Romania
Romania Geography & Climate
Geography
Romania covers about 238,000 square kilometres, and its geography is organised almost symmetrically around the arc of the Carpathian mountains that curves through the country like a question mark.
The Carpathians
The range enters from the north, runs south, then turns west, dividing the country in three. The Fagaras mountains hold the highest peaks — Moldoveanu at 2,544 metres — and are alpine in character, with glacial lakes and ridges that hold snow into summer. The Apuseni to the west are limestone, riddled with caves and gorges.
Transylvania
Inside the arc sits a plateau between four and six hundred metres, rolling and fertile, with the Saxon and Hungarian towns spread across it.
The plains
South of the mountains, the Wallachian plain runs to the Danube, which forms most of the southern border with Bulgaria. East of them, Moldavia rises and falls toward the Prut and the border with Moldova.
The Danube Delta
Where the river reaches the Black Sea it splits into three arms and spreads across some 4,000 square kilometres of channels, reed beds and sandbars — the second-largest delta in Europe, a UNESCO biosphere reserve, and still growing as the river deposits silt.
Forests and wildlife
Around a quarter of the country is forested, including large stands of virgin beech and spruce that are UNESCO-listed, and these hold Europe’s largest populations of brown bear, wolf and lynx outside Russia.
The coast
Some 240 kilometres of Black Sea shore, low and sandy, with resorts south of Constanta.
Climate Patterns
Romania has a temperate continental climate with four sharply distinct seasons and a wide annual range, and the Carpathians divide the country into quite different weather zones.
Summer
July and August average 25 to 30°C on the Wallachian plain and in Bucharest, with heatwaves pushing past 38°C and the southern plain genuinely oppressive. Transylvania, several hundred metres higher and enclosed by mountains, is noticeably cooler and more comfortable. Afternoon thunderstorms are frequent in the hills.
Winter
December to February brings sub-zero averages across most of the country, with the eastern plains exposed to the crivat, a bitter wind off the Russian steppe that drives blizzards and closes roads. Snow lies for weeks in Transylvania and Moldavia. Bucharest is cold, around −5 to 2°C.
The mountains
The high Carpathians hold snow from October into May or June, and the two great mountain roads reflect it: the Transfagarasan is normally open only from late June to the end of October, and the Transalpina similarly. Planning a summer itinerary around either before late June does not work.
Spring and autumn
Short and lovely. May brings the meadow flowers Transylvania is known for; September and October are stable, clear and warm.
Planning around it
The practical upshot is that Romania does not have one season. A June trip gets Transylvania at its best and the high passes still shut; an August trip gets the mountains open and the southern plain at 38°C; a February trip gets snow-lit villages and roads that may not be cleared. Decide which half of the country the trip is really about before picking the month.
The delta and the coast
The Black Sea moderates Dobrogea, giving it the country’s driest weather and mildest winters, and the delta is humid, mosquito-ridden in high summer and best in spring.