We crossed the border from Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria, to Bucharest, Romania, by international train. Our first destination after entering Romania was Sinaia.
Due to train delays, our arrival in Bucharest was delayed, but we decided to take the train all the way to Sinaia on the same leg.
Getting from Bucharest to Sinaia
The distance from Bucharest to Sinaia is approximately 120 km. We crossed the border on an international train from Bulgaria and traveled to Sinaia on the same day after we arrived at Bucharest railway station.
There are train services from Bucharest to Sinaia which is on the mainline, but some trains do not stop in Sinaia.
We arrived at Bucharest North Railway Station at 6:50pm and the next train to Sinaia was at 9:01pm.
Buying a train ticket from Bucharest to Sinaia
Bucharest North railway station was very busy at this time, with long queues at all of the several ticket counters, and after waiting in line for about 15 minutes, it was finally our turn to buy tickets.
The second class seats were reserved by default. The staff at the ticket office understood a little English. Payment was by credit card and cost 48 Romanian Lev per person to Sinaia.
Withdrawing Romanian currency at ATMs in Bucharest
We had less than two hours before departure, so we went to withdraw Romanian local currency from a bank ATM outside the train station. We had just arrived from Bulgaria, had no Romanian money on us at all and was even unable to use the paid toilets at the train station.
Fortunately, there was a CBC bank a 15-minute walk away where we were able to withdraw money. By the way, card skimming seems to be rampant in Romania, so it is safer to use ATMs attached to banks or those in large shopping malls.
We then went to the supermarket diagonally opposite and bought some food.
Back at the station, we booked a hotel in Sinaia online using the free WiFi provided at the station, with VPN on. All that was left was to catch the train.
Boarding the train from Bucharest to Sinaia
Our train departed at 9:01pm and scheduled to arrive in Sinaia at around 10.30pm.
There were several electronic boards at Bucharest North Railway Station that list the departing trains. So we checked the platforms and when we went to the relevant platform, there were already many people waiting for the train to arrive.
About 10 minutes before the scheduled departure time, the train finally entered the platform. We boarded the train according to the carriage number shown on our tickets.
When we actually boarded, the train was more than full and there were a few people standing. It was obvious that the train would be full when we bought the tickets because our seats given were also far apart from each other.
The seats were cloth seats and the legroom was spacious. It was air-conditioned and there was an electrical socket on the wall for charging. The train departed on time.
Arrival in Sinaia
The train arrived at Sinaia railway station at 10:32pm, as scheduled. The moment we stepped onto the platform, we shivered with cold. Because of the higher altitude, the mornings and evenings were already cold.
It was a 19-minute walk to the guesthouse we had booked. A 19-minute walk sounds OK, but this is another hilly town. You have to go up lots of steps. The sun had set and it was dark, but there were street lights and passers-by, so we found the guesthouse without feeling too anxious.
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