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Romania 2018 - Comarnic Visit

Clive would love to visit you guys and anybody else traveling down this year if possible.

Just need to work out the logistics first from Cyprus across Turkey through Bulgaria and then to you in Romania. Not something I've done before. Google maps says under 1800 km's by road.

Thanks
 
The Bulgaria-Romania bit is quite straightforward, but I’ve never driven in Turkey.

I guess its no issue though, the roads are good but I know nothing of taxes or tolls. The Istanbul leg is always congested so be prepared for 60 km of bumper to bumper, unless you can plan that part of the journey at nighttime.

Coming from the south, you’d be passing through Bucharest, so if that coincides with our 110km Bucharest-Comarnic run (which will likely be on Friday evening 17th Aug) you can meet us in Bucharest and we can drive in a mini 2-truck convoy :lol:.

As said, we’d love to have you along Dervis, see how your plans go and pm me if you need any details... :thumbup:
 
The Bulgaria-Romania bit is quite straightforward, but I’ve never driven in Turkey.

I guess its no issue though, the roads are good but I know nothing of taxes or tolls. The Istanbul leg is always congested so be prepared for 60 km of bumper to bumper, unless you can plan that part of the journey at nighttime.

Coming from the south, you’d be passing through Bucharest, so if that coincides with our 110km Bucharest-Comarnic run (which will likely be on Friday evening 17th Aug) you can meet us in Bucharest and we can drive in a mini 2-truck convoy :lol:.

As said, we’d love to have you along Dervis, see how your plans go and pm me if you need any details... :thumbup:

Yes I guess Ill have it all preliminary worked out prior to travelling with the exact dates set from you guys a we get closer in.

Being high season I know this from my cousins who travel on holiday to Turkey for a month each year by car. In August the ferry is very busy and booked up in advance so would need to book this at least a month or two in advance to be safe.

Yes the Istanbul crossing would be planned to travel in the evening at best Clive not used to those levels of traffic anymore since I left London long ago. lol

Bucharest-Comarnic run sounds very interesting look forward to that.....thanks :thumbup:
 
Yes I guess Ill have it all preliminary worked out prior to travelling with the exact dates set from you guys a we get closer in.

Being high season I know this from my cousins who travel on holiday to Turkey for a month each year by car. In August the ferry is very busy and booked up in advance so would need to book this at least a month or two in advance to be safe.

Yes the Istanbul crossing would be planned to travel in the evening at best Clive not used to those levels of traffic anymore since I left London long ago. lol

Bucharest-Comarnic run sounds very interesting look forward to that.....thanks :thumbup:

Istanbul is a traffic nightmare TBH. I arrive at Ataturk airport (European side) at 11:00am and its often taken more than 3 hours to do the 40 odd km to where I work at Maltepe on the Asian side.

The run from Bucharest to Comarnic is easy, 90 minutes +/- of almost straight national road, but it will be nice to have company if the timing suits... :thumbup:
 
Quick question for the European travellers out there. Not too long now before I head off to romania, my route is roughly as follows, uk France Germany Austria Hungary in to romania. I have 4 full days to do the journey at a nice steady pace. Then on the route back I have a week which I plan to go romania Hungary Croatia Slovenia Italy France UK. Are any of these places a terrible no no? Any recommendations on where to go when we're there? And finally to get hold of the driving passes for places such as romania Austria Hungary what's people's recommendations? Buy them in advance or get them from fuel stations border crossing etc? Thanks in advance
 
Not saying it's the best way to do it but the Austrian one we got from a petrol station just as we entered (lots of signs to let you know) Hungary and Romania did on my phone after some googling. I remember for some reason the Romanian one was tricky due to the options it gave you ( think I had to pretend I was Romanian with a British car)
 
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We bought Vignettes from fuel stations and did one online. Hungary and Romania need them. I can’t remember if Austria needs one also. Romania was from the first fuel station. Have a look at the 2017 visit, we crossed over in the afternoon by the tunnel, stayed at a campsite just outside Bruges, then drove to Parc Wertheim Bettingen, 4/5 the way through Germany, then a campsite in Austria, the one on the way back was far nicer, Camping Traisen, then one just over into Romania just outside Arad. The modified plan (for next time) was to stay around Fagaras and donthe Transfagarassan as one of the legs.
 
Thanks chaps I was hoping to do it at fuel stations so then I'm not tied to leaving/entering places when my pass starts and ends. Just wanted to make sure the fuel station way wasn't a complete PITA or impossible to find one! We've nothing booked for places to stop just whatever takes our fancy really
 
I’m the numpty here, who knows nothing about traveling across Europe, but we do know Romania...

It’s called a Rovineta and the larger fuel stations sell them. The minimum period is for one month and it costs about £18 (100 lei) or thereabouts, but I might be wrong with the price ‘cos I always buy for a year. You can pay by most debit/credit cards or cash. Look up how to on google and do it by phone. Any problems, call us and Aura will buy you on on the phone.

There are hidden cameras on most main routes, so you don’t need to get stopped by the police to rack up a hefty fine for not having one.

Other tips Josh, don’t speed. It’s good fun and all that, but the roads here are not designed for it, and some of the bends will catch you out.

Generally, the national speed limit is 90 km/hr, I know it’s slow, but so are the roads. The DN1 (E60) is often 100 kph and if yoiu have a satnag, it will probably tell you accurately what the speed limit is on the road you’re on.

The Narional roads go through villages, there’s few by-passes and most villages are at most 70kph, many are only 50kph, and some go down to 30kph. There are usually police car mounted speed cameras and some hidden ones.

A village will have an entry sign like this...

A3078F81-3A99-4EB0-BB06-B6DF49CF808A.jpeg


or something similar, usually a yellow background bearing the name of the village and a clear speed limit that starts at the sign. As you exit the village there will be a similar sign, with a diagonal line across it, end of the speed limit and the start of the national limit on that roaad, which conveniently is never (rarely) stated.

Motorways (autostrada) are generally 130kph but may have lower speed signs for tight curves and junction areas.

I don’t think you have much of a choice, but speak English to the cops and tell them you’ve just arrived, some will speak English back to you. If you’ve broken the law, (and you know it) then ask them if you have to pay a fine. If they say yes, it’s 500 lei (£100) then offer it, it’s probably much less that an official fine, but don’t offer cash if they are writing you a ticket.

Don’t cross solid white centre-lines, which are usually on bends, at junctions or on bridges (for some strange reason). Sometimes they are double like in the UK, others are single.

If the line is broken (dashed) then you can cross, for overtaking or whatever.

Don’t tailgate trucks, bits fall off them regularly, such as spare wheels and load-straps.

Watch out for idiots overtaking.... every evening there are head-on crashes on TV and they’re not pretty.

Buy fuel from the larger newer garages, its fresher and less likely to have contaminates such as water. The fuel quality here is good, and its usually just over £1.00 a liter.

Carry your paperwork somewhere handy. They love bits of paper, your insurance, your license, your MOT cert, your registration documents, your Rovineta (unless you buy it electronically). That you don’t need so much because they can look you up on their computer screen.

If you have any bother in Romania, and can’t make yourself understood or you don’t understand, call us and pass the phone to the police and Aura will do her best to calm things down and tell you what’s going on.

Don’t drive and use the phone at the same time, unless you have hands-free (without earpieces on a wire, they are banned).

Don’t drive if you have drunk alcohol, it’s zero tolerance. With 0.001 on the reader your license will go into his back pocket and you’ll have a devil of a job getting it back. It’s a minimum 3 month ban for any alcohol.

Don’t have a crash. If you do, call us. Stay with the car and don’t try to drive away to park safely, they will think you’re doing a runner. If someone is injured, call the cops, 112.

Enjoy...
 
Quick question for the European travellers out there. Not too long now before I head off to romania, my route is roughly as follows, uk France Germany Austria Hungary in to romania. I have 4 full days to do the journey at a nice steady pace. Then on the route back I have a week which I plan to go romania Hungary Croatia Slovenia Italy France UK. Are any of these places a terrible no no? Any recommendations on where to go when we're there? And finally to get hold of the driving passes for places such as romania Austria Hungary what's people's recommendations? Buy them in advance or get them from fuel stations border crossing etc? Thanks in advance
I'm going on Eurostar on 13th August and I will be doing the Luxemberg, France, Switzerland, Italy, Croatia,
Serbia, Comarnic route it's a bit longer but I'm allowing more time for a leisurely drive.
I always get my vignettes from the fuel stations, Shayne and I got done by a restaurant that said they did them and charged us, but we never got a sticker to place in the windscreen but some vignettes are recognised by NPRS electronically as you drive through so we didn't worry at the time.
 
Cheers Clive. Certainly won't be speeding, just because mines got a turbo doesn't make it sporty ;) I'm there to enjoy the scenery anyway not race the roads. Fuel isn't a bad price at that, 30p cheaper than it is here anyway! Thanks chas sounds a good route, no point doing the same one every time is there.
 
I'd buy the Hungary vignette online Josh your well into the country before you will see a modern roadside services , or at least one that couldn't improve the toilet by simply taking the roof off so rain cleans them now and then .

Do you have a route plan , i've done the footloose and fancy free thing and it doesn't work , too many campsites turn out to be newly built supermarkets or roundabouts ! Vienna has a whole heap of campsites but for reasons we will never know all were closed and we ended up sleeping in a McDonald's carpark this made our vague plan to stop driving at around 8pm folly and it was closer to midnight when we did find a place to stop .

Last years plan worked well on the way up but i think returning buy the same plan could be improved upon , instinct rather than knowledge is telling me we could have traveled much further faster had we stayed on the new Romanian motorway longer

The only time i did start wondering about fuel was iirc when i didn't bother getting any while crossing the Romania border on the way in and it turned out to be quite some distance before i got the chance to fill up again .
 
Cheers Shayne will look in to that one first then. Sort of have a route, basically a list of campsites I've read reviews on and they are all contenders. But I'm not booking any so if I see another one on the way I can stop there instead. We usually aim to be camped up for about 4 o'clock but we don't mind getting up early and get going. Sound thanks for that heads up will get fuel before entering, have a jerry on the back just incase anyway
 
Once you’ve crossed the border from Hungary, stay on the A1 (autostrada) and according to the map, it will take you all the way to the East side of Sibiu.

There the A1 ends and you’ll take the DN1 (E68) past a town called Fagaras, stay on the DN1 (E68) until you see signs to Rasnov DN 73.

After the town of Rasnov, look for signs for Predeal (and maybe Bucharest) DN 73A. Take that (its a very scenic road) and it will bring you back onto the DN1 (E68) just South of Predeal, at a “T” junction.

Turn Right onto the DN1 (E68) towards Bucharest, youll immediately go over a curved railway bridge and then you’ll go through villages, Azuga, Busteni (great view of the Bucegi mountain here on the right), then Sinaia (stay left on the by-pass but you have to give way to the village traffic on the right), then Posada, and then Comarnic.

Drive straight on through Comarnic village (shops both sides) and you’ll see a raised up covered walkway on the left on a right-hand bend.

As the road bends left again, you’ll see a crossroads, with a supermarket on the Right [Mega Image] and you have to go left by another supermarket [Carrefour]. It’s only a small asphalt road/track and you can park up there and give me a call.

We live 2.5 km up the hill from there, but unless you have my coordinates locked into a sat-nag, it’s probably safer for me to come down and meet you.

Google maps is your friend, but I guess you’ll be relying on a GPS device of some sort.

I actually don’t know my coordinates, maybe Chas can send them to you.
 
Pretty crude mapping, but these will give you an idea,

Arad to Sibiu (Autostrada A1)

B647322D-0429-4AB6-A266-A89161DCD3E8.png



And then Sibiu to Comarnic DN1 (E68) to Codlea, then the DN73 to Rasnov, DN73A towards Predeal, then right on the DN1 to Comarnic

A9F96286-2ED0-40E5-89B5-42ED482CA170.png
 
My Garmin says; N 45' 14.604, E 025' 39.293 Does that make sense?

Well, I can’t comment really Chas, but we pass the 45th parallel on our way north from Bucharest to our place so the Northing is feasible, no idea of the Easting though, but you do seem to turn up at the gate every year Chas, so it can’t be far off :lol:
 
Copy and paste this in Google maps
( if you don't mind Clive?)

45.243696,25.655022
 
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