All about hosteling in Romania

Romania is the largest of the Balkan states, sitting at the crossroads of Europe, whose nationals are proud of being ‘an island of Latinos’ in a ‘sea of slavs’. The country has seen several empires come and go – Roman, Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian, all leaving their legacy.

Romania has a rich cultural and natural diversity. Its dramatic mountain scenery includes the densely forested Carpathian Mountains, the Danube Delta (the largest wetland in Europe) and 70km (43 miles) of fine white sandy beaches on the Black Sea Coast.

In picturesque valleys and on mountain slopes are many health and winter resorts. Romania’s cultural heritage can be experienced in the Saxon towns of Transylvania, also home to Bran Castle, of Dracula fame, the painted monasteries of Bucovina and the rural village idyll of Maramures.

The capital, Bucharest, earned the nickname ‘Paris of the Balkans’, but it is the stunning medieval city of Sibiu in Transylvania that was crowned European Capital of Culture 2007.

Since the overthrow of Nicolae Ceausescu’s communist dictatorship in 1989, Romania has been working towards the twin goals of gaining admission to NATO, which it joined in 2004, and the European Union, which it achieved in January 2007, behind some of its neighbors.

Geography
Romania is bordered to the north and east by Moldova and Ukraine, the southeast by the Black Sea, the south by Bulgaria, the southwest by Serbia and in the west by Hungary. The country is divided into four geographical areas. Transylvania (a belt of Alpine massifs and forests) and Moldavia compose the northern half of the country, which is divided down the middle by the north-south strip of the Carpathian Mountains. South of the east-west line of the Carpathians lies the flat Danube plain of Wallachia with the capital Bucharest, its border with Bulgaria being defined by the course of the Danube. Romania’s coastline is along the Black Sea, incorporating the port of Constanta and the Danube Delta.