Ovidiu & Sarah

Travelling to Sucevita

 

Flying

 

The best way to get here is to fly to one of the nearest big cities, either Cluj, or Iasi. Cluj is 4 hours away by car - quite scenic drive through Transylvania and then Bucovina. Cluj is probably one of the best places to land, if you can.

 

You can also travel to Bucharest - there are more frequent flights - but from there it is approximately 7 hours by car, or by train, to Sucevita. .

 

From Bucharest, another option is to take a domestic flight to Iasi (Tarom flies to Iasi 3 - 4 times / day).  Iasi Airport is three hours away from Sucevita. It has international flights too, it might be worth checking if it fits with your travel plans.

 

For those of you who don't mind really low cost companies, there are also international flights to Bacau. Bacau Airport is around 3 hours drive from Sucevita. 

 

Hiring a Car

 

All the major car hire companies operate in Romania, as well as some local Romanian companies, eg. Autonom.ro Don't forget if you are coming from the UK that there are new rules about generating a code from the DVLA .

 

If you are hiring a car, please note, you need to drive on the right, you have to have your lights on at all times by law, and the drink drive limit is zero. There are no speed cameras in Romania but police cars hide and wait to catch speeders. Other drivers may flash their headlights to warn you there is a police car ahead. Also worth remembering there are few street lights in Romania or pavements in villages so, particularly if you are driving at night, please be extra careful. 

 

If you don't plan to hire a car, please let us know and we will organise travel for people in groups. If you come from abroad, arriving on Friday might be a safe option.

 

Trains

 

You can get the train from Bucharest to Suceava and then either we can meet you there, arrange for someone to meet you, or you can hire a car there. 

 

A few words on trains... 

 

It would be best to buy your ticket in advance as trains are getting more popular again in Romania and you cannot travel on the train if you do not have an assigned seat (ie. the train's full). Tickets go on sale about a month before the travel date. 

 

Trains in Romania are nationalised, there is only one company and their website (which can be translated into English is): http://www.cfrcalatori.ro/

 

Assuming you want the site in English  - click the British flag top right - there is a link to the online ticket buying tool on the left hand side at the top below the logo [Buy CFR Tickets]. Again, click on the flag to change this site to English.

 

The CFR Tickets website is a separate secure website where you will need to set up an account [Register New User] button (this is easy, I managed it) you can then buy tickets which will then be emailed to you to print off.

 

All inter-city trains (like the one to Suceava) have reserved seats with the seats allocated when you buy the tickets. I would suggest that if people want to travel together they buy the tickets together so they will be sitting together. There is no rush to find your seats in Bucharest as the train leaves from that station.

 

Most people do not use return tickets in Romania (a return is usually just the price of two singles, not like in UK), but, if you buy a return online there is a 10% discount.

 

The ticket (without discount), and using the exchange rate between RON (Romanian lei) and sterling was £23 each way for a first class ticket the last time I checked. 

 

 

 

You can let us know how you plan to travel in the RSVP form or by emailing us directly (lawrence.sarah@gmail.com, or ovidiubodnar@gmail.com)

 

If you have any questions or would like more advice please don't hesitate to give either of us a ring or drop us an email.