Romania Travel

May and June are the best months to visit, followed by September and early October. At these times, you can visit the medieval painted monasteries in southern Bucovina, and enjoy them minus the tourist hordes. Spring and autumn are also the best times for birdwatching in the Danube Delta. Romania has harsh winters, when tourism is centred on the ski resorts like Poiana Brasov and Sinaia. Snow lingers as late as mid-May and the hiking season doesn’t begin in earnest till June. The resorts along the Black Sea coast start filling up in late June and stay packed until mid-August.

Bucharest (Romanian: Bucureşti /bu.kuˈreʃtʲ/ (help·info)) is the capital city, industrial, and commercial centre of Romania. It is Romania’s largest city. It is located in the southeast of the country, at 44°25′N, 26°06′Eand lies on the banks of the Dâmboviţa River. It was originally known as Dâmboviţa citadel.

By European standards, Bucharest is not an old city, its existence first being referred to by scholars as late as 1459.^[2] Since then it has gone through a variety of changes, becoming the state capital of Romania in 1862 and steadily consolidating its position as the centre of the Romanian mass media, culture and arts. Its eclectic architecture is a mix of historical, interbellum, Communist-era and modern. In the period between the two World Wars, the city’s elegant architecture and the sophistication of its elite earned Bucharest the nickname of the “Paris of the East” or “Little Paris” (Micul Paris).^[3] Although many buildings and districts in the historic centre were damaged or destroyed by war, earthquakes and Nicolae Ceauşescu’s program of systematization, many survived. In recent years, the city has been experiencing an economic and cultural boom.^[4]

According to January 2006 official estimates, Bucharest proper has a population of 1,930,390.^[5] The urban area extends beyond the limits of Bucharest proper and has a population of 2.1 million people.^[6] Adding the satellite towns around the urban area, the metropolitan area of Bucharest has a population of 2.6 million people.^[6]. Bucharest is the 6th largest city in the European Union by population within city limits.^[5]

Economically, the city is the most prosperous in Romania^[7] and is one of the main industrial centres and transportation hubs of Eastern Europe. As the most developed city in Romania, Bucharest also has a broad range of educational facilities.

The city proper is administratively known as the Municipality of Bucharest (Municipiul Bucureşti), and has the same administrative level as a county, being further subdivided into six sectors.

Romania (dated: Rumania, Roumania; Romanian: România, IPA: [ro.mɨˈni.a]) is a country located in South-East Central Europe, North of the Balkan Peninsula, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea.^[2] Almost all of the Danube Delta is located within its territory. It shares a border with Hungary and Serbia to the west, Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova to the northeast, and Bulgaria to the south.

Romania is a semi-presidential unitary state. As a nation-state, the country was formed by the merging of Moldavia and Wallachia in 1859 and it gained recognition of its independence in 1878. Later, in 1918, they were joined by Transylvania, Bukovina and Bessarabia. At the end of World War II, parts of its territories (roughly the present day Moldova) were occupied by USSR and Romania became a member of the Warsaw Pact. With the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989, Romania started a series of political and economic reforms that allowed for Romania to join the European Union on January 1, 2007.

Romania has the 9th largest territory and the 7th largest population (with 22 million people^[3]) among the European Union member states. Its capital and largest city is Bucharest (Romanian: Bucureşti /bu.kuˈreʃtʲ/ (help·info)), the 6th largest city in the EU with almost 2.2 million people. In 2007, Sibiu, a large city in Transylvania, was chosen as a European Capital of Culture.^[4] Romania also joined NATO on March 29, 2004, and is also a member of the Latin Union, of the Francophonie and of OSCE.