How much does a trip to Romania cost? Daily budget and prices

Romania sits at the cheaper end of the EU. The figures below are per person per day, assuming two people share a room at mid-range and comfort. Long-distance trains, flights and car hire are not included; add those separately.

Budget travel works on dorm beds or simple guesthouse rooms, the daily lunch menu, market or bakery food and public buses. Mid-range buys a private double in a 3★ hotel or a good guesthouse, restaurant meals and the occasional Bolt ride. Comfort means a 4–5★ hotel or a restored manor, dinners with wine, and days with a hire car or driver-guide.

Prices are easy to read once you know a few anchors. A cappuccino and a beer cost about the same, a daily-menu lunch is the cheapest full meal of the day, and long-distance trains are the best value way to cross the country.

Sights are modest by Western European standards, but castle and monastery tickets vary by season and some are quoted per person with a photo pass on top. Car travel adds fuel plus the rovinieta road vignette, which is bought online or at fuel stations before you use national roads.

Bucharest and Cluj-Napoca carry the highest city prices, and the Black Sea coast in August is the single most expensive week of the Romanian year for accommodation. Outside those, prices drop quickly: a guesthouse in Maramureș or Bucovina, or a village in Transylvania, can cost half a city hotel for a better room.

Season matters more than city for sights. Summer weekends in Brașov and Sibiu fill up and rates climb; spring and autumn are cheaper and quieter. Winter is cheap outside ski resorts, but some rural guesthouses close and mountain roads need care.

Romania is card-friendly in cities: contactless works in chain shops, supermarkets, fuel stations and most restaurants. Cash still matters in villages, at markets, for monastery entry, some parking and small guesthouses. Carry a few hundred lei as a buffer.

Use bank ATMs (BCR, BRD, Banca Transilvania, ING) and decline any conversion offered on screen so your own bank sets the rate. Standalone Euronet-style machines and airport or tourist-street exchange booths usually give worse terms. Tipping is about 10% in restaurants and is normally left in cash even when the bill is paid by card.

The biggest lever is accommodation timing, not small purchases. Travel in May–June or September, skip the coast in August, and base yourself in Brașov or Sibiu rather than moving hotels every night. Trains between the main Transylvanian cities are cheap and remove the need for a car.

Food is where daily savings add up without hurting the trip: eat the meniul zilei at lunch, buy from markets and bakeries for breakfast, and drink local wine and beer rather than imported brands. Many museums and monasteries have modest tickets, so a full day of sights rarely breaks the budget.