Getting Around Transylvania Without a Car
Trains are excellent between the cities and useless between the villages. Here is what works, route by route.
Trains: good for cities, only cities
Brașov to Sighișoara, Sibiu, Cluj and Bucharest all work well by rail, slowly but comfortably and for very little money. Nothing in this guide is faster by train, but for city-to-city travel it is the sensible choice.
Buses and minibuses: Bran, and not much else
The Bran minibus from Brașov's Autogara 2 runs frequently and costs a few lei. It gets you to Bran and back and nowhere else, and it does not wait while you visit Râșnov. For the castle alone, it is fine.
Where public transport gives up
Viscri, Prejmer's timing, Biertan, the bear sanctuary, the Seven Ladders Canyon, and the entire Transfăgărășan. These are village roads and mountain passes with one bus a day or none at all. This is where either a rental car or a driver becomes the only real option.
Rental car versus private driver
A rental is cheaper on paper and fine on the main roads. Against it: Romanian mountain driving, unlit village roads, parking at Bran in season, and losing a driver from the group for the whole day.
A private car with a driver costs a fixed price for the vehicle rather than per person, so for three or four people the arithmetic closes quickly — and someone else deals with the pass in the rain.
Turn this into a day
Our planner takes the places above, puts them in the right order for the day you choose, checks what is open, and shows the price before you commit to anything.