Hotels in Romania were relatively expensive. We stayed at Euro Hotels and Suites in Bucharest — I believe there’s one at a Black Sea resort, too. It was significantly cheaper than others. It’s relatively well located and the place was at least 3 star — probably would be a 4 star if they had an elevator. No breakfast buffet, but they bring a decent continental breakfast on a tray. It was a nice room and airconditioned (fairly important when we were there the end of June). The staff was very helpful with things like getting cabs (at acceptable prices — we had one trip where the cabbie obviously had a VERY fast meter), explaining how to get train tickets and reservations, keeping our luggage (although not in a locked room) while we went on an overnight trip to Suceava, etc. Unfortunately there’s no elevator — reception is about 2 floors above street level and some of the rooms are a story above that — most of the time there was somebody there to schlep luggage.

Parking will probably be a nightmare — why would you want to drive in Romania in general and Bucharest in particular? For that matter, if you can afford to drive, why are you worried about hotel prices?

Oldlady, thank’s for you replay. I believe that driving is a better way to see the country. There are places we want to see and taking the train or bus might not be necessarily cheaper or more convenient. It’s not that we want to drive in Bucharest, but we need to if we want to be there. I drive frequently in NY, Chicago or Boston and can’t imagine the traffic and roads being any worse. As for why we don’t want to pay lots money for a hotel room if we can afford to drive…. I really don’t understood the logic of your question, unless you are being sarcastic…..should we throw away money just because we have it? I was surprised to see these prices in Bucharest and wondering if somebody has any first hand knowledge about these places, that’s all.

Yea, the traffic and roads are worse than Boston or Chicago and I’d guess the fatality rate was roughly 3 times US.

the hotels you’ve asked about (Hilton, Capsa, Mariott) are the most expensie in Bucharest. There’s also Intercontinental that’s also very expensive. If you want to go for a **** or a ***** hotel, and still get the best possible rates you could go by a tourist agency, usually they have conventions with the hotels (at least we have), and they can give you better rates than the RAC price.
If I were to recommend you some nice central hotels , I’d go for Opera or Central. As you said "We are not pretentious people" I think this ones should be OK for you. They are both very well placed and have acceptable rates. However they are *** hotels. Another one could be Caro, but it’s a little further from the center of Bucharest.

An alternative is, indeed the suits/apartment rentals. the ones that oldlady mentioned, or unid (http://www.unid.ro/) are some alternatives. Indeed they are much cheaper than a hotel room, plus you have all comfort.

If you go directly to reception I don’t think you can negociate a better rate, especially the big hotels. Maybe at some countryside guest-houses, but even there…it’s hard.

About the Black Sea….there are many hotels. Just choose a resort (Mamaia is the most "west european-like" of them, but also the most expensive) and then pick up a list of hotels from the websites.

As you "have a bunch more to ask "…just ask ! I’d be more than glad to answer any question you have.

All the best !
Radu[url=‘http://www.outdoorholiday.com’ title=‘Travelling in Romania. Outdoor tours in Carpathians’] Traveling in Romania[/url]

try Priceline.com. I used it to book for Budapest, and get very good rate at Marriot hotel. I am not sure if they have Romania on their booking. Or you can go directly to these web hotel like www.basshotel.com or www.novotel.com . good luck

Thanks for the info Oldlady! How bad can it be? Apparently you survived the experience and can talk about it….

Trankt, thanks for the suggestions, I will check it out.

Radu, I appreciate your knowledgeable and detailed answer. Hotel Opera looks like a good choice and reasonable rate. While in Bucharest we are planning to set camp as central as possible and from there to do a lot of walking. From my experience, European star ranking system is not the same as in US. Usually a 5 star hotel in Europe would be 4 or even a 3 stars in US. For these reasons we are looking for an upscale hotel, not because we are spoiled. As I mentioned, what we are looking for is a central, safe hotel with a clean bed to rest, everything else is a bonus. Oh yea, a nice massage after a long day of driving or walking sounds really great but is not a must. Do you have any suggestions for the Black Sea? I noted your suggestion for Casa Wagner in Sighisora. How about Brasov? Where would you stay? We really don’t mind using one of the pensione places. Another place we like to see is Valea Oltul, where would you go?

quote: How bad can it be? Apparently you survived the experience and can talk about it….

I can confirm the roads are really bad in Bucharest, especially if you go out of the main routes. But if you’ll have a rented car…you don’t have to worry about the car
About the traddic I can just tell you if worst that what I’ve seen/tried in France. I cannot compare it to Boston or Chicago; as I haven’t been there (yet).

quote: From my experience, European star ranking system is not the same as in US. Usually a 5 star hotel in Europe would be 4 or even a 3 stars in US.

I can say you are perfectly right. I’d say a 4 star hotel in Europe compares to a *** american one…but it depends.

quote:For these reasons we are looking for an upscale hotel, not because we are spoiled.

I never thought you could be.

quote:
Oh yea, a nice massage after a long day of driving or walking sounds really great but is not a must.

If you find the one offering massage, please let me know…I’d say for our clients, not for me .

quote:Do you have any suggestions for the Black Sea?

I stayed in Flora Hotel, Mamaia, it’s clean and not expensive (at least it was a few years ago), but it was a 2 star one. I’ll let you know, but, for the moment I cannot recommend you anything conrete.

quote:I noted your suggestion for Casa Wagner in Sighisora. How about Brasov? Where would you stay?

In Sighisoara there is also Legenda Guest House, a few meters away from Casa Wagner, but I’d go for the Wagner. In Brasov I cannot recommend you anything, as I didn’t stay there. and I prefer to talk (ok, write) only about the thing I really know. However, as you’ll have a car, go to Predeal, 28 km away from Brasov. Here you have Hotel Rozmarin (they have massaje; no joking…of course you pay for it …but at you are given this opprtunity at least) or Orizont. Also, I like Holiday Villa, a *** one just at the edge of the forest.

quote:We really don’t mind using one of the pensione places.

The corect word in romanian is &quotensiune"…these means guest-house. I tell yu this just to help you find something by searching for it, not to make you feel bad.

quote:Another place we like to see is Valea Oltul, where would you go?

I can tell you where I have been: Lainici small monastery (?), Tusnad Resort (go for Fortuna , **** or Ciomat Pension (Csomat Panzio – in hungarian), Cozia Monastery. Also, Turnu Monastery.

As I said, please let me know if you need to know somethinkg else !
Radu[url=‘http://www.outdoorholiday.com’ title=‘Traveling in Romania’]Traveling in Romania[/url]

If it matters…I did not drive in Romania, and probably wouldn’t unless the circumstances really dictated it — we did hire a cab for a half day in Brasov (very cheap) and a full day in Succeava (fairly expensive). Seems to me that the drive from Budapest to Bucharest would be an expensive nightmare (extra charges for 2 countries, drop off fees, etc.) and I REALLY wouldn’t want to hassle with having a car in either city.

Bucharest is not on my top ten list of places I’d go back to —liked other parts of Romania, but Bucharest was a bit of a disappointment. Given your itinerary of Budapest and a Black Sea resort, I’d think about skipping Bucharest.

Radu, you are extremely kind to take your time to replay to my question, thank you, I really appreciate it.

Radu wrote: “…the roads are really bad in Bucharest, especially if you go out of the main routes. But if you’ll have a rented car…you don’t have to worry about the car”

Right, this is why I pay extra to take the car into Eastern Europe…)

Radu wrote: “If you find the one offering massage, please let me know…I’d say for our clients, not for me .”

Well, my wife spends occasionally at least $75 for a 60 minutes massage at Spa Sydell; Hotel Intercontinental Bucharest advertises 60 min massages for $13. How can you go wrong there?

How about Herculane? Anything to do see or do there? Or Calimanesti area?
Oldlady, thanks for your suggestions.

quote:
Well, my wife spends occasionally at least $75 for a 60 minutes massage at Spa Sydell; Hotel Intercontinental Bucharest advertises 60 min massages for $13. How can you go wrong there?

I don’t think is necessary something wrong, just that the services are much cheaper in Romania than in other parts of Europe. And also nothing to compare with the states. I suppose it’s 13 USD only for the hotel’s clients however.

quote:How about Herculane? Anything to do see or do there? Or Calimanesti area?

For Herculane, hmm, I haven’t been there since some time, but, beside the spa facilities, there are some nice landscapes to see, the caves arround, etc.
You should better check out this site: http://www.baile-her…
As you’ll have a car you could take a drive to "Cazane" Area, on the Danube. The landscapes are really nice. Or go to
"Cheile nerei" (Nera Gorges) area, or to Cheile Cernei, with impressive landscapes. You could do some hiking there. the only precautions is there are vipers in Herculane surroundings (but they rarely bites people). In fact these are the only veninous snakes in Romania.
For more infos about Valea Oltului, (as you probably know Calimanesti Spa lies on Valea Oltului (Olt Valley)) you could have a look at the [url=‘http://www.outdoorholiday.com/mountain/Glacial%20Lakes%20trip8.php’ title=‘Hiking Circuit in Carpathian Mountains.’]outdoor circuit here[/url]. On the first day, it reaches Oltului Valley and you have there few more details about the spa and the surroundings. As I’m more outdoor oriented, I’d rather try to stay to Turnu monastery than to Calimanesti, but at the end it’s just a matter of taste…

All best,
Radu
[url=‘http://www.outdoorholiday.com’ title=‘Outdoor Holidays in Romanian Countryside’]Outdoors in Romania[/url]

Radu, thanks again for your very useful info. As you probably noticed, even though we are a middle couple, our idea of vacation is to visit interesting places with minimum amount of energy spent….. So, we look forward to more of spending time in spas more than hiking. I will look around the web for other interesting places to go and I will post more questions soon. Thanks again for taking the time to replay.

hi,i don’t know if you are still interested but i thought i’d like to send you my opinion too.
first of all you can’t compare the trafic in bucharest with the trafic in the big cityes of the states because,beyond beeing better or worse they are so different.Personaly I find it more or less the same just because I can do it in both places,I grew up in bucharest and know how to do it,I found it a bit more difficult when I started in the states because it was so different.I’m sure you will be ok.Radu said the roads in bucharest are bad if you get off the main streets.I feel like Radu haven’t been there lately,.Roads are not bad so they can damage your car"anymore",for a very long time I’d say,and wright now the periferical streets are even better then downtown.THe trafic is more of a trouble then the street condition,and the main problem is the delimitation of the lanes and the bad maners of the fellow drivers,but if you realy want to do it you can do it.Also,is not easy finding directions following instructions but if you have patience is not impossible.
I agree with the oldlady saying that bucharest is a dissapointment,don’t spend to much time there if you don’t have to.
About the ranking of the hotels compairing to the hotels in the states I have to strongly desagree with you.I don’t know about the rest of europe but I know about romania and the states.
I stayed at comfort inn in amarillo,texas,rated*** on expedia,paied about 65$/night and hated every second and I stayed at moeciu in romania at a ***inn and loved it so much ,for only 40$/night.
THis is just an example,I have a lot more.I just came to romania and I am planing to travel a lot this summer.I will send you lots of information if you are still interested.I will start tomorrow by going to baile herculane for a few days.I’ll be back soon.

Monica,

By the time I posted it I was coming after a long period of driving in Bucharest. I don’t know where you drive in Bucharest but it was (and is) my feeling that the main roads are in a better condition, while in the neighbourhoods are (were, in the winter) worst. Take Titan, for example, where you’ll broke your car if you don’t know the road (I lived there until last year). A lot of holes , tram rails coming from the road as the monster of Lockness, , etc. I don’t know what you mean by "very long time" but my old Peugeot feels every hole, every rail, every rock… If you drive a SUV, a truck or a tank, I agree you can consider them good, and they cannot damage your vehicle. (also if you drive a rented car, as you can allow just don’t caring about the car ) )

Drivers, hmm, are not worst than the drivers in other parts in Europe. The driving is something between France (very calm, really chilling out while driving) and the Italian (a nightmare at the beginning, than you can consider it an adventure).

About the accommodation, I agree the best would be to go for a guest-house in the countryside. But as for Bucharest, indeed the highest class hotels are not cheap at all. The price he knows are more or less the correct ones (more or less ‘cause if you book thru a travel agency you might get cheaper ).

Anyway, Monica, enjoy your visit in Romania and let us know how you find the country (and also the country and the accommodation).

All best,
Radu[url=‘http://www.outdoorholiday.com’ title=‘Guided tours in Romania’]Hiking Carpathian Mountains[/url]