Situated in the Southeast Europe, Romania’s natural boundaries are the Danube River in the south, the Prut River in the east, and the Tisa River in the north (for a small section). The country borders Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova in the east and north, Hungary in the west and north-west, Serbia in the south-west and Bulgaria in the south.
SURFACE AREA: 237,502 sq. km (91,725 sq miles)
CAPITAL: Bucharest (2,064,000 inhabitants), situated in the south –east of the country, on the Wallachian Plain, on the banks of the Dambovita and Colentina rivers; first attested in 1459.
LOCAL TIME: GMT+3 hours during summer (from the last Sunday in March until the last Sunday in October) and GMT+2 hours during the rest of the year.
POPULATION: 21,600,000 inhabitants (2005)
ETHNIC GROUPS: 89% are Romanians. The largest minorities are Hungarians and Szeklers (7.5%), and Roma (1.9%).
RELIGIONS: Orthodox Christianity (87% of the population). Other Christian denominations: Roman Catholic (5%), Jewish (0,04%), Protestant (5%).
FORM OF GOVERNMENT: Republic with two legislative bodies: Senate and Chamber of Deputies.
ADMINISTRATIVE UNITS: 41 counties and the capital city of Romania – Bucharest.
OFFICIAL LANGUAGE: Romanian.
NATIONAL FLAG: red, yellow and blue, in vertical bands, with blue next to the flagpole.
NATIONAL CURRENCY: Leu or RON. 1 leu= 100 bani. Bills in circulation: 1, 5, 10, 50, 100 and 500 lei. Coins in circulation: 1, 5, 10 and 50 bani. Currency exchange: at banks and at currency exchange offices, which can be found in hotels, airports and train stations, in supermarkets and on main urban thoroughfares. It is advisable not to exchange money on the black market, in order to avoid being cheated. Credit cards: large hotels, restaurants and supermarkets usually accept American Express, MasterCard, Diner’s Club and Visa. Payments by credit card are becoming more widespread.
OTHER MAJOR CITIES: Timisoara, Iasi, Constanta, Brasov, Cluj – Napoca, Oradea.
CLIMATE: temperate-continental. The average temperature in summer is 22-24 degrees Celsius, but maximum temperatures may even reach 38 degrees Celsius. In the winter, the average temperature is bellow minus 3 degrees Celsius.
TELEPHONE PREFIXES FOR ROMANIA: country code – 0040; Bucharest – 021 (when dialing from outside the capital) or 21 (when dialing from abroad).
EMERGENCY TELEPHONES: 112 (for emergency services anywhere within the country).
TELECOMUNICATIONS
Starting with January 1 st 2003, the telecommunication market is open free competition. In Romania are available two types of mobile telephones systems from the second generation: GSM Vodafone, Orange, Cosmote and CDMA Telemobil/Zapp.
BANKS
In Romania, there are banks with state or private capital, but also international banks, with foreign capital.
TRANSPORTS
By air. TAROM, the Romanian Airlines has as its disposal 17 airports out of which 11 operate in international regime. Internal flights connect Bucharest to the main Romanian cities: Arad, Bacau, Baia- Mare, Caransebes, Constanta, Cluj, Craiova, Iasi, Oradea, Sibiu, Suceava, Satu Mare, Timisoara, Targu Mures, Tulcea.
Bucharest Otopeni is Romania’s main international airport, situated approximately 17 km from down town.
By rail. SNCFR, the Romanian Railways, has a national wide network of 22,637 km. It offers the following facilities:
For exterior traffic: trains or direct wagons for the main European routes; sleeping cars from Bucharest (Northern Railway Station) to the main European cities; berth wagons.
For the internal routes: intercity trains from Bucharest to the country’s main cities, with modern comfortable wagons; high speed trains between the main towns; popular trains for short distances (urban or rural); the Blue Arrow – a high Speed motorailer with a locomotive and two wagons. The train offers 12 seats at the business class and 92 seats at the economic class. The two wagons offer air conditioned facilities and are not separated such as the other trains, berth wagons in six seat compartments.
By ship. Transport is available mainly on the Danube and its tributaries- 1599 km and the two ship-going chanels, Bega and Danube – Black Sea – 91 km.
Danube Delta is only accessible by water, but ships do not operate in winter.
Classic routes: Braila – Galati – Tulcea – Sulina; Tulcea-Sulina; Tulcea – Chilia Veche – Periprava; Tulcea – Sf. Gheorghe Crisan – Mila 23.
Special routes (fast transportation services): Braila – Galati – Tulcea – Sulina; Tulcea – Sulina; Tulcea – Sf. Gheorghe.
By road. The Romanian Roads Network has: 73.160 km public roads; 14,686 km national roads (DN), 114 km highways (Bucharest – Pitesti); 133 km highways (Bucharest – Fetesti); 17 km highways ( Fetesti – Cernavoda).
Legal speeds limits: within localities 50km/h, 100 km/h outside – on European routes, 90 km/h outside – on other routes and 130 km/h on highways.
OFFICIAL HOLIDAYS: 1 December – National Day of Romania; 1 and 2 January – New Year; 1 May – Labor Day; the first and second days of Easter; 25 and 26 December – Christmas.
