Dracula's Guide to Romania

Do you enjoy driving and still consider it to be the fastest way to get around a big city? If you’re an adrenaline junky, driving along Romanians will spice your life up.

Congestion in Bucharest

Congestion in Bucharest has been an issue for years, but is it as bad as we consider it to be? Let’s take a look at some of the statistics we found:

A survey from statista.com from 2020 shows that traffic congestion is the most important problem of Bucharest people. We believe that in 2023 the answers would be pretty similar, not much has changed, to be honest.

Traffic index

TomTom.com places Bucharest in 2022 in the 7th place.

Read more here.

Inrix.com shows us that out of 1000+ cities we take an honorable 19th place.

Tips for the city

• Avoid the rush hours – between 5 and 7 PM during the weekdays the traffic can be a bit too much. Driving during the weekend in the city is bearable.
• Use Waze, a phone app that will take you through traffic in the most effective way possible.
• Avoid parking in the old center and use public transport if you want to visit things.

Parking scam

People stand in parking lots and ask for money, if they don’t wear a badge that means they are not employees of the municipality. If you don’t pay them you risk getting your car scratched. This happens usually in the center of town. If you ever drove through North Africa, Turkey and a country from the Balkans you are prepared to drive in Bucharest.

The Romanian driver – some things you should know

• Some of them enjoy listening to music at max volume – we are loud & proud
• They are not very keen on respecting the law
• The poverty mentality is something that we cannot simply erase from our DNA – owning a car is a sign of wealth. Even though investing in a car is not a smart choice in terms of financial education, Romanians are willing to buy cars even though they might not necessarily afford them.

OTP Airport – Bucharest Henri Coanda International Airport – Answering some of your questions

Landing in Bucharest – How Dracula gets into the city

Image by teksomolika on Freepik