Timisoara travel review & recommendations by Father_Son_Cycle

My son and I spent a day and night in / around Timisoara (pronounced Timishoara) on our cycle trip from Ireland to Japan.

After a week in Budapest, Romania seemed very rural and less part of modern Europe, which to us was a benefit. The roads around Timishoara are fairly narrow single lane roads but carry heavy traffic and are seriously pot-holed. For cycling they are quite dangerous. However, the rural sights along these roads and especially the smaller roads (where there are any) are really beautiful. Incredible wildlife on either sides of the road all day long, horses and carts carrying farmers and their families with hay, maize etc who are all pleased if you wave to them.

Timisoara is quite a commercial centre in the area and has a technical college where many young Romanians go. There are a number of large German companies (mainly high-tech manufacturing) who have taken advantage of a willing and educated workforce in the area.

Timisoara is not exactly an attractive city but it is friendly and busy. Much of the social activity centres around the new Shopping Mall, where there is also a swimming pool and sports centre.

There are many Romanian restaurants in the streets serving good traditional food at low prices.  If you feel like splashing out or a taste of home, there are many modern European restaurants and cafes at the Mall. We ate at Pizza Hut which was extremely good with lovely staff and much better than a Pizza Hut in England.

There are numerous hotels at all levels in Timissoara. We actually headed out of town to the riverside / lake resort area to the south and stayed in a delightful hotel (there is only one by the main street) in Csongrad. The lady owner directed us to what calls itself a pizza restaurant but appart from excellent pizzas, offers a wealth of local traditional dishes of high quality and reasonable prices.  Romania also has good beer which is available bottled or on draught everywhere (even on draught in corner shops and street stands).

Prices are still cheap. A 50cl beer will cost around a Euro. Food is very meat oriented and meat stuffed with other meat is typical. Pork stuffed with ham etc. However you can at least console yourself that in Romania most farming is traditional and on a small scale so livestock farming tends to be free-range.

Romanian people are friendly and many speak some English. The Romanian language can be a challenge but is based upon latin languages so is certainly easier than Bugarian or Hungarian.

Since the demise of communism, individualism has caused a poor attitude to the environment and you will unfortunately find rubbish jetisoned from car windows along all roadsides. Hopefully increased tourism will begin to discourage this.

Romania has a pleasant climate but can be hot in summer and cold in the mountains in winter. The mountain areas are very beautiful and afford some spectacular views.

Fishing seems to be very popular as is hunting and I can see this attracting special interest tourists from other European countries.