Traveling to Romania by train?

Question

I would like to travel from Budapest Hungary by train to Lucaceni Romania. How long does it take to get to Lucaceni? How can I get there?

Answer 1

Lucaceni is a small village just near the Hungarian border in Satu-Mare county. Is part of Berveni village. It's close to the town named Carei. The nearest train station is Carei. You can take a train (or bus) from Budapest to Oradea (RO) (Nagyvárad in Hungarian), about 5h30min time than a local train to Carei (97 km 1h30min-2h10min).

If you have more questions please contact me. I'm glad to help you, if possible.

You are Hungarian? Do you speak some Hungarian and/or Romanian?

And about Kathy N said: Yes, the local trains may look as described but is not mandatory; it depends a lot from the frequent travellers on the route and usually you use such a train ("tren de persoane" or "Personal") for short journeys between villages/small towns and the nearby city. Faster trains are the "Accelerat" (costs more than the personal but has fewer stops and sometimes better confort) and the "Rapid" (more confort and more expensive). The most comfortable and expensive is the "InterCity".

And about Borat: The scenes were shot in a GIPSY neighbourhood named Glod (Moroieni village, Dâmbovita county) but the surrounding region is touristic and quite rich. It's on the western slope of Bucegi Mountains only 20 km from the well known resort town Sinaia (Peles castle).

Answer 2

Unsure how long it takes, but be ready for the ride of your life. The train is really filthy, the bathroom is sickening, there is no tank on the toilet, and the waste goes right on the tracks. I won’t describe the condition of the sink and toilet cause it’s just nauseating. The windows are so dirty you can barely see out.

Some of the people bring livestock onto the train like small pigs and chickens...it's like a horrible nightmare but can’t wake up for at least 8-10 hours. Don't ever leave your bags cause when you get back you will have none.

Good luck!

PS: The beginning of the Borat movie was filmed in Romania, so just think of the conditions of those roads and homes and that’s Romania in a nutshell.

Answer 3

I've just come back from Romania. Most of the intercity and international trains there have already been replaced by new, clean, air conditioned ones, but they are still very slow. For example an Eurocity train I took from Bucharest to Budapest needed around 11 hours to get there.

As for this particular connection, there are no direct trains to Carei. The best you could do is with two stopovers, just under 7 hours altogether.

EDIT:

My bad, there is one direct connection!

Leaves at 12:15, arrives at 18:30.