and european roads are in the best shape, with county roads coming a distant second.
- Bucharest – Pitesti
- Bucharest – Constanta, also known as the “Sun’s Highway” (“Autostrada Soarelui”)
- Brasov – Bors; 415 kilometres long; links Brasov with the Hungarian border and Romania with the European networks of highways
- Bucharest – Brasov
- Bucharest – Timisoara – Arad through the south of the country (also known as the 4th paneuropean corridor linking Constanta, Black Sea’s largest harbour, with the Western border)
- Bucharest’s beltway
Don’t count on Romanian drivers to respect traffic rules; most of them are quite temperamental and have an aggressive driving style. Goes for both intercity and intracity traffic. You may have to endure some severe honking if you’re too cautious and drive slowly but it is better this way rather than risk a severe accident.
Bucharest is by far the worst city when it comes to traffic. If you think Romanian drivers are nuts, double or triple that insanity and you’ve got Bucharest drivers. You’d be better off walking, taking a cab or using the subway in Bucharest.
Speed limits are set at 50 km/h in cities, towns, villages and 90 km/h outside of urban and rural settlements. On highway the limit is set at 130 km/h. Romanians are helpful folks and they’ll usually flash their lights at you if they come from the opposite direction and have just passed a radar.