Since we live in Romania, planning a vacation here should be easier than planning something abroad, right? Errr, actually, it may be not!

I’ve been traveling by train in Romania since I was a child. I still remember the trip to Sibiu and then to Voineasa, with my parents. And I still remember going to Salonta with my grandparents from mom’s side. And going to Cluj via Alba Iulia on the worst train ever. And, of course, the 18 hours trip to Bacau.

This year (n.a. 2011) I went (with Alex) to Bucharest. Remember our London trip? Yeah, the flight was from Baneasa. Needless to say that aside from costing 400 RON (that’s about 100 euros) for the 2 of us roundtrip, the train was SLOW. And I mean…really slow. 600 km to Bucharest? 11 hours! Yes, I am not kidding.

Now, our travel feet are itching badly so…we decided to go to Busteni, during a weekend (25-26 June, to be exact). So, I went to infofer.ro (Romanian), knowing that there is one Rapid train which stops there and we could also choose to make a stop in Predeal. WRONG! We can’t. We are stuck with the only option: the direct Rapid train and 300 RON for the 2 of us Roundtrip. Awesome! *insert sarcastic eye-roll*

Shouldn’t train travel be affordable and relatively fast? I mean, not only do we spend way too much traveling – thanks to the speeds of 45 km per hour – but we also have to pay a lot for such a slow service. The only difference between a Personal, Accelerat , Rapid Regio and InterCity InterRegio train? You got it! Facilities and …well, Rapid InterRegio and IC trains are clean. Otherwise, they are all just as slow.

I’ve covered the topic of traveling in Eastern Europe before and I still stick to the conclusions: while for the foreigner it’s cheap to travel by train in Romania (Eastern Europe), it is also very frustrating.

Probably the most frustrating thing was trying to find out (online) how much would an Arad to Vienna train ticket cost. Obviously, there wasn’t anywhere to be found online and what I did find (a PDF with prices from Bucharest) turned out to be …too old. Awesome. Likewise for the price to Budapest. So you cannot find the international trains and/or prices on infofer.ro. Delicious! *insert sarcastic eye roll*

As a travel writer I was often faced with having to explain foreigners how slow the train goes here and how frustrating it is to get tickets (and practically impossible to get them online). I know that although my country (Romania) is absolutely gorgeous, the fact that our infrastructure is horrible doesn’t help us at all. And I know that travelers want to come here. And often put up with the horrible traveling conditions and still love the country. Still, living here totally shifts the perspective. I want to be able to enjoy MY country at decent prices and traveling in decent conditions.

Update:

In the past years, CFR (Romanian Railways) has made it possible to book your internal tickets online at Cfrcalatori.ro . You can only buy tickets a month in advance (sigh) and for international trains you still need to go to the agency or buy from the train station. If you want a refund before travel has commenced, it is a long, painful process to do it if you booked online via a card. It is a instant if you paid with cash at the agency or train station.

Having traveled on fast trains in Austria and Italy, when I need to plant myself on a train in Romania, I know I have to be ready with all the tricks possible not to get bored. The 273 km / 170 miles from Arad to Cluj Napoca take 5 hours.

Note: article written in May 2011 and updated in August 2016