Timisoara Transportation

As the hotel I was staying in was pretty far from the centre or at least was far enough to not go walking, I used taxi to move around. Fortunatly infact Hotel Valentina was at least close to a taxi station and, still fortunatly taxi fares in Timisoara were cheap, from the campus to the city centre which was about 5 minuts trip I used to pay one or two euro depending on the hour.

Timisoara has also a small airport served mainly by low cost companies such as wizzair and carpet air. Specially wizzair has many flights coming to Timisoara from eastern and northern europe.
The airport is about 16 kilometers far from the city centre and it's also used as low cost airport for Belgrade citizens as it's about 200 kilometers far from the serbian capital.

I came from Belgrade overland with a minibus service provided by Gea tours. Actually they are pretty cheap and give a door to door service. The return ticket was 40 euros. The only problem I had with them is that even if they tell you that email is enough to book, it is not and you must go to their office and they do not tell you anything about delates, even if they assure you that the driver will keep in contact with you before picking you up. I needed some international calls as they have no office in Timisoara to understand that they were having 2 hours delate.

Travelled in October 2009 by minibus (they provide a door to door service) from Belgrade. It took 2 hours to reach the border, 20 minutes to clear border controls on both sides and another 40 minutes to reach destination in the centre of Timisoara, a total of 3 hours. But traffic at the border was light.

Total road distance was 160 Km and the cost was 25 Euro one way or 40 Euro return within a month. This company will actually take you to or pick you from the Timisoara airport for that price within the hours they operate. But I believe the pick up must be arranged some time in advance.

See:

http://www.geatours.co.yu/eng/index.htm

The train from Belgrade would have cost 900 Dinar which was about 10 Euro then add 5 euro for taxi fares, assuming honest taxi drivers are used, from hotel to train station and vice versa making a total of around 15 Euro.

There is a bus going from the city centre to the airport it is the E4, express four or express patru in Romanian, and it leaves from near Punti Cardinale which is a roundabout a couple of blocks from the Continental hotel a well known landmark. And what's more the fare to (or from) the airport is a mere 2 Lei or 0.5 Euro. You will probably have to buy the ticket in advance from one of the many RAT kiosks, I am not sure.

However it only runs from around 5 or 6 in the morning until around 10 or 11 in the evening, check the schedule with the Timisoara tourist information office near piaza Victoriei not far from McDonald's. The buses tend to leave according to schedule which can minimise waiting time.

If your flight is far out of those times call or take directly from the street a taxi belonging to a respectable company like for example Radio Taxi or Tudo Taxi and not an independant who may well rip you off. The late night fare to the airport which is around 10 Km away is around 35 to 40 Lei (9 or 10 Euro). Always agree fare in advance to avoid any misunderstandings.

Apparently no taxi driver will accept the use of a taxi meter (in which case the night fare would be in the region of 25 Lei since night rides to outside the city cost typically around 2.0 - 2.5 Lei per Km plus a starting fare of a couple of Lei) on this route but instead they charge the above flat fare. Independent taxi drivers are unlikely to charge less than 20 Euro and very probably a lot more than that. Airport taxi rides during the day should be around 25 Lei.

The city is very old. The traffic in Timisoara is like nothing else you have seen. It sometimes happens that you travel faster by foot than by car. Many streets are narrow, there's not a single parking house in the city. Unless you are used to that kind of traffic, you are likely to scratch or damage your car quite soon after entering the city.

On the other hand, public transportation is cheap and quite good, provided you don't have to travel at the very outskirts of the city. It gets you from one place to another way faster than a car. What's more, taxi is cheap too.

Unfortunately, you won't be able to buy a map of the public transportation, and none is displayed in buses, trams or stations (Timisoara has no subway). However, if you ask ppl on the streets in English, French, German, italian, Hungarian or Serbian, besides Romanian, you are likely to receive a detailed answer. Maybe not from the first bypasser, however.

So my recommendation is not to rent a car or bring your own car if you visit Timisoara.

if you choose to use some public transportation in Timisoara, you have to buy tickets and is possible not to find in every station. Theese are:
- one travel or two for regular transportation and cost 2.4 RON (2 travels). in stations you'll find a programm.
- express tickets (another tipe of bus) different price, just one way ticket.

Timisoaras main railway station is Gara De Nord thet located on the cities north-western part on Regele Ferdinand Boulevard, there are another 3 stations in the city. the station is pretty big but not the most convenience, it is a prety gray Communist Building in a bad and dirty area. To the station coming International, Internal and Regional trains. The station inside is in a little better condition but it is also a bit messy, my advice is that you dont try the WC there. From all the other aspects the station is ok and it is an easy way to get into the city, to get to city Center from the station you just have to go left on Regele Ferdinand Boulevard, you will psas trough the Central park and one of the Universityies Faculty and in the end you will get to Victory square, its not more then 15 minouts walk.