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Country ROMANIA
ROMANIA
BOOK HOTEL RESERVATIONS ONLINE OR BY LIVE TELEPHONE SUPPORT 24/7 Alba Iulia ARAD (regional info) BW CENTRAL HOTEL Arad HOTEL CONTINENTAL FORUM ARAD Bacau Baia Mare Bereck Bistrita BALVANYOS COVASNA BEST WESTERN BALVANYOS HOTEL BRAILA EDYS ROYAL HOTEL BRAILA BRAN COMMUNE INN ON BALABAN Bran Commune BRASOV (regional info) Brasoveana CourtYard Brasov BUCHAREST (airport) (travel guide) (regional info) > Tourism & Travel Guide: Bucharest Aducco Imperial Carol Parc Hotel Bucharest ARMONIA HOTEL Bucharest Athenee Palace Hilton Bucharest CAPITOL HOTEL BUCHAREST Central Hotel Bucharest CENTRE VILLE APARTHOTEL Bucharest CENTRE VILLE ELITE APARTHOTEL Bucharest CLASS HOTEL Bucharest Confort Traian Hotel Bucharest Crowne Plaza Hotel Bucharest CRYSTAL PALACE Bucharest Dalin Hotel Bucharest Golden Tulip Times Bucharest Golden Tulip Victoria Bucharest HOTEL HELVETIA Bucharest Hotel Marshal Bucharest Hotel Michelangelo Bucharest Hotel Monte-Nelly Bucharest HOTEL SUTER INN Bucharest Hotel Venezia Bucharest Howard Johnson Grand Hotel Plaza Bucharest Ibis Bucuresti Gara de Nord Bucarest Ibis Bucuresti Palatul Parlamentului Bucharest InterContinental Bucharest JW Marriott Bucharest Grand Hotel Bucharest K&K Hotel Elisabeta Bucharest Le Boutique Hotel Moxa Bucharest Lebada Hotel Bucharest NH BUCHAREST Novotel Bucarest City Centre Parliament Hotel Bucharest Pullman Bucharest Radisson BLU Bucharest Ramada Bucharest North Ramada Bucharest Parc Hotel Ramada Majestic Bucharest Hotel Ramada Plaza Bucharest Convention Center Rembrandt Hotel Bucharest Rin Grand Hotel Bucharest Sunset Hotel Bucharest Tania Hotel Bucharest Unique Hotel Bucharest YOURHOTELS CASA BUCUR Bucharesti Buzau CLUJ NAPOCA (regional info) BW HOTEL TOPAZ Cluj Napoca DEJA VU PENSION Cluj Napoca HOTEL CAPITOLINA Cluj Napoca Hotel Deja Vu Cluj-Napoca Tulip Inn Sunny Hill Cluj-Napoca CONSTANTA (regional info) BW SAVOY HOTEL Constanta HOTEL VOILA CONSTANTA Ibis Constanta Constanta Craiova Cugir Deva DROBETA TURNU SEVERI HOTEL CONTINENTAL TR SEVERIN Drobeta Turnu Severi MOTEL CONTINENTAL PORTILE DE FI Drobeta Turnu Severi Focsani Galati Geoagiu GURA HUMORULUI (regional info) BW BUCOVINA CLUB DE MUNTE Gura Humorului Su Halmagiu Hateg Hoghiz Hunedoara Iasi Mamaia Mangalia Miercurea Ciuc ORADEA (regional info) HOTEL CONTINENTAL FORUM ORADEA Oradea Hotel Iris Oradea OTOPENI Angelo Airporthotel Bucharest Otopeni Confort Rin Airport Hotels Otopeni RIN HOTEL OTOPENI Orastie Petrosani Piatra Neamt Pitesti Ploiesti POIANA (regional info) HOUSE OF DRACULA Poiana Brasov PORTILE DE FIER PORTILE DE FIER CONTINENTAL MO Portile de Fier PREDEAL (regional info) Sunset Villas Predeal Reghin RESITA BEST WESTERN ROGGE HOTEL Resita Satu Mare SIBIU (regional info) BW HTL FANTANITA HAIDUCULUI SIBIU HOTEL CONTINENTAL FORUM SIBIU Ramada Sibiu Sighisoara Sinaia SUCEAVA (regional info) HOTEL CONTINENTAL SUCEAVA Târgoviste TARAGU MURES (regional info) CONTINENTAL TIMISOARA (regional info) BW AMBASSADOR HOTEL Timisoara Hotel Timisoara Hotel Valentina Timisoara NH TIMISOARA TIMISU DE SUS HOTEL CONTINENTAL GAISER Timisu De Sus TURGU MURES (regional info) HOTEL CONTINENTAL TIRGU MURES TULCEA Cormoran Resort Tulcea ESPLANADA HOTEL TULCEA Vurpar Zalau > more regional information about Romania Average Temperatures °C (°F) " Visas And Red Tape " Costs, Money And Banks " Health " Getting Around " Dining And Drinking " Post, Phones And Email " Festivals And Public Holidays " Best Of Romania " Explore Romania Travel in Romania is an rewarding as it is challenging. The country's mountain scenery and great diversity of wildlife, its cultures and people, and a way of life that at times seems out of the last century, leave few who visit unaffected. However, although not as impoverished as Albania and most of the countries of the former Soviet Union, it is still one of the hardest countries of Eastern and Central Europe to travel in. The regime of Nicolae Caeusescu drove the country to the brink of bankruptcy, and Ion Iliescu's efforts to provide tangible fruit of 1989's revolution further disrupted the economy; as a consequence Email Constantinescu's government had to embark on a savage austerity programme which has led to big cuts in real earnings. Coming here on a package deal - to the Black Sea or Poiana Brasov, or on a "Dracula Tour" - will effectively shield you from such realities. Travelling independently will have its frustrating moments, balancing inclinations and plans against practicalities. However, it would be a shame to let such factors deter you from at least a brief independent foray. Much of Romania's charm lies in the remoter, less-visited regions, and it's the experience of getting there that really gives you an insight into the country. Rather than expecting an easy ride, try to accept whatever happens as an adventure - encounters with Gypsies, wild bears, oafish officials and assorted odd characters are likely to be far more interesting than anything purveyed by the tourist board. Romanians (the country's largest ethnic group) trace their ancestry back to the Romans, and have a noticeable Latin character. They are generally warm, spontaneous, anarchic, and appreciative of style and life's pleasures - sadly, in contrast to the austerity with which they're saddled. In addition to ethnic Romanians, one and a half million Magyars pursue a traditional lifestyle long since vanished in Hungary, while dwindling churches their ancestors built in the Middle Ages to guard the mountain passes. Along the coast, in the Delta and in the Banat there's a rich mixture of Russians, Ukrainians, Serbs, Slovaks, Bulgars, Gypsies, Turks and Tatars. Bucharest has lost much of its charm - its wide nineteenth-century Parisian-style boulevards are choked with traffic, once-grand fin-de-siécle buildings are crumbling and the suburbs are dominated by grim apartment blocks - but it remains the centre of the country's commercial and cultural life. Many of Romania's other cities are blighted by industry and best avoided, but Brasov, Sibiu, Cluj, Oradea and other historic towns still show glimpses of past glories. To the north and west of the country, Transylvania and Banat are the provinces that are most western in feel and allow the easiest travelling, with private hotels, buses and taxis, and information more readily available. Coming from the capital, Brasov is the gateway to Transylvania; just twelve kilometres from the ski resort of Poiana Brasov, its medieval old town is a good introduction to the Saxon architecture of the region, which reaches its peak in the fortified town of Sibiu and the jagged skyline of Sighisoara. Further north and west, the great Magyar cities of Targu Mures, Cluj and Oradea have retained a wealth of medieval churches and streets, as well as impressive Baroque and Secession edifices. All these cities are served by international trains from Budapest, and any could be your first taste of Romania if you're arriving overland. The best of Romania, though, is its countryside, and in particular the mountain scenery. The wild Carpathians , forming the frontier between the province of Transylvania and, to the east and south, Moldavia and Wallachia, shelter bears, stags, chamois and eagles; while the Bucegi, Fagaras, and Retezat ranges and the Padis plateau offer some of the most undisturbed and spectacular hiking opportunities in Europe. In contrast to the crowded Black Sea beaches along Romania's east coast, the waterlogged Danube Delta is a place set apart from the rest of the country where life has hardly changed for centuries and where boats are they only way to reach many settlements. During spring and autumn, especially, hundreds of species of birds from all over the Old World migrate through this region or come to breed. Few countries can offer such a wealth of distinctive folk music, festivals and customs, all still going strong in remoter areas like Marmaures and the largely Hungarian Csango and Szekelyfold regions. Almost any exploration of the villages of rural Romania will be rewarding, with sights as diverse as the log houses in Oltenia, Delta villages built of reeds, watermills built entirely of wood in Marmures, and above all the country's abundance of churches, which reflect a history of competing communities and faiths. In medieval Transylvania four religious (Roman Catholic, Reformat, Lutheran and Unitarian) and three "nations" (Saxon, Hungarian and Székely) were recognized, a situation stigmatized as the "Seven Deadly Sins of Transylvania" as the Romanian majority and their Orthodox were excluded. In Moldavia and Wallachia Orthodoxy had a monopoly, but the clergy were as likely to be Greek as Romanian, and as late as the nineteenth century held services in incomprehensible Slavonic rather than the native tongue. This religious mix, together with the frequency of invasions, accounts for Romania's extraordinary diversity of religious architecture . In Moldavia and Wallachia masons and architects absorbed the Byzantine style and then ran riot with ornamental stone facades, most notably at the monastery of Curtea de Arges and Iasi's Three Hierarchs church, and in Oltenia, where the "Brancovenau style" flourished, with its porticoes and stone carving derived from native woodwork motifs. The frescoes so characteristic of medieval Orthodox churches reached their ultimate sophistication on the exterior walls of the Painted Monasteries of Bucovina, in northern Moldavia, which are recognized as some of Europe's greatest artistic treasures. Fine frescoes are also found inside the wooden churches of Maramures, with their sky-scraping Gothic steeples. |
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