Oradea

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Oradea is one the few undiscovered gems of Romanian tourism. Despite the city being one of the largest and most important in Transylvania, with a high degree of administrative, economic and commercial importance, it is often overlooked by tourists in favor of other Transylvanian cities such as Brasov, Sighisoara or Cluj-Napoca. The city can also act as a pleasant stopover if you are coming to Romania from Hungary, or leaving the country.

	oradea Travel Guide : 1 Understand 2 Get in 2.1 By train 2.2 By bus 2.3 By plane 3 Talk 4 See 5 Do 6 Learn 7 Buy 8 Eat 9 Sleep 10 Stay safe 11 External Links

Understand

The city combines a good location and climate with romantic baroque architecture from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, with a lovely jumble of Romanian and Hungarian cultures. The city was passed back many times between Hungary and Romania, with both these cultures are apparent in the city giving it a special charm and pleasant mix of architecture.

Oradea, situated 8 km from the Hungarian border (and a whopping 650 km by train from the capital of Romania, Bucharest), can even serve as a starting point for a Romanian journey, as it is served by trains coming in from Budapest and other parts of Europe. Many tourists also make a stopover in Oradea before travelling further on to Cluj-Napoca, Brasov or Bucharest. Recently, tourism is booming and people are even considering attributing the name Le Petit Paris (The Little Paris) to it.

Oradea is located in Romania, in the county of Bihor (BH), in Transylvania. The city proper has a population of 206,527 (according to the 2002 census); this does not include areas in the metropolitan area which bring the total urban area population to approximately 220,000. Oradea is one of the most prosperous cities of Romania. The city is on the Crişul Repede river, and has a sizeable Hungarian minority. It is also home to many renowned shoe factories.

Get in

By train

Getting into Oradea is moderately easy, especially from Romania. Most visitors arrive in by train, as Oradea is located at the western extremity of the Romanian train network. If you're travelling from Bucharest, there are two or three trains per day, one of which is a very comfortable yet fairly inexpensive night train, especially if you decide to travel in a refurbished first-class sleeper. Make sure that you take your tickets well in advance if you intend to travel by the first-class sleeper cars because the tickets sell out quickly.

The journey from Bucharest is a 10-hour, 650 km trip across Romania. Getting to Oradea from other parts of Transylvania is a lot easier and quicker - there are now fast InterCity (IC) connections with brand-new trains from Germany to Cluj-Napoca, Arad and Timisoara. Besides these, there are fast trains that link Oradea at least once daily with nearly every major city in Romania.

If Oradea is your entry point to Romania, and you are coming from Hungary or Central Europe, connections are scarcer. There are three trains per day from Budapest to Oradea (some of which continue onwards to Brasov and Cluj-Napoca). Two of these trains are early in the morning, and one leaves Budapest in the afternoon and arrives in Oradea in the late evening, after about six hours.

Even though this method is fairly accessible, due to the fact that Budapest is a railway hub, the trains, provided by the Hungarian railways, are seldom comfortable. The wooden wallpaper decor of the train compartments is tasteless, and the red plush seats are soft, low and uncomfortable. This isn't aided by the lack of light and cleanliness of the train, even in first class.

If you do travel from Hungary to Oradea by train, make a booking or board a Romanian train or carriage, as these are nowadays of a much higher standard. Romanian carriages are colored in blue or red and have the acronym CFR written on the side (CFR is the Romanian State Railways).

If you want to visit Oradea from any other place, it is best to get to Bucharest (or, if you can easily, even Cluj-Napoca or Timisoara) and then travel to Oradea by train.

For a good domestic trip finder see Romanian Railways (http://www.cfr.ro/default_engleza.htm).

For an international pan-European trip finder try Deutsche Bahn European Timetable (http://bahn.hafas.de/english.html).

By bus

Intercity bus and coach services running through Oradea are strongly on the increase, and most of the residents see them as a welcome departure from what they see are slow, uncomfortable trains. This is due to the fact that intercity coach travel is very much a novelty in a country where trains and aeroplanes have been the primary form of public transportation for decades. Even today, train is by far the recommended way, being much more comfortable and increasingly modern and luxurious.

Bus services are private, and are either run by large cross-European companies such as Eurolines or small Romanian or Hungarian companies which operate coaches between, say, Oradea and Budapest.

By plane

Oradea's closest large international airport is Budapest's Ferihegy, which serves flights from all corners of Europe. See above for information on train connections to Oradea. Cluj-Napoca is another option for most flights from elsewhere in Europe.

Oradea also has a fairly small but increasingly busy international airport. This airport has TAROM (http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarom) flights from Bucharest twice daily, as well as flights to Satu Mare and other provincial cities. These flights are average in terms of comfort, but are fairly expensive, and are not worth the money. There are international flights by private Romanian carrier Carpatair to places such as Ancona, Venice, Padova, Rome, Milan, Munich and Stuttgart, which are useful if you come from these places.

mumu! :)))

Talk

Oradea is a bilingual city, most residents speak both Romanian and Hungarian. If you speak either of these two languages, you are bound to get along well. The official language of the city is Romanian, and it is Romanian you will encounter most frequently. Despite all the Romanisation efforts of the communism era, Hungarian influences are still apparent in the bilingual shop signs or speakers to be found.

Oradeans also tend to be fairly good at foreign languages - English, French and German are taught in all high schools and have been for a fairly long time, so even older speakers will know how to speak one of these languages. This especially applies to German, which many people will speak with great enthusiasm. Romanians are generally tolerant of foreign languages and love tourists, so, in the vast majority of cases you haven't got anything to lose by speaking French, German or English, or even Italian, in Oradea.

English is becoming increasingly popular, and it is spoken fairly fluently by the younger generation, and by many of the middle-aged people. In supermarkets or shops, you can confidently speak in English, especially if the staff members are fairly young. However, it is always good to know a few words in Romanian, because not only will the locals appreciate you for it, but you will understand much more.

See

• Muzeul Ţării Crişurilor (Museum of the Crisul Country) - the finest museum in the "Crisul Country" (also known as Crişana) is located in the wonderful Baroque Palace of Oradea.

Do

Activities - Pestera Ursilor, Baile Felix health spas, etc.

Learn

Oradea University, located near the center of the city, is one of the largest in Eastern Europe. It has 15 faculties, two research centers in medicine and geothermal science, and around 19,000 students and 2,000 staff. It is a center of excellence in literature, as well as in medicine and sciences.

Oradea is an increasingly emerging English-language university, and there are good packages for foreign students. Studying in Oradea enables you to get a European education and life experience with costs that are a lot lower.

Buy

Souvenir shopping, food shopping.

Eat

Dining in Oradea is usually a pleasure, provided you know where to eat. Most restaurants serve Romanian cuisine, which is similar to other continental cuisine. There are also some restaurants serving Hungarian cuisine. Additionally, some Chinese and Middle Eastern restaurants have opened, and even though they are good, it's best if you eat Romanian food in Oradea because this is what you won't find anywhere else.

Sleep

Hotels in Oradea range from modern and gleaming structures with all the amenities to cosy, wonderful and very elegant pensions to old, charming but somewhat uncomfortable hostels. Prices of hotels tend to be fixed, so its not much use haggling. Note that prices are increasingly being quoted in euro, not Romanian lei (the local currency), and euro is accepted in most places. Hotels in Oradea are cheaper than in Western Europe, but not by an overly significant margin.

As Oradea city center is not that large, anywhere is OK to stay. In the "satellite quarters" of Oradea there are rarely hotels, except in the Nufărul quarter, where it's not worth staying. Try finding accommodation in the city, near Str. Republicii or the Town Hall, or near Bd. Magheru and the Civic Center. Both places are just as good, even though the you will find Str. Republicii accommodation to be probably more desirable, due to the abundance of shopping, dining and partying facilities on the street, which is the liveliest in Oradea. These accommodations are also noisier.

• Hotel Atlantic, Str. Iosif Vulcan 9, (+40 259) 426 911 (office@wpg.ro (mailto:office@wpg.ro), Fax: (+40 259) 410 788, Mobile: (+40) 740 489 557). Open 7 Days. A four-star hotel located in a quiet area of Oradea, Atlantic is both very modern yet very cosy, and best of all, surprisingly affordable. The hotel is going through renovation, and it has two types of rooms - rustic ones and modern ones, the rustic ones being just that bit more charming. The hotel is also home to a quality restaurant, as well as a panoramic terrace on top where you can enjoy breakfast seeing the whole city of Oradea. The hotel has air conditioning and minibar in every room, as well as good room service, doors that close with magnetic cards, video security all night, parking, spa, color TV and phone in every room as well as an in-room safe. In short, Atlantic doesn't break the bank, yet, for outstanding value, offers a great range of facilities and comfort which really make this offering shine. $40-$80 (Singles: 35 euro; Doubles: 45 euro; Suites: 70 euro) www.wpg.ro/atlantic
• Hotel Dacia Continental, Aleea Ştrandului, (+40 259) 418 656. Dacia Continental is the largest and most important hotel in Oradea, situated in between the civic center and the aquatic center in a very nice, yet somewhat distant area from the cultural heart of the city. It has 168 rooms. Prices have hiked up since the hotel has changed ownership and has been renovated into a multi-story, gleaming building with state-of-the-art conference rooms, multiple bars, swimming pools and more. The rooms are very clean, and large, but other than that, the hotel is just like a normal four-star hotel - it has all the facilities you need, it's very, very comfortable, but lacks that charming nature of smaller hotels. Today, the hotel is mainly frequented by business professionals from Bucharest and all over Europe, as well as people taking part in conferences. Benefits of staying at Dacia include a large, secure parking space and thermal spa treatment, even though the hotel is officially 3-star (it is a lot more luxurious than that rating, but also more expensive than the stars suggest). $55-$71+ (Singles: 49 euro; Doubles: 62 euro, Apartments much more expensive)www.tourneo.ro/pagini/continental/oradea.php

Stay safe

In terms of major problems and on a Romanian scale, Oradea is fairly safe. On a Western European scale, the city is even safer. In fact, you will rarely find problems with organised crime against tourists, or more serious offences. What you will find more abundantly, unfortunately are petty scams or thefts. Keep an eye for beggars, who beg for money and may attempt to distract you while your wallet or watch are snatched.

Concerning tricks and scams, these tend to occur more regularly in Oradea. When exchanging money, don't do so on the black market, as these people generally rip you off. Try to stay away from people selling souvenirs or products at the railway station. These usually aren't of quality and aren't worth buying. Also, when taking a taxi, make sure the taxi is certified.

External Links

• Oradea Municipality Website (in Romanian) (http://www.oradea.ro/)
• About Oradea in English (http://www.oradea.ro/index.php?cat=bDespre%20Oradea&calea=fAbout%20Oradea)

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