Driving in Romania and Bulgaria
If you haven’t driven in this part of the world before, it can be a bit of a challenge at first. Having done it a few times, here are some tips to make your journey a little less daunting.
Get your paperwork sorted
Like many other countries in the area, you will need to get a vignette at one of the small stalls just across the border. Payment will be in cash — euros work though you may first be asked for local currency (which you probably won’t have until you access an ATM in country). You will have to present your registration and insurance papers. Unlike in some other European countries where you attach a sticker to your windscreen, in Romania and Bulgaria your license plate number is recorded and roadside cameras will check if you have paid your vignette.
Even though Romania and Bulgaria are part of the EU, they are not part of the Schengen agreement so you will still have to go through a formal border crossing where you have to stop and have your passport checked. You may also have to show the border guards your vehicle papers.
The AA information for Romania and Bulgaria are full of information that will stand you in good stead before you go (though I can reassure you that you can ignore the advice about it being against the law to drive a dirty car — no-one pays attention to that one!) It is always worth checking if you will need to have an international driver’s permit to drive in Bulgaria or Romania before you leave.
Photo credit: Juan P. Verni on Visualhunt.com / CC BY-NDKeeping yourself on the road
Fuel stations are not too far apart on the major roads, so chances of running out of fuel are slim. We made a point of visiting stations that looked relatively clean and modern, and they always had clean accessible toilets, payment by card, and a stock of snacks and drinks. Some places you will have an employee (or the owner) come out to put fuel in your car or at the very least clean your windows. We always tipped a small amount for that.
We fortunately had no problems like breakdowns or flat tires etc. It might seem obvious but MAKE SURE your insurance covers Bulgaria and Romania. Even if you have ‘EU coverage ’ double check that Romania and Bulgaria are not exempt — I have read online of cases where people found out that was the case the hard way.
Driving conditions can be ‘interesting’
The conditions of the roads in Romania and Bulgaria vary widely. The highways can be amazing — thank you EU highway funding — and we occasionally found ourselves driving on near empty six lane highways in perfect condition. However, you will invariably also find yourself on twisty single lane tracks. Or extremely pot-holed messes. The real choke-points are at railway crossings — almost always the up to and down from the tracks are
in a seriously bad state of repair, which means all vehicles take them slowly, especially the trucks. And there will always be a truck ahead of you trying to get over them. Trust me. Situations like this mean there are often traffic jams, where you will either come to a complete standstill or at the very least be crawling along. In this situation it is not uncommon for people to be walking along the road selling all manner of things — we saw people selling CDs, mobile phones, glassware, knife sets and various foods. The best advice is to not engage and just ignore them and they will move on.
Due to to the terrain, especially in Romania, you are going to find yourself on windy roads, sometimes up in the mountains and sometimes through small towns. Keeping your wits about you is imperative, and be prepared for the actions of other drivers on the road. Which leads me to …
Romanian and Bulgarian drivers
Romanian and Bulgarian drivers are probably going to have a different approach to driving than you are used to. For a start, on the straight they WILL try to overtake you. It doesn’t matter how fast you are going, how safe the traffic is, what is going on, they will. More importantly for you, that slow vehicle you see coming towards you in the other direction? There is probably another car, or even truck, trying to overtake it. Even if you are coming around a bend. Be prepared.
Once you are on the windy roads, there is a good chance that speed freak that zoomed past you is now going to be holding you back. Try and keep your sighing to a minimum and don’t be goaded in to overtaking on a corner or something equally dumb.
Views about things like lane markings, speed signs, parking, etc. are also probably more lax than you are used to. You can get freaked out by it, or you can accept that is how things are done. Of course you should yourself stick to the road rules, as dealing with the local police (and you do see them out and about) is probably not the kind of ’local experience’ you are hoping to get on your trip.
It’s not only the drivers you have to keep an eye on …
Photo credit: Rachel Black on Visualhunt.com / CC BY-SAYou will be sharing the road with more than just other cars and trucks (lots of trucks) — horse drawn carts are quite the norm in Romania, even on highways. Bicycles are in pretty common use, and you will also see pedestrians wandering along the road.
Bulgaria — extra excitement
Of course, once you get to Bulgaria there is the extra excitement of dealing with a country that uses a Cyrillic, rather than Roman, script. No need to be alarmed — numbers are still the Arabic numbers you are used to, and most place names will be written in Roman as well as Cyrillic script. If you are heading to a particularly out-of-the-way or small place you may want to learn how to read and write it in Cyrillic, but otherwise you should be okay.
Trust the GPS, or not
If your GPS is telling you to take a bypass around a town, think carefully about taking it. Often these bypasses are intended to keep trucks out of town, which means the route will potentially be full of trucks. The trucks that came before them will have torn up the road, so the trucks there now will be going very slowly, and the bypass will actually end up taking you a lot longer than just driving through town.
We found our GPS was not totally up to date with some of the new highways being built in Romania. This meant that when we followed the signs and took the A1 to Sibiu our GPS was very concerned as it thought we were driving through fields. In Bulgaria we thought we would put this experience to use when getting to Sozopol and followed the signs rather than the GPS only to end up taking the long and pot-holed route.
Have you driven in Bulgaria or Romania? Are you from those countries? Are there any tips I missed? Let me know in the comments.
