Spent about three months in the region (although transitted donly through Bulgaria) and had absolutely no problems.

Had a slight mishap in Slovakia but entirely my fault/avoidable/misunderstanding. That’s all I say

Great countries, would go in a heartbeat.

I’ve only been to Slovakia and Serbia, but they seemed as safe as any country can be.

quote:
Me and my 2 other buddies are planning to drive across Europe (first time for all of us!!!) Can anybody tell anything about the travel safety in those countries. Ppl talk a lot you know and I don’t have a clue if thay’re right or wrong so please help me out!!!

I think the best to do is just go there. I am now having a tour in Romania, with two open-minded americans that, after reading a lot of warnings about Romania last year, decided to come however. They enjoyed and they are here for the second year in a row these days.

Let me know if I can be of any future help (esp. about Romania)!
All best,
Radu[url=‘http://www.outdoorholiday.com’ title=‘Travelling in Romania.Outdoor Tours in Eastern Europe’]Traveling in Romania[/url]

I’ve been in Slovakia and Romania. I consider both to be safe. I see no problems driving around Slovakia on your own, assuming that the rest of Slovakia has developed as rapidly as the Bratislava area has over the last decade. Tons of German tourists visit Slovakia, so it’s pretty driver friendly.

The Romanian economy is not in great shape which means there are infrastructure problems and you’re more likely to run into officials who supplement their tiny paycheck with corruption. You might find some roads that aren’t in great shape and some areas where signing and road conditions aren’t the best.

Good luck finding a parking place in Bratislava.

Make sure it is parked securely at your hotel. My friend left his out on the street the last nite, to save a few bucks and his company car was stolen. But he got a new one.

_

Hey
In Romania our bus got run into by a local driver who was clearly at fault. He just came flying out of a side street and smacked into the centre of the bus. when the police arrived he blamed the bus (being foreigners). The policeman clearly would have been able to see that it was the local mans fault but for some reason took no action. He simply told us to forget about it. That means the bus company forked out for the damage to the bus. I guess the point of my tale is that when in another country the law is pretty much for the protection of citizens and if u take the risk if driving around there may well be things like this that you cannot help.
This is just one incident and I’m sure there are many perks to driving accross these beautiful countries

I can tell U that Slovakia is much saftier than USA!U think that Slovakia is one big dirty hole???

quote:You might find some roads that aren’t in great shape and some areas where signing and road conditions aren’t the best.

OldLady is just beeing kind about the roads in Romania (thanks oldlady ); I’m now a little bit angry because of having to drive of some verrrrry bad roads in Transylvania. I think I have destryed a shock absorber, because of driving on a crap road by night.
While Romania really deserves a visit because of the landscapes, culture and welcoming people, take into consideration an averrage speed of 60 km/h. The speed limit in localities is 50 km/h (I recommend you respect this one, there are some speed traps in small villages) and 90 km/h outside the localities (100 km/h on European roads).
In fact, you’ll be driving your own car or are you gonna’ rent a car? I must admit I care more about my own car than for a rented one; anyway americans said that the trafic in Romania is more difficult than in the states.

If you let me know more about your itinerary I could help you more with road conditions; places to see or others.

All best,
Radu [url=‘http://www.outdoorholiday.com’ title=‘Vacations in Transylvania, Romania. Outdoors in Romania’]Travelling in Romania countryside[/url]

Radu — after 3 weeks in Eastern Ukraine, the roads in Transylvania actually seemed pretty good.

quote:Radu — after 3 weeks in Eastern Ukraine, the roads in Transylvania actually seemed pretty good.

, yeah, and in plus running slowly allows one to admire the Transylvanian landscapes. [url=‘http://www.outdoorholiday.com’ title=‘Outdoor Vacations in Romania’]Travelling in Romania[/url]

WOh, hiii there, I must say my own opinion…You cant compare Slovakia with Romania, Serbia or Bulgaria…It seems to me tath you never entered to Slovakia – reaally nice country, not very rich, but member of Europian Union or NATO, there are so many beautiful places, reaally nice nature….people are friendly and infrastructure??? MUch much better. It is small country but there is so many things to see….

First, welcome to this forum, danqox !

quote:…You cant compare Slovakia with Romania, Serbia or Bulgaria…

Wow…I’m "impressed", why you can’t compare them ? And, first of all, who compared them directly ?

quote:It seems to me tath you never entered to Slovakia – reaally nice country, not very rich, but member of Europian Union or NATO

So, you say that you know really well the three other countries, isn’t it? Without talking about Slovakia (I must admit I’m not an expert in Slovakia), I’d dare to say they are pretty interesting too, even if they are not (yet) members of European Union. They also have a nice nature and (at least Romania) friendly people. Don’t you think ?

All best,
Radu

hmm well I drove quite a bit while in bulgaria,I’ve heard car theft was a problem in the cities….especialy for foreigners,but I was driving my friends 1979 skoda…..theft of the car wasnt a big concern as for the roads…not as bad as I expected allthough the back roads wherent the best.Can you read or understand the crylic alphabet??I can somewhat but at 100kmh I cant…..so roadsigns can be interesting as most(that havent been stolen for scrap metal)are written in crylic.

quote:
Can you read or understand the crylic alphabet??I can somewhat but at 100kmh I cant…..so roadsigns can be interesting as most(that havent been stolen for scrap metal)are written in crylic.

Mee, too , I can read them alphabet, but not doing that everyday I’m not very fast. Anyway, I’d recommend writing down on the paper (with cyrylic alphabet) the names of the cities/places you are interested in and then just try to recognize them on the signs (as a picture, not quite reading them )

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