Loading destination…
Romania eSIM
7 data plans · from £4.10 · instant QR code by email
Choose your plan
Travelling as a group? Buy everyone an eSIM in one checkout and the discount is applied automatically — no code needed. See group pricing
7 data plans · from £4.10 · instant QR code by email
Travelling as a group? Buy everyone an eSIM in one checkout and the discount is applied automatically — no code needed. See group pricing
Connects automatically to the strongest signal across Vodafone, Orange.
Setup
It takes about a minute. Tap the install link we email you, leave the line switched off, then switch it on when you land — and you're online.
On iPhone (iOS)
On Android
Romania: 9 plans, from 3 to 50 GB. Validity runs from 1 day to 180 days. 9 of them run on 5G where the local network has it.
6 plans can be topped up without installing a second eSIM. Plans run on Vodafone, Orange.
Counted from our live catalogue, not a marketing figure — the plan list above this section is the same data.
No regional bundle includes Romania cover — a single-country plan is the only option here, and it is usually the cheaper one anyway.
A Romania travel eSIM is a digital SIM that downloads straight to your phone — no plastic card, no queuing at an airport counter. You buy online, tap the install link we email you (the QR code is in there too), and your phone adds a second line alongside your normal SIM. It stays dormant until your trip begins, then connects automatically to Vodafone, Orange on 5G where available, LTE everywhere else. Your normal number carries on working for calls and texts while the eSIM handles the data.
Maps, messaging and taxi apps use very little data — roughly 300–500 MB a day. If you add photos, social media and the occasional video, expect to use closer to 1 GB a day. For a one-week trip, a 5 GB plan is usually plenty; for two weeks, tethering, or heavy use, opt for 10 GB or more, or choose a top-up plan you can reload as you go. Romania plans start at £4.10 across 7 sizes, with the per-GB price clearly shown so you can easily spot the best value.
Yes. A Romania travel eSIM is a local data plan rather than international roaming — you pay the price you saw online, and there are no per-megabyte charges from your home network provider. Set the eSIM as your mobile data line, switch data roaming off on your normal SIM, and nothing unexpected turns up on your next bill. Full refund at any time before installation, so buying ahead costs you nothing.
Sarmale
Minced pork and rice rolled in soured cabbage or vine leaves and simmered for hours, served with mămăligă and sour cream. The dish every family cooks at Christmas and Easter.
Any restaurant billing itself as a crama or han; better still at a guesthouse in Maramureș or Bucovina.
Mămăligă
Cornmeal polenta, eaten as a side with almost everything or as a dish in its own right with sheep's cheese, sour cream and a fried egg.
Mountain guesthouses and traditional restaurants nationwide.
Mici
Skinless grilled rolls of minced beef, lamb and pork with garlic and bicarbonate, which gives them their springy texture. Ordered by the piece with mustard and bread.
Street grills, beer gardens and any summer festival. Bucharest's Obor market is the classic address.
Ciorbă de burtă
Sour tripe soup, thickened with egg and cream and soured with borș, a liquid fermented from wheat bran. Sharp, garlicky and a well-known hangover cure.
Traditional restaurants and workers' canteens everywhere.
Ciorbă de perișoare
The same sour broth with pork meatballs and vegetables. The easier introduction to Romanian sour soups if tripe is a step too far.
Nationwide; a standard lunch first course.
Papanași
Fried rings of sweetened curd cheese dough topped with sour cream and sour cherry jam, with a small dough ball perched on top. Usually large enough to share.
Almost every restaurant menu; the dessert Romanians recommend to visitors first.
Zacuscă
A spread of roasted aubergine and red pepper cooked down with onion and tomato, jarred in autumn in enormous quantities and eaten on bread all winter.
Markets and rural guesthouses. Homemade is a different thing from the supermarket version.
Cozonac
A sweet enriched yeast loaf rolled with ground walnuts, cocoa or Turkish delight, baked for Easter and Christmas and increasingly sold year-round.
Bakeries; the good ones are dense with filling rather than mostly bread.
Pastramă de oaie
Mutton cured with garlic and thyme then smoked or grilled. An autumn dish, traditionally eaten with must, the cloudy new grape juice of the season.
Autumn markets and traditional restaurants, particularly in Transylvania and Dobrogea.
Țuică and pălincă
Plum spirit. Țuică is the milder single-distilled version; pălincă from Transylvania and Maramureș is distilled twice and considerably stronger. Offered on arrival, not after dinner.
Rural guesthouses, where the homemade version is the point.
Palace of the ParliamentBucharest
Ceaușescu's monumental government building, among the largest and heaviest administrative buildings anywhere. Entry is by guided tour only and you must bring the passport or ID you booked with.
2 hours · book ahead
Brașov old town and the Black ChurchBrașov
A Saxon town square ringed by merchant houses beneath Tâmpa hill, with a Gothic hall church that took its name from a seventeenth-century fire and holds a large collection of Anatolian carpets.
a day
Bran CastleBran
Sold as Dracula's castle, though the connection to Vlad III is thin. The building itself and its later use by Queen Marie are the real interest, and it is busiest in the middle of the day.
half a day
Peleș CastleSinaia
The late nineteenth-century summer residence of Romania's first king, in a Neo-Renaissance style with heavily carved interiors. Queues form in summer and there is a separate charge to photograph inside.
half a day
Sighișoara citadelSighișoara
A medieval Saxon citadel that is still lived in rather than preserved as a museum, with a clock tower, guild towers and a covered stair up to the hilltop church.
a day
Painted monasteries of BucovinaSuceava county
Sixteenth-century monasteries with biblical scenes frescoed across their exterior walls. Voroneț, Sucevița, Moldovița and Humor are the usual circuit and are spread across a wide area.
two days
TransfăgărășanFăgăraș mountains
A high mountain road built across the Făgăraș range, climbing to Bâlea Lake. The upper section is closed by snow for most of the year and typically opens only for the summer months.
a day
Merry CemeterySăpânța, Maramureș
Carved and painted blue grave markers, each with a verse epitaph about the person buried beneath, frequently blunt and often funny. Nothing else in the country looks like it.
2 hours
Danube DeltaTulcea
Europe's largest remaining river delta, a maze of reed channels and lakes reached by boat from Tulcea. Serious birdlife, and villages like Sfântu Gheorghe with no road access.
two days · book ahead
Turda Salt MineTurda
A worked-out salt mine fitted out with a Ferris wheel, a boating lake and an amphitheatre far below ground. Cold year-round, so bring a layer even in August.
half a day
Train
CFR Călători runs an extensive but slow network. InterRegio services are the faster ones and worth the small supplement; Regio trains stop everywhere. Bucharest to Brașov is the scenic route most visitors take.
low
Intercity minibus and coach
Private operators run from the autogară in each town, often faster than the train on routes like Bucharest to Constanța. Timetables are best checked on the aggregator sites rather than at the station.
low
Bucharest metro
Metrorex runs several lines under the city and accepts contactless bank cards at the gates as well as its own card. Surface trams and buses are run separately by STB with their own ticketing.
very low
Car hire
The only realistic way to reach Maramureș, the Bucovina monasteries and the Transfăgărășan. A rovinietă road vignette is required on national roads and is bought online or at petrol stations. Rural road quality varies sharply.
moderate, plus the vignette
Ride-hailing and taxi
Bolt and Uber both operate in the larger cities and are the simplest option. Street taxis must display their per-kilometre rate on the door; check it before getting in, particularly around stations and airports.
low
Ride-hailing
Bolt, Uber
Both work well in Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, Timișoara, Brașov and Iași. Coverage thins in smaller towns, where you fall back on taxi ranks or having a guesthouse call one.
Paying for things
Basics
| Union Day | 24 January | Marks the 1859 unification of the principalities. Public offices close; events in Iași and Bucharest. |
| Orthodox Easter | Good Friday, Sunday and Monday, moving each year and usually later than western Easter | The largest holiday of the year. Cities empty, villages fill, and intercity transport is heavily booked in both directions. |
| Labour Day | 1 May | The traditional start of the Black Sea season; the coast around Mamaia and Vama Veche is packed. |
| Children's Day | 1 June | A public holiday. Parks and family attractions are busy. |
| Pentecost | the Sunday and Monday 50 days after Orthodox Easter | Two-day holiday, known as Rusalii. Monastery pilgrimages draw crowds. |
| Assumption | 15 August | Peak summer holiday; monasteries and the coast are at their busiest. |
| Saint Andrew's Day | 30 November | Falls the day before the national day, usually producing a long weekend of domestic travel. |
| Great Union Day | 1 December | The national day, with a military parade in Bucharest and large gatherings at Alba Iulia. Roads into both are congested. |
Recurring dates — the day these fall on moves year to year.