Romania, June 2025
Something completely new. We've never been to Romania before.
Marcellus from Extreme-Tours has planned a tour through Romania for us. Essentially, it goes through Transylvania and Wallachia (Țara Românească).
We start in Timișoara and then make a big loop through the mountains towards the south-east and then back again.
The program includes such great things as the Iron Gate of the Danube at the Serbian border, the Transalpina Road and the Transfăgărășan Road.
The weather is good. The first day is very warm with peak temperatures of around 36 degrees Celsius. The next few days are cooler and we have some rain.
But the many impressions quickly make us forget it.
We experience a country with a lot of tradition, great scenery and nature, very good food and beautiful, bustling cities.
In total, we travel more than 2000 kilometers.
There are many, many storks. Every village has several nests and almost everywhere there are chickens in the nests and the stork parents are out foraging for food.
The speed limit signs seem to be more decorative than anything else. People drive between 70 and 90 km/h through the village. Even the big trucks. Out of town, people tend to drive 110 instead of the permitted 90 km/h.
There are police checks but hardly any interest in us.
The food is very good everywhere and, as expected, Balkan-style (tomatoes, peppers, meat, sheep's cheese).
Almost everyone can speak good English - especially in the larger cities, but there were no language problems in the hotels in the countryside either.
The roads are well developed and in good condition. We once had a bumpy road for about 20 kilometers, which was not full of holes but extremely uneven. But that was the absolute exception.
Houses have pillars and properties have incredibly elaborate fences that must cost a fortune.
It's 1200 kilometers from Berlin.
Gerd and I decide to do it in two stages with the car and the bikes on the trailer. We stop at a nice hotel in Hungary.
In total, we cross four countries: Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. Then we reach Romania and our starting point in Timișoara.
The other five come from Munich and travel in one day. Four in a car and Marcellus with a large trailer and five bikes on it.
The first day of the tour. We travel along the Danube to the Iron Gate, a narrowing of the Danube that makes it somewhat difficult for shipping to navigate the route to the Black Sea.
Before that, we ride through the plains around Timișoara, which are already quite hot. Then the first hills and traces of mining. We also have our first lunch in Romania, which surprises us with local dishes.
Then, as the heat continues to rise, we head to the Danube, which is also the border with Serbia. We see the Iron Gate and the statue of Decebalus before we reach our destination Drobeta Turnu Severin.
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Today we're heading across the mountains. The Transalpina is on the agenda.
This is a 150-kilometre road that winds up to 2,145 meters and offers great views. We see many motorcyclists who, like us, enjoy this great road. We have a very rustic lunch at the top.
On the other hand, the hotel in Sibiu (Hermanstadt) is quite comfortable in the evening and the dinner is delicious. And we get to know Papanasi. This is a Romanian dessert consisting of lard cookies, cream and jam. It tastes very good and is very filling.
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The next highlight.
The Transfăgărășan is around 90 kilometers long and goes up to 2042 meters. It offers magnificent views and is known for the bears that live there.
There is a travel warning from the German Foreign Office “Dangerous encounters with bears”. Hmm. What does that mean and why would bears be interested in motorcyclists?
We were very surprised when the first bear stood in front of us. Right at the side of the road. A great experience and a bit scary at the same time. We saw four bears.
Thanks to this experience, the rain during and after the Transfăgărășan was very minor.
Later, we had a less pleasant experience: the road back to Transylvania and Bran Castle, the alleged home of Count Dracula, was under construction for 40 kilometers. It felt like there was one traffic light per kilometer. It was very tedious to get through.
After this, the ride to Brașov was a very smooth ride. We reached a large, lively and modern city.
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We cross the mountains two more times and then head northwest to Gănești.
After the mountains, we passed through many villages, but after lunch, 150 kilometers of fast, winding and well-developed road with beautiful scenery.
At the end, a heavy but brief downpour.
The other group stops at the fortified church of Saschiz.
The hotel today is in a tiny but very beautiful old manor house.
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Today we continued northwest to Beiuș.
In between, rolling hills, lots of heavy traffic on the major connecting roads, but also great mountain roads.
From midday, we were on the Transursoaia. First crumbly and then quite fast, it went up and down over 68 kilometers between Abrud in the south and Huedin in the north to an altitude of 1300 meters.
The Transursoia ends in Huedin. This is known for its gypsy palaces. These are extremely lavishly decorated large villas of the inhabitants living there.
The hotel in the evening was a bit weird and almost baroque in decoration, but had decent rooms and decent food.
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After a somewhat delayed breakfast, we drive back to Timișoara on fairly fast but winding roads.
The gentle landscape slowly turns back into flat land.
Back at our hotel, we load the bikes onto the trailers.
The next morning we head home. It was a great week with over 2100 kilometers.
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The journey home is long. 1200 kilometers to Berlin.
We set off very early and want to be home by the evening.
But first there's a rescue operation: Marcellus was a bit ahead and we see him waving at the side. He is trying to save a badly lashed motorcycle from falling off the trailer. We help to secure it and then we continue on.
Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Germany to Berlin.
We unload my bike on the Berlin ring motorway. Gerd drives on and I ride the last 30 kilometers home.
It was a great tour.
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