Brașov

Currency budget Romania

Pay in lei. Exchange houses on Strada Republicii and around Council Square are competitive and must post their commission; the ones inside hotels are not. Card payment is normal even in mountain guesthouses, and cable cars and castle tickets all take contactless.

ATMs & cards

Bank machines — Banca Transilvania, BCR, BRD, ING — are all over the old town and charge nothing beyond your own bank’s fee. Avoid the Euronet machines clustered around Council Square and the Black Church, and always decline conversion at the screen.

Draw what you need in town before heading up to Poiana Brașov or out to the villages.

Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.

Safety all of Romania

One of the safest towns of its size in Europe, and the old town is calm even late. The genuine risks are outside it: bears are real in the hills around Brașov and around Bran, so do not walk mountain trails at dusk, never leave food out, and do not stop the car for the ones begging on the Transfăgărășan.

Our own assessment, not a sourced index.

Entry & visa Romania visa rules

Health & emergencies all of Romania

Required to enter

No vaccinations are required for entry from Europe or North America.

Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.

Food tip

Transylvanian cooking is heavier and more Central European than the south: bulz, ciorbă de burtă, and pork in most forms. The restaurants on Council Square charge for the view; walk two streets out for the same food at two thirds of the price. In autumn, look for anything with mushrooms — foraged, and everywhere.

Nightlife

A pretty square full of terraces rather than a late scene — this is a town you eat and drink in early, then walk.

• Piața Sfatului — the main square, and its terraces
• Strada Republicii — the pedestrian street off it

Closing: Around midnight midweek, 02:00 at the weekend.

A beer in a bar: 10–15 RON

Getting around

• Walking — the old town is small enough that you will not need anything else within it
• Bus (RATBV) — a few lei a ride, contactless on board; line 20 runs up to Poiana Brașov
• Bolt — cheap and quick, and the practical way to reach the train station or the bear sanctuary
• Tâmpa cable car — two minutes up the mountain that hangs over the square, for the view down onto the roofs
• Airport: Brașov-Ghimbav opened in 2023 with a handful of European routes; most visitors still fly to Bucharest and take the train, which is 2.5 to 3 hours and genuinely scenic

Internet speedall of Romania

Getting online: Airalo or Holafly — a data eSIM for Romania, installed before you fly and working the moment you land.

Source: Ookla Speedtest Global Index · measured June 2026

Must-see

Nearby day trips

Say a few words

Romanian

• HelloBună ziuaBOO-nuh ZEE-wa
• Hi (informal)Salutsa-LOOT
• PleaseVă rogvuh ROG
• Thank youMulțumescmool-tsoo-MESK

A Romance language in a Slavic neighbourhood — with Italian or Spanish you will read the signs long before you can hear the speech. English is widely spoken by anyone under forty and in every hotel; French is more common with older people. The letters ș and ț are "sh" and "ts", and î and â are a sound English does not have, somewhere behind the vowel in "roses".

Religion

Romanian Orthodox

About four in five Romanians are Orthodox, and it is practised rather than nominal — churches are busy on ordinary weekday mornings and people cross themselves passing one from a bus. Visitors are welcome at services: stand, keep quiet, do not walk in front of the icons, and cover shoulders and knees. Easter, not Christmas, is the great feast, and the whole country slows down for it. Transylvania is the exception to all of this, with Catholic, Lutheran and Reformed churches in the same square as the Orthodox one — a legacy of Hungarian and Saxon settlement that the fortified churches still record.

Do's and don'ts

Do

• Take your shoes off when you enter someone’s home — slippers will be offered, and refusing them is the odd move
• Say bună ziua on entering a small shop, and la revedere on the way out
• Accept the țuică poured on arrival, or at least touch the glass to your lips
• Cover shoulders and knees in Orthodox churches, and stand rather than sit if the congregation is standing
• Bring an odd number of flowers if you are invited to dinner — even numbers are for graves

Don't

• Do not use "gypsy" as a synonym for Romanian. Roma are one of the country’s minorities and the conflation is the single fastest way to sour a conversation
• Do not open with Dracula and expect delight — Vlad Țepeș is a national figure here and the vampire is a Victorian novelist’s invention
• Do not photograph during an Orthodox service, or icons where a sign asks you not to
• Do not haggle in shops; markets are the only place where it is normal, and even there gently
• Do not expect the bill to be split to the last leu in company — one person tends to pay and it evens out over a trip