Our FAQs

Guest Q&A

Our Guest Q&A Section is from English Author Mike Ormsby, who has been intimate with daily life in Romania for 15 years. 

His book, "Never Mind the Balkans, Here's Romania!" is chock full of his decidedly hilarious and often near-tragic observations of his dear friends in Romania, as he struggles alongside them to make sense of a swiftly tilting society, both rooted in a peasant past and uprooted by the pressing mandate of more modern concerns.

  Q. Why should I go to Romania?

Check out BBC's Romania profile

  A. How long have you got? Seriously, whether you’ve got 3 weeks or 3 days, Romania is well worth your time. Come and peep – there’s lots to keep you intrigued on your travels.

I first came here in ’94 as a BBC reporter and fell in love with the place and the people. I’ve lived and worked around the world since then, but en route I married a Romanian beauty and this country is our long-term base.

  Q. Where should I go in Romania?

A. Let’s say you have a week or two. In that time you can go urban and rural:

Pick a city or two (internal flights, we gottem) and a bit of eco-bliss: from marshy birdlife in the Danube Delta to the soaring Carpathian Alps.

Must-see in Bucharest is Ceausescu’s former "Palace of the People", now the federal Parliament, but open for tours. You’ll need a good hour and come out dazed, well worth it.

Another goodie is the Romanian National Museum of Art (MNAR): from ancient Venetian kaftans to home grown modernists. And the underground vault of ancient Dacian and Roman gold in the National Museum proper is eye-popping.

A few hours by train and you’re in Transylvania with its amazing old fortified cities.

Sibiu – a little bit of Saxony, ringed by walls; Cluj – ex-Roman town and you sure can feel it; Iasi – home to Romania’s oldest university and gracious boulevards; Sighisoara, birthplace of Vlad ‘the Impaler’ Tepes (AKA You-Know-Who-ula).

The list goes on! Do your homework; get results!

 Q. How safe am I?

See more about Romania Travel Safety

A. As houses, just about. Back in the day, you had to watch your step but now Romania has largely lost its ’wild East’ vibe. Having said that, you don’t want to walk down Dodgy Street flashing your ignorance in the wee hours, right? Just keep your wits and you’ll keep your wonga. 99% of Romanians are friendly and helpful. If you get the feeling they’re TOO friendly, back off with a smile. No problem. 

  Q. How expensive?

 A. Depending what you’re after, you can go budget or bananas. Like most emerging nations, Romania knows a trick a two. But so do you, right? So do your research, starting with this site. The good news is the penny has generally dropped about ‘service’: they’ll look after you. Keep smilin’!

  Q. What, no street dogs, orphans sniffing glue, bears or vampires?

 A. Scrawny kids at the traffic lights are a fading memory. The doggies have yellow tags in their ears, and much less numerous (and more polite). Take a local guide in bear country (and no porridge).  As for vamps, well, local garlic is good for your health and bad for theirs, so stock up and you’ll be fine.

  Q. So I should try Romania, yes?

 A. Sooner the better! Romania is a country in transition. Not an easy place to live sometimes but a fascinating place to visit. What makes it are the people – friendly, a touch fatalistic but with a wicked sense of fun. Very hospitable (if you’re lucky you’ll end up at someone’s home-cooked feast) and always willing to help you out of a jam (especially if you like pickles ;) So, come on over/up/down.

  Q. What does ‘drum bun!’ mean?

Romanian Language Tips and Phrases

 A. Safe trip, bon voyage! Be sure to learn ‘Please’ and ‘Thank You’, too. They’ll appreciate it.  

  - Mike Ormsby

Below is an excerpt from Mike's recent must-read book for travellers to Romania:

From Mike Ormsby's new must-read book 'NEVER MIND THE BALKANS, HERE'S ROMANIA!', with a laconic English perspective on life in Romania and the Romanian people Read More Here

Cişmigiu Gardens

Every time I visit this place, I feel the same.  Maybe it's because of the elegant flower beds, the winding paths and the ambitious chatter of happy kids.  Or maybe it's the young lovers who paddle rowing boats, the skeletal old ladies who gossip on benches of battered wood, or the grim-faced men who huddle around stone tables playing chess.   

Whatever it is, every time I walk through Cişmigiu gardens in the centre of busy, booming Bucharest, I feel as if I'm wandering through a painting by a French impressionist.  And there is a connection after all.  Wasn't the city once known as Paris of the East? 

Crossing a bridge over the lake, I pause to wonder what Monet would have made of it, with his canvas and paint, some Sunday afternoon.  Kids dawdle about in their Sunday best nibbling pink clouds of candy floss.   Turbo-folk music belongs from a cafe terrace, where waiters and white shirts and black waistcoats glide on shiny shoes amongst the crowded tables, dispensing drinks and fixed smiles.  Most clients are smoking.  The happy chatter and innocuous silver wisps drift across the lake.  It looks like a modern-day version of Renoir's Luncheon of the Boating Party.   

Under a large tree near the zona de conifere there are couple of lovers kissing passionately.  The young woman sits on the man's knee.  At the edge of the boating lake, knots of people wait quietly on the debarcader -- the jetty -- for their turn.  Two tiny children are dressed in identical outfits – denim dungarees and a jelly shoes.  They gaze towards the centre of the lake, were a fountain spurts great arcs of water into the air, teasing them to hurry up and join the fun.  One of the kids spins around, hugging herself.  

I feel like an empty bench.  I take my seat and sits back to ponder the passage of time.  This park has a place in history.   It seems the name Cişmigiu is Turkish in origin.  It means the person responsible for building or maintaining a public fountain. 

And never mind the French Impressionists, Maxy, Romanian avant-garde artist from the 20s painted Şomeri pe o bancă în Cişmigiu: Unemployed on a bench in Cişmigiu.  It's an intriguing picture with a perilous perspective, a captivating blend of light and shade, action and inactivity, gossip and snoozing.  It's in the National Gallery at Cluj-Napoca.     

I stopped to buy a tiny handful of sunflower seeds from an old lady on a wooden stool.  They're still in their shells.  I don't know how to eat them the way some Romanians do.  I always make a mess.   As I passed through the gates to rejoin the real world of busy streets and halting traffic, I realise two things.  First, Cişmigiu is not really a Monet.  It's too neat, too precise for him.  No, this park is more like Seurat's Island of the Grande Jatte. 

-- from the tale "Sunday Best"

Our Standard FAQs

These are a distillation of some of our more common e-mails we get.

If you have a question for us, please , and we'll get back to you as soon as we can!

  Q.  I want to tour Romania independently.  How can I plan a trip?

  A.  Americans and Australians generally feel most comfortable "running their own show" so to speak.  This is doable in Romania with a car and driver-translator.  Due to the big exchange rate differences (dollars are at least double the Romanian lei, your daily travel expenses can be surprisingly affordable.

  Q.  Seriously, is Romania safe?  I hear things about gypsies and dogs and orphans...

  A.  Very little makes us roll our eyes more than these silly stories.  Romania is statistically safer than all U.S. cities, has something like one-tenth the problem with drugs, guns and violence.  Check out our Travel Safety guide for the facts, and don't listen to ill-informed rumours please.

  Q.  How big is Romania?  Big-big?

  A.  It's as big as Oregon, England and Wales and Scotland together, or the state of Victoria.  Pretty big, about double the size of Austria or Hungary, not quite as big as Poland or France.  21 million people, about the same as Australia.   See more comparisons in our Geography and Embassies guides.

  Q.  Is the Dracula thing real?

  A.  Yes. Romanians have a long history of the undead haunting their villages from improper burial rites, called "strigoi", or "vampir" in Hungarian.   Vlad "Dracula" Ţepeş was a national hero who fought off the Turks, and staking the bodies as a warning to them, a trick he learned whilst hostage in the Ottoman court as a youth.   Get the full stories here.   The tourist castle is at Bran, the "real" castle is near Curtea de Argeş.

  Q.  Are Romanians Slavic or Latin or what?

  A.  Romanians see themselves as an island of Latin blood in a Slavic sea.  Their language is undoubtedly rooted in Latin and the Romans ruled the southern portion of today's Romania for almost 300 years.  Today, Romanian is firmly a latin language like Italian or Spanish.   See the Language Guide and History Guide for more information.

  Q.  Is the Rest Romania website all finished?

  A.  We are constantly adding information in new guides (pages) and sections on guides each week as we get requests and comments from users, mostly tourists and travel agents.  So, no, it  will never really be "finished" but for now, we think that it is "finished enough". 

  Q.  How big is your website?

  A.  We're not sure why we get asked this again and again, but it is around 1.5 gigabyte of text, images and other files, across just over 19,500 files.   It's big, but you have to be large to cover an entire (great) country!

  Q.  How can I put my business on your site?

  A.  We accept advertising only from travel and tourism related businesses which are located in Romania or in an English speaking country with clear ties with Romania (offering travel, tour, or other services to tourists going to Romania). 

  Q.  What is Rest Romania?

  A.  We are a group of Americans, Australians and Romanians who love Romania and want to get all of it's wonders known to the English-speaking world.   We operate out of each country for keeping the website current, running our ratings program and advertising, and managing customer relations.  See our About Us section for more info.

  Q.  Are you travel agents?

  A.  No, but as an online travel guide, we make recommendations with English-speaking travellers in mind, and give you the information you need to make arrangements for your travel with lodging, travel and rental agencies, tour companies and more.   Check out sections on each of the Regions pages for listings.