The month of August is when Europe goes on vacation and we took advantage of the beautiful weather and headed to Romania. Hungary is in the center of 7 different countries and I think it’s important to visit them all. On a budget flight to Romania we headed east and saw what the coastline and the Capitol City had to offer.

Romania is a developing country which meant it was great for the budget. The country is slowly rebuilding and it’s going to be awesome to see how the country is going to look in 5 to 10 years.

We landed in Bucharest and took an uber to the train station. With the thought of a short 2 hour train ride to the coastline of Constanca we were quickly stopped in our tracks as the train was sold out. Literally even standing room tickets were also sold out. We were surprised but hey, maybe we should have booked in advance. But this has never happened to us. Yup, with luggage and a baby, we had to come up with a plan b. We ubered back toward the airport and picked up a rental car and finally made our way to Constanta.

Constanta

We booked an airbnb with a water view of the Black Sea. We stayed toward the family area of the peninsula as we knew we weren’t going to be joining the nightlife with a little one. This area was developing and is going to be booming in a few years. There was a ton of new construction but the beaches and bars were packed.

We had a blast. Prices were cheap. We found a breakfast spot that we went to every morning where a full breakfast was about 5 Euros and the service was so great. Rental beach chairs with full service to the bar and restaurant was 10 euros during the week and about 15 euros on the weekend. Beers at this bar were $2 euros and the food was reasonably priced. We had a blast!

Bucharest

We headed back to Bucharest where we also stayed in an airbnb in the city center of old town. While this area has some interesting history, you could really see how the city is developing. With a cool looking hip bar next to a demolished building was the norm in this area. We were able to see the city in a day. Honestly not much to see, but just enough sights to see in a one day.

Bran Castle

On our final day we took a road trip to Bran Castle, home of Dracula. Now there are several castles in Romania which all claim that Dracula spent time there, or lived there, etc. They all claim to be THE Draculas Castle. Who knows or cares? Just cool to be there.

We had a blast at the castle. There were no guided tours or audio guides, just placards in every room… which honestly I hate. In the peak of the tourist season with hundreds of people shoulder to shoulder in a small castle migrating from room to room, makes you pretty claustrophobic and not really all that interested in reading a novel from a placard. We were able to get the jist of it, and thanks to my cute but nerdy husband I got a history lesson about Dracula, the castle and the history of Romania on the road trip up there. So the placards were more of the test to see if my husband gave me accurate information… and he did.

On a side note the drive to Constanta was supposed to be 2 hours, and the drive to Bran castle was slated to also be 2 hours. Both drives took 4. Highly annoying. With traffic due to road construction and holiday traffic and a quick 20 min stop at the gas station to stretch our legs just made the drives long.

Anyway, we had a great time. I can’t wait to go back to Romania and see the transylvania side of the country.

Have you been to Romania? If so, which part? What was your favorite part?