Product Description

Discover Romania & Moldova

Ponder whether Bucharest is the 'Paris of the East' at its own Triumphal Arch.
Roam deserted stretches of sand where the Danube meets the Black Sea.
Find out why the keys to 'Dracula's castle' are held by a New York architect.
Enjoy a tipple at the winery where Russia's President Putin celebrated his 50th birthday.

In This Guide

Two authors, 16 months of in-country research, three car accidents, eight road trips slowed by jaywalking goats.
Fully updated information on Moldovan wineries and Transylvanian castles.
The only guidebook to cover Moldova and its autonomous regions of Transdniestr and Gagauzia.
Content updated daily: visit lonelyplanet.com for up-to-the-minute reviews, updates and traveler suggestions.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #40637 in Books
• Published on: 2007-05-01
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 392 pages

Review
Best for curious and independent-minded travelers' --Wall Street Journal

From the Publisher
Who We Are
At Lonely Planet, we see our job as inspiring and enabling travellers to connect with the world for their own benefit and for the benefit of the world at large.

What We Do
* We offer travellers the world's richest travel advice, informed by the collective wisdom of over 350 Lonely Planet authors living in 37 countries and fluent in 70 languages.
* We are relentless in finding the special, the unique and the different for travellers wherever they are.
* When we update our guidebooks, we check every listing, in person, every time.
* We always offer the trusted filter for those who are curious, open minded and independent.
* We challenge our growing community of travellers; leading debate and discussion about travel and the world.
* We tell it like it is without fear or favor in service of the travellers; not clouded by any other motive.

What We Believe
We believe that travel leads to a deeper cultural understanding and compassion and therefore a better world.

Customer Reviews

Perfect Guide to ROmania
I bought this book in 2007 for my 2008 trip to Romania. I was impressed. I was on this trip with my girlfriend who is a native Romanian and live in Romania. Still, the book showed us stuff she wasn't aware of. And in the cities outside Bucharest the book was really specific and perfect. If you follow what is written in this book, you will enjoy this trip 100% and will be using your time effciently.
I have to admit, this book saved us when we were stuck in Sibiu trying to figure out how to go to the next city. Also is has very accurate maps..

Great Guide to Tricky, Lovely Country
Some of the reviewers here are focusing on tiny problems with what is a changing, tricky country to visit. And missing what is overall a great asset to a trip there. I mean, if you really want to go all the way to Romania to see an excluded copy of a 70s/80s American TV show set, then maybe you really don't need to be traveling all the way to Europe anyway!

I had a great time using this guide through Bucharest, Wallachia and Transylvania. It was all I needed to gauge where to go, where to stay and how to get around. Sure I found a few great restaurants not included here, and disagreed with a review or two, but isn't that the point of traveling on your own?

Does not live up to the LP name! It's decent, but disappointing.
I have exchanged emails with Leif, the book's co-author. While this book is generally useful and the authors have done a decent job, my email exchange with Leif only reinforced my impression that the authors were a little sloppy (and perhaps rushed?) when writing this book.

I have some issues with this book, but to keep this review short, I will highlight my major complaint dealing with cultural relevance. This is a very important topic for any travel guide. Slobozia is a town where a Romanian billionaire built a lifesize replica of the 'Dallas' set, as well as some other crazy stuff like a junior Eiffel Tower. Slobozia was completely overlooked by LP. We only found out the day we left Romania, and were thus disappointed at not being able to visit. When I asked Leif about the oversight, he first stated it wasn't within his region to explore. This is wrong, because Slobozia is in Wallachia (which he was responsible for reviewing) and showed ignorance of the region on his part. He also said it probably wasn't included because it wasn't culturally relevant. This raises an important question: How do the authors decide if something is culturally relevant? The book spends several paragraphs on Borat, Madonna, South Park, and Michael Jackson. Are these more culturally relevant than a junior Eiffel Tower? This question has far-reaching consequences, including food, arts, history, language, and politics. Why does Leif omit Dallas but include Borat?

We expect a travel guide to be sensitive to cultural relevance, not to selectively (and apparently randomly) omit certain cultural elements (no matter how tacky, in the case of Slobozia). My exchange with Leif raised important questions about cultural relevance, and reinforced my already mediocre opinion of this book. As a result, next time I will carefully research travel books rather than merely rely on the LP brand name.