Many of you who are coming to Romania for the 2nd semester of Erasmus are coming to this country for the first time.

One very important thing you should know is that Bucharest and Romania in general is much safer than many other large cities/countries in Europe.

So, here are some tips you should know when you arrive in Romania:

  1. We recommend avoiding yellow taxis, not because they are not good, but because some drivers can charge you much more just because you are a foreigner. And also, in principle you will need cash for taxis in front of the airport. If you want a safer option, you can look for local taxi apps where they work on the same principle as Bolt or Uber.

2. We recommend taxi apps, such as: Bolt, Uber.

You can insert your card directly into the app and pay more easily, and you can also see directly in the app from the start how much the ride and the way to the location cost.

Also, make sure you have these applications downloaded before you arrive in Romania, because your mobile card may not work immediately considering that you are moving from one country to another.

3. There is also the train which is directly in front of the airport. There are signs at the airport that you can follow to get to the train station very easily.

You can pay with your contactless bank card, directly at the validator in the train, and when the controller comes to check, you show him the payment from your bank account. You can also pay in cash (RON) directly from the controller or at the ticket office located in the train station. The ticket is around 5 lei, about 1 euro.

The train takes you from the airport to Bucharest North Railway Station. From there you can take the metro/a bus (also on the bus you pay with your card and at the metro entrance the same: it is around 3 lei, that is about 60 cents) or an Uber or Bolt to your final location.

4. The other solution is the bus. The ticket is 3 lei so 60 cents. You pay either on the bus by card directly at the validator or you can download the application called ”24 pay” where you insert your card and you can pay for a ticket directly through the application (it also has an English version). The bus number is 100. The bus station is also opposite the airport gates.

5. If you don’t want to take advantage of a small exchange rate by paying directly with your card, we recommend the Revolut card. There are a lot of users in Romania and it is very popular here. In most places you can pay with your card, so a card like this with a very good exchange rate is an advantage to have here.

6. As in any country we recommend you not to exchange money at the airport due to the low exchange rate. Avoid this unless absolutely necessary, there are many places where you can exchange your cash into RON around the center that have a much better conversion rate.

As a final note, for those who come for the first time, we will leave you with a few tips about Romanians:

– they are very welcoming and hospitable,

– they are English speakers, even Spanish or French (this applies especially to the younger population),

– if you meet people who do not speak another foreign language, do not worry, people will do their best to help you, even through non-verbal language,

– if you want to learn a few phrases in Romanian and you are afraid that Romanians will be offended by you if you pronounce it wrong, do not worry, they appreciate this gesture enormously and are proud when a foreigner makes this effort.

These are just a few tips we give to our clients. We hope they are useful to you!

By the way, you absolutely have to try traditional Romanian food, it’s delicious!