Yorkshire to Transylvania Sept 2016
 

I am in the early stages of planning my solo trip to Transylvania in Sept this year. I have at least 3 weeks and with a bit of luck I may be able to get 5 weeks off work.

I have already planned in lake Bled and the Croatia bike week at the start of the trip and I will be doing the Hull Zeebrugge crossing. Other than that I have a blank canvas.

I want to see as much of the Balkans as I can and the highlight will be the Transfargansan road in Romania.

I will be riding my Triumph Tiger and sticking to to the paved roads hopefully.

So any tips on the area are most welcome. Travel restrictions, places to stay, roads to ride, sights to see, weather, food etc.

Be great to meet up with fellow adventurers for part of the ride.

Look forward to your tips

Jane

Queen of Yorkshire

Pity you are not going in April - as a web person, you could take in DrupalCamp Transylvania

I’ll be riding through Romania in July so will update with anything I see!

The best way to come in is via the South: Bulgaria. You could follow the Danube river and cross by the barge. Taking the bridge (gates of steel) is nothing interesting.
It is really nice. Be careful that if you plan to stay in hotels there is nothing on the romanian side for at least 150km heading North. You'll see vast empty expenses and the roads are good.

As far as the mountain themselves, best not to do the Transalpina over the weekend. It is packed... There are two parallel roads going up the mountain. You could do both, but that is a day in itself.

A super nice place is Sigisohara. Medieaval well preserved city. Pricey hotels but really worth a look. All of the area in the Carpathian present is really great on a bike. I went at least 3 or 4 times and enjoyed it very much. The roads are mostly ok.

For sleeping, if you camp, stay away from gypsy villages is my advise. If you sleep in hotels, there are plenty in most medium sized cities: use the OSN maps or the garmin maps and look for places. I never failed to find a proper place at the 3rd attempt max. I look for places where I can park the bike safely and never had a problem.

I really advise not going via Hungary: it is a boring straight ride. On the other hand coming via Bulgaria gives you the opportunity to ride thru the Balkans which is a lot better.

If time allows, and you any more challenging rides and some off-road, you could cross into Ukraine and go into the Ukrainian Carpathian. Very hard roads with potholes the size of a 747 and murderous if it happens to rain (you don't see the depth of the holes). But incredibly scenic.

As far as safety and food, only good thing to say! Just be cautious where you park your bike for the night and all is fine.

Anyway, let me know if you need any more information.

That is a good and interesting trip. I went down to Romania last year traveling from Hampshire. I went directly through Germany, Czech, Hungary, to get there quickly as I only had 2 1/2 weeks. Spent a week in Transylvania, visiting the towns and riding the Transalpina and Transfagarasan. Then over via Serbia to Bosnia (Srebrenica, Sarajevo and Mostar) and down to Croatia, Italy and home. More details here:- A ramble around Romania and the Balkans

Have a look at my recent Balkans trip Jane. It might give you some ideas and/or pose more questions.
happy planning

Wayne

I went through Romania in my trip to Istanbul and back last September.

Apart from Romania itself, the highlights on the way out and back were Black Forest in Germany, Croatian coastal road (and Balkans region overall). I'm not sure if the best way to get to Bulgaria from Croatia is via Montenegro-Serbia or Montenegro-Albania-Macedonia, perhaps others can advise. I didn't like Albania, especially the northern part I would avoid if given an option.
In Bulgaria be sure to drop by to Motocamp, makes a nice stop before taking a ferry (barge) across Danube to Romania.
As others have said, the whole southern part of Romania is empty, the roads are good though.
On the way back, I would really spend few days in Austria, do the Grossglockner pass and just ride around taking smaller roads in the mountains, it was an unexpected highlight. Hungary was horribly boring I can second that.

Note that being from the UK you'll most likely have to buy local insurance outside of EU (Montenegro, Serbia, Albania, Macedonia), and reports are in some of those countries it can be quite expensive (e.g. Macedonia 50 EUR minimum).

Yeah I paid 50 Eur in November 2015 to get into Macedonia. Montenegro, Serbia, Kosovo was quite cheap in comparison.

Border crossings
 

Off to Romania end of month with partner on her bike. Going through Hungary then back through Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia. Any problems with borders following on from migrant crisis and any special paperwork for Hungary / Romania, Romania / Serbia, Serbia / Croatia, Croatia / Slovenia.

Been to Bosnia Serbia and Hungary before with no probs other than 50 euros each to get insurance at Croatia/Bosnia border

Cheers guys,

Paul.

I got stung for $90 for Macedonia. Kosovo and others very reasonable, €10-15 each.

Thanks for the info guys and gals. I had not considered insurance! Bit further on with my planning now and it has a Danube theme. I am going down thru the black forest and staying at the source of the Nile in Donaueschingen. Then into Austria taking in the Eagles nest and the Grossglockner. There is a great road called the nockalmstrasse just on the way out of Austria I think it was the old Porsche test track so I will be heading there.
Then up to lake bled where I have booked a bit of white water rafting then down to Pula for the Croatian bike week.
Down the coast road and a bit of island hopping to Montenegro then inland to to durmitor valley. Heading for the Danube crossing and up to Deva and the Carpathian mountains for a few days.

After all that I think I will be a bit weary so going onvto vama veche black sea resort to chill out at the punk hotel for a few days.
Back through Bulgaria and Montenegro to the ferry at Dubrovnik then over to Italy for some sightseeing. Pompeii, Naples Rome Sienna and then the mountains.
Heading East into the south of France then back home through the French countryside.

This is the biggest trip I have planned so far and a bit nervous about going it alone but I have a new Zumo to keep me company so IAM sure I will be fine.

Jane
Tarquin the Tiger

Sent from my A3-A20 using Tapatalk

You will be fine traveling alone Jane, its great, at least you are your own boss.
The area around Lake Bled is lovely. If you are going into Montenegro, Kotor is really nice and if you get time pop to the Bikers Bar N42.28231 E18.83794 in Budva, the guy who owns it was very hospitable when I went. He even let me sleep the night in his Bar.

Wayne

I spent ten days riding around Transylvania last August, it is a great place to visit. The towns I can recommend are Timisoara, Sibiu, Brasov, Targu Jiu, Sighisoara, Curtea de Arges. We also rode through the Apuseni national park and up towards Oradea, great scenery and a good glimpse of Romanian rural life.

I was really surprised with the way Romanian towns are so well preserved, they all have beautiful old town centres, although the outskirts are usually industrial and uninspiring with the usual high rise tower blocks etc. As others have noted, Hungary can be a bit dull but we broke the journey in a small town called Kecskemet which was pleasant enough, and it would be a shame not to visit Budapest!

Safe travels.