ExPloring Constanta and Bucharest in Romania

Our Romanian round trip wouldn’t have been complete without seeing also the coast and the capital, so after leaving Ukraine behind, we headed back to Romania to visit Constanta on the coast of the Black Sea, and Bucharest.

Drive to Romania from Ukraine

Oddly, to get to Romania we had to first enter Moldova again, since there is no border crossing from Ukraine to Romania in the south side of Moldova. It was quite long drive as itself, and with all the border inspections it took basically the whole day to get to Constanta. And somewhat irritatingly, we had to buy a new vignette for Moldovian roads, even if the distance to Romanian border was like 2 km… But at the end of the day, we were back in the seafront and settled into a cozy Airbnb apartment about 4 km out of city center.

Lively Constanta in the Black Sea

Constanta, together with sandy Mamaia holiday resort just next to it, is a hugely popular beach destination during the summer. On top of that, it is also the oldest continuously inhabited city in Romania, and home of the largest port of the Black Sea. The long history shows in the architecture in the old town, and there are some ancient ruins and interesting historical monuments to explore. The old town area is rather small but has nice atmosphere and sights like the History and Archaeological Museum, Roman mosaic and thermal baths, the Great Mahmudiye Mosque with minaret that can be climbed (tickets ~1 €), and a handsome Orthodox cathedral. There is also a nice seaside promenade lined with restaurants offering seafood and other delicacies. All can be seen during a one-day walking tour.

On top of the liqueur-filled beach club parties in summer, there is somewhat active nightlife scene in the city center as well.

We haven’t really partied a lot during these few months on the road, but made an exception in Constanta, kind of accidentally actually. We chatted with this nice local dude when having beers after our sightseeing tour in the old town. Somehow one thing let to another, and we ended up having a dinner together with his friends and then some more drinks in a rock bar that was surprisingly popular taking in to account that it was Monday. Thanks Valentin for showing the local nightlife to us! The hangover was not that nice though… 😀

The Black Sea beaches next to Constanta get fully packed during summer months. In Mamaia there is a nice, long beach promenade with countless hotels, restaurants, beach clubs, amusement parks and other activities. Most of the hotels seem to be only open during the season, but some keep their doors open year around, undoubtedly thanks to Constanta being a relatively big city. We had once again some nice runs along the beach, but in mid-October it was not warm enough for actual sunbathing anymore. Would say that both the city and the beaches are worth a visit, and certainly offering a good option for the more famous beach destinations in neighboring Bulgaria.

Surprisingly charming Bucharest

We saved Bucharest, the capital of Romania, for the last stop of the together over three weeks road trip in the country. With around 2 million inhabitants, the city is clearly the biggest in Romania, and actually in the league of big cities within the whole Europe. It seems to be quite common prejudice, that Bucharest is one of those concrete-faced, off-putting eastern cities with somewhat infamous recent history. Have to admit, that we were completely unaware that it also has a reputation of being “the little Paris”, a city with some very attractive architecture and details. After gathering information in advance, we were really eager to see the mixture of styles, history and time-periods in this city for ourselves.

For most tourists visiting Romania, the busy Bucharest airport, called Henri Coanda International Airport or Otopani Airport, is the entry point. It is located 18 km outside the historical center, and well-connected with regular buses. We didn’t visit the airport of course, but drove to the city from Constanta instead. Basically the whole 200 kilometers was about driving along a motorway that was in very good condition. So it was a quick and easy drive. We needed to cross the mighty Donau once again, this time along huge and handsome bridges, for which we needed to pay an extra toll (around 3 €).

In Bucharest, we booked Bogdans’s apartment via Airbnb. It is few kilometers out of the center, just next to the line of artificial lakes and park areas next to them. Nice location really, cheaper and quieter than the downtown, but still next to restaurants and shops, and right next to tram stop. Traffic in the city was pretty intensive, so driving in there is not a pleasure, and also public transport gets crowded during the peak hours. Transportation system is comprehensive though; tram and bus network is wide, and there is a metro as well. Using the public transport is easy with travel cards, more information and tips can be found for example from this Bucharest-in-your-pocket guide.

During our six days stay we actually didn’t have enough time to see all that Bucharest has to offer, not even the whole city center to be honest. This is mostly because we needed to work with the blog and other stuff, and somehow the days just passed by, filled with laptop-time, running in the beautiful, autumn-colored parks, exercising in nearby gym, cooking ourselves and eating out in the restaurants and street stalls in our neighborhood.

Sightseeing in Bucharest

On one sunny Friday we walked the 6 kilometers to the old town for a (self-guided) sightseeing tour, and were impressed. The mix of architecture styles is almost overwhelming, and the size of part of the historical buildings is just huge. Centuries old church can be a neighbor of a brand new glass-walled mall, and a concrete office building can stand next to some ancient ruins. The small historical quarter, area that survived the reforms of Ceausescu’s era, is of course a popular tourist destination, and when walking through, we heard more languages than during the whole adventure so far. There are also plenty of hotels, restaurants and bars with welcoming terraces, but keep in mind that the popularity is reflected in the prices of course.

Keep your camera within arm’s reach, picturesque buildings and details are behind every corner.

Probably the most well-known building in Bucharest is the Parliament Palace, a gigantic monument built in 1984 by the order of Ceausescu. Situated impressively in the end of Union Boulevard, this largest parliament building of the world is a magnificent sight. Construction of this megalomaniac palace with 12 stories and 3100 rooms came with huge financial cost and it swept away big portion of the historic center, not to even talk about the fate of the people who had to leave their homes for it. For us it was enough to see the palace from the outside, but there are several guided tours to get to see the marble rooms and Ceausescu’s balcony organized every half an hour.

All in all, we can warmly recommend visiting Bucharest. It makes perfect destination for few days city holiday especially during autumn and spring. Summer months are often hot and bring the most of tourist in the city, and winter can be uncomfortably chilly, grey and slushy at worst, though still surely fine for visiting at least on those days when the skies are clear. We didn’t get to know to the night life, which undoubtedly is vivid in this city, but checked out couple of craft beer bars in downtown.

How to get to Romania?

Flights to Bucharest are really cheap from several cities around Europe. Budget airlines Blue Air and Ryanair, among others, fly to Bucharest from different locations in Europe, and their prices are really comfortable.

For example, prices for direct return flights from Helsinki to Bucharest starts from ~85 EUR  (in May 2018), and from many other European cities flights can be even less than that. You can check if you find even better deals from Skyscanner.

Public transportation Between Bucharest and Constanta

There is a fast train and a direct bus route from Bucharest to Constanta. You can easily plan your holiday trip so, that you stay few days in Bucharest (3-4 is our recommendation) and after that travel to Constanta by train or bus. Distance between Bucharest and Constanta is just about 220 km and the trip takes from 2 h 50 min to 3 h 05 min depending on the mode of transportation and time of the day. For those on a tight budget, there are also slower and thus a bit cheaper bus connections available. Google maps will find the best routes and timetables.

Where to stay in Constanta and Bucharest?

There is a huge amount of accommodation options with wide quality and price range in Constanta, Mamaia beach area, and in Bucharest city center. Accommodation can be really cheap in all of these places, if you are not too picky or seeking for luxury. We found very affordable but comfy and clean apartments via booking.com and Airbnb. Theses are out favorite resources for searching accommodation in Europe.