r/AskBalkans • u/ImYourGodX Greece • 1d ago
Outdoors/Travel Which one of these routes should i choose?
I want to go from Orestiada to Budapest via Bulgaria and Romania. Which route is better? How are the streets? I cant leave Schengen so Serbia is not an option. I care only about speed and safety. The scenery is not that important
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u/Rare-Ad1223 1d ago
Neither. From Sofia to Budapest the fastest route is through Serbia. Yes it has tolls, but you will be pleased with that route. Source: done it a few months ago
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u/RustCohle_23 Bulgaria 1d ago
depends on how long you are gonna wait at the borders tho
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u/ImYourGodX Greece 1d ago
The best route would be through serbia but because i dont want to exit schengen its not an option. I have gone through north macedonia and serbia many times but this time its not possible.
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u/Pacal_enjoyer3 1d ago
why is that an issue? With a greek ID card you can enter Serbia without any issue
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u/skarra27 Bulgaria 1d ago
Nah, Serbian police are assholes and will fine you for anything
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u/ImYourGodX Greece 11h ago
I once got stopped for speeding outside Belgrade going 220 with german licence plates. Many serbians where going even faster than me but the cop fished only me out. When he saw my greek ID he ripped the ticket to pieces and threw it away
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u/Getoiu Bulgaria 1d ago
F Serbia. I’ll never visit their country again because of their corrupt boarder control. 4-6 hrs wait every time on each side
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u/peasantbanana SFR Yugoslavia 16h ago
Just for the truth's sake - Serbian border control is a lot faster and less rigorous than the EU side. Thank the EES for the long queues.
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u/ImYourGodX Greece 11h ago
Hungarian and North Macedonian border controls are the worst. NMK will always ask for money to let you pass
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u/Odd-Organization-740 Bulgaria 1d ago
Romania has the worst drivers in Europe (except Ukraine probably) and you'll be driving on regular roads, including through the mountains. Good luck. I prefer to wait on the border 😛
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u/notaromanian 1d ago
Out of 700km from the first route only 150 are on national roads, the rest is highways
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u/NucaPuturoasa 1d ago
I've seen a lot of bad drivers in Bulgaria too, they all had Romanian licence plates. I've also see a lot of bad drivers in Bulgarian registered cars...on Romanian roads.
.....shit.
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u/TheOneAllFear 1d ago
There are highways, bucuresti to pitesti and sibiu to timisoara. But i agree with the title of 'worst drivers'. I practice a lot of defensive driving and in 19 years of driving no accidents...so far.
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u/Odd-Organization-740 Bulgaria 1d ago
Lol. If he choses to go the Serbian road, then he will be driving 100% on highways in Bulgaria, Serbia and Hungary. Only if he goes to Romania he has to go off the highway and through the villages.
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u/BVAcupcake 22h ago
The Serbia route is mostly motorway, sure, but claiming it's 100% highways across Bulgaria, Serbia and Hungary is factually wrong. Bulgaria still has a non-motorway section through the Kresna Gorge on the route to Greece. Romania has motorway gaps too, but that doesn't mean you're driving through villages for the entire journey. Compare the actual routes, not just the countries.
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u/BVAcupcake 22h ago
And you're ignoring the border crossing into Serbia and back into the EU at Hungary. You can spend time queuing at those borders, particularly during peak travel periods. Meanwhile, Romania and Bulgaria have been in Schengen since January 2025, so there are no routine internal border checks. Motorway percentage alone doesn't determine which route is faster.
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u/BWC_Python Romania 1d ago
yeah, you re right. But then, not Schengen, so every time I went to Belgrade or elsewherw in Srbia, I had long hours at the customs, also custom guards searching the car and so on..so what you get using serbian highways, you lose on customs.
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u/citronnader 1d ago edited 1d ago
Romania 1st option:
- Giurgiu-Bucharest South (DN5) is a dual carriage national road that goes through small villages. Quality is good and i dont remember seeing traffic jams
- Bucharest South - Curtea de Arges (A0 + A1). Full motorway. Might get crowded. Depending when you'd leave you might find Curtea de Arges - Tigveni motorway opened which will make the road shorter and you will escape the worst road you'd face in your trip in Romania. If you drive a van or a truck you might want to exit at Bascov and use DN7 to Ramnicu Valcea
- a) Curtea de Arges (Tigveni) -Ramnicu Valcea (DN73C). This road was broken due to usage for construction of the nearby motorway. By all means you can drive here but it's not ideal. Also its geometry is worse. Tight curves, narrow lanes, etc. b) Bascov - Ramnicu Valcea (DN7) is good quality wise but crowded with trucks and therefore slow.
- Ramnicu Valcea - Boita. The quality is good but mind the bridges. Also one of the most prone roads to traffic jams in the country. This road might get closed due to nearby motorway construction. Google Maps should be updated so you dont have to dig any deeper for such info.
- Boita-Holdea (A1). Motorway, nothing special
- Holdea-Margina (DN68A). 10 km gap in the highway. Major traffic jams during busy days here. If this is the case exit at Ilia and use DN7 to Arad.
- Margina - Nadlac (A1). Motorway, nothing special
Romania 2nd option:
- I have never been there so i can tell you only from what i heard. It's very crowded with trucks as this is a TEN-T Core (main cargo EU road) and you'll get stuck behind them. Also has some mountain sectors where being stuck behind trucks is worse. Other than speed and countless villages the road is ok
Speed Limits:
- 50 inside towns (or sometimes more but i dont think you'll meet any such towns). This speed limit is hardly obeyed, If you see people actually respect it it means police nearby.
- 90 on any road outside towns but not E-roads
- 100 on E-roads
- 120 on DX roads (of which you wont use any)
- 130 on A-roads (motorways)
- You can break the speed limit by +9 km as there's no sanction for it as far as i know.
Few considerations about Bulgarian roads:
- Their non-motorway roads are much worse than romanian counter parts. Botevgrad-Vidin is under construction afaik and the road quality there is bad.
- Drivers there are way more disciplined + they have working speed cameras.
- In towns they usually have pedestrian crossing with not-so-visible bumps so you have to be prepared.
- Link to BG Quality Road Map
This choice is basically between Hard BG + easy RO vs easy BG + hard RO.
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u/ImYourGodX Greece 1d ago
Thank you for all those information!
What does it depend on if Curtea de Arges - Tigveni motorway is open or closed?
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u/citronnader 1d ago edited 1d ago
its still under construction but its like 95% completed
some news i found: link . I guess you can use translate
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u/HopefulBalance7174 1d ago
if it's open it won't change your trip that much. You'd just have to drive up in tigveni and enter the soon to exist highway sooner than you would in curtea de argeş. you'd get an extra bit of good highway instead of finishing the DN73C road which isn't that good quality. but again, not a huge difference.
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u/Kin00k 22h ago
That's irrelevant, it's only 10 km of highway. The Ramnicu Valcea - Sibiu portion is the only downside of option 1. The road is in good condition, but there are very narrow portions and frequent crashes so you may have bad luck and loose a good couple of hours there. For option 2 you have the same narrow portions between Orsova and Caransebes. Overall, the Romanian part of option 1 has more highways than option 2. Don't know for the Bulgarian part.
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u/drgala Martian 18h ago edited 17h ago
The BG pedestrian bumps are actually takeoff accelerators, for when cars are alowed to fly.
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u/citronnader 17h ago
Some years ago i went to Greece along some other car/driver. I knew about it but they didn't. One passenger in the backseat hit the car roof so hard they started to bleed. Since then i always alarm people about those when im speaking about BG Traffic
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u/TheSamuil Bulgaria 1d ago
I cannot comment on the Romanian part of those routes, but for Bulgaria it is much better to go through Sofia
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u/No-Championship-4632 Bulgaria 20h ago
First route goes through the road of death in Bulgaria - a normal 1x1 road with excessive truck traffic, you gotta be very brave (just like most Romanians who visit Greece every summer, haha).
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u/cristiand90 17h ago
The romanian part from Pitesti to Sibiu is nothing to scoff at either. That road is pretty infamous for deaths and even rocks falling and killing people.
And then there's the constant road blocks/delays where you just sit around for hours.
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u/ImYourGodX Greece 20h ago
Which part is the road of death?
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u/No-Championship-4632 Bulgaria 20h ago
Ruse to Veliko Tarnovo, but I would include the Balkan mountain crossing to that. Actually half the truck traffic is redirected about 70km from Ruse, but the last 70km until the Romanian border can be pure hell. Hopefully some day the highway will be finished, but right now it is ugly.
Also the bridge vicinity looks like an African country after 20 years of civil war. They collect toll taxes to cross the bridge but somehow those money are never spent on maintenance, they end up funding yet another metro stretch in Sofia.
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u/JustSoni 19h ago edited 19h ago
If I were you I would prefer the first route with a slight modification. You could go by Edirne -> Hamzabeyli -> Yambol -> Targovishte -> Ruse
EDIT: Just saw it's from Greece, not Turkiye
Still I would choose this one, but I would take the road to east before Stara zagora towards Sliven and from there Targovishte -> Ruse
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u/centaur98 19h ago
1x1 road with excessive truck traffic, you gotta be very brave
Tbf Romanians are brave because that's the description of like 95% of our roads.
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u/drgala Martian 19h ago
Thig guy hasn't got out of his room since 1940.
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u/centaur98 15h ago
Yeah cuz Romania doesn't have the highest road mortality rate in the whole EU more than Bulgaria and almost 4 time more than Denmark and Sweden and almost twice the European average...oh wait it does. Like take a trip along the Prahova or Olt valley roads and let's see your opinion. Or should we talk about DN2?
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u/drgala Martian 12h ago edited 7h ago
All accidents in Romania happen because of speed, if your apeed is above 0km/h then you are a criminal.
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u/No-Championship-4632 Bulgaria 11h ago
Fuck that, I am tired of listening to that shit from our authorities. Some do happen because of speed and most do happen because of shitty infrastructure.
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u/dpenchev Bulgaria 1d ago
Can't say about Romania, but a single incident in the balkan passes in Bulgaria at the 1st route (and in fall/winter there are incidents almost daily there) is going to cost you hours if not the whole day. I wouldn't travel through there if i can avoid it.
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u/Broad-Anywhere-9224 Romania 1d ago
In November I would choose the Romanian route. Since it's no longer the holiday season, traffic is much lighter, and the scenery is much more beautiful. You can stop over in Bucharest, Sibiu and Timișoara.
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u/Target11_11 1d ago
I actually did the second one exactly this summer going to Dortmund , Germany . In Bulgaria it’s the best option, in Romania it’s a lot of mountain driving but at least you don’t spend an eternity on both Serbian borders - I just hate not being able to move at all. After Arad it’s a smooth nice drive. Also if you have the time, visit : Plovdiv, Sofia, Belogradchick Rocks , Timisoara .
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u/c0sf-fkr Romania 23h ago
Depends. For sightseeing in Romania option 1 is much better. Also quite a bit of that route will be highways so the road should be decent for the most part.
I don't know about Bulgaria.
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u/mors_taetra 1d ago
My experience is from a couple of years ago, so I don't know how relevant it is, but we were travelling Germany - Bulgaria every other month. I prefer the first option, I find it quite smooth though a big part of it is through the mountains. Even in the harshest weeks in winter it was quite nice, but maybe that's just my preference
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u/TheArdeleanul 1d ago
On the Timisoara-Deva portion is a construction site Marginea-Holdea which can generate a lot of loose time, so is better to go through Danube
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u/Vali_Lama 1d ago
I would choose the first option because 75% of the route is highway, and you will travel within Schengen area.
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u/ImYourGodX Greece 1d ago
Both options are Schengen
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u/BWC_Python Romania 1d ago edited 1d ago
no matter which one yoi choose, Bulgaria does not have highways North to South, only West to East. I did this trip countless times from.Bucharest to Greece or Istanbul and the Bulgarian side is what is taking so long to pass as there is no highway only roads that pass cities and villages.
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u/marquizdesade Bulgaria 1d ago
I think you meant the other way round. There is a East-West highway, but not North-South.
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u/Bonzo_Reddit 1d ago
Definetly the first Route. You drive mainly on highways or 2 lane roads, except the section through the mountains. The other option has the goddamn busy road from Orsova to Caransebes and half of it is on 1 lane roads.
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u/gradinka 23h ago
Take the one that goes by Sofia (N2)
the other one is much less highway, thru a mountain pass with HEAVY trucks traffic and so on.
even in that road though,
after the danube bridge (in Romaina), the road is in good condition, BUT a lot of traffic (trucks), small villages, then mountains.
Once you cross the mountain in Romania as well, then all is good, and soo you reach the highway all the way to Budapest.
both are not ideal.
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u/IgorSigvardr 22h ago
I went last year from Sofia to Balaton with a motorcycle and my route was similar to yours second one - through Vidin and Timisoara. Keep in mind Timisoara is a main logistic point and there are a LOT of trucks heading towards and off of it. Otherwise both paths cross a mountain passes in Bulgaria and in winter they could be closed. Keep in mind that.
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u/FarEmergency2444 19h ago edited 19h ago
Just been on both trips (Timișoara to North East Greece). I found the second more beautiful. The mountains and sceneries of Bulgaria.
But it requires you to enter Serbia or take the ferry to cross from Bulgaria to Romania and you depend on the schedule. There might be another bridge there that I don’t know about, to cross close to Craiova and then go by the Danube which has nice scenery. If you’re in a hurry better pick first route.
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u/hopopo SFR Yugoslavia in 19h ago
This one didn't a read anything that OP wrote.
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u/FarEmergency2444 19h ago
Of course I did. He said no-no to Serbia. The other option on that route is the ferry which is pretty bad since you depend on the schedule. Therefore safest is Ruse-Bucharest
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u/BogdanT1999 18h ago
What do you mean? You do not cross into Serbia at any point. You go from Bulgaria to Romania via the bridge at Vidin-Calafat
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u/3lulele3surcele 6h ago
first one. even if Bulgaria side you will drive via a lot of towns and romania has 2 parts where the highway is not finished so you will drive on national road this is just around 2h drive in total. irecon if you eant to make it in 1 go you need 2 drivers. and i do recomend driving at night , trafic is much much lighter. i did Bucharest to Vienna in summer time and even with the roadworks in Hungary i did it in 12h. and the bulgaria route takes around 5-6 hours depending on traffic
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u/RustCohle_23 Bulgaria 1d ago
I have done the second one and it is not bad tbh. Getting from Timisoara to Sofia is not the best but not too bad either.
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u/Rammstein97 🇧🇬🇷🇸Triballian Tsardom🇷🇸🇧🇬(NW Bulgaria/Eastern Serbia) 1d ago
I can't speak for the whole of Bulgaria but if do go to Sofia I think Sofia -> Iskar gorge -> Vratsa -> Oryahovo -> Bechet and so on is the better alternative. Alternatively you can do Oryahovo -> Vidin if the Oryahovo->Bechet ferryboat is not operational(they stop it when the level of the Danube is low).
The highway from Sofia to Botevgrad currently has a tunnel under maintenance and it's pain in the ass at certain rush hours. The Iskar gorge has way lighter traffic, the asphalt is great and there's almost no trucks in it. Of course there's lots of turns and you can't drive fast but on the plus side it's a nice scenic route.
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u/finallyastronaut 1d ago
Sofia-Drobeta Turnu Severin, yes less scenic but you want to avoid Olt Valley in Romania, you can check, there is construction over there.
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u/Suitable-Decision-26 Bulgaria 1d ago
For the Bulgarian stretch, go Vidin --> Sofia --> Plovdiv --> Greece.
Some stretches of the road in the north are subpar, true, but some of it is brand new highway and then from Sofia, onward, all the way to the border you are driving on (relatively) good highway. Driving thrue Ruse makes you cross the old bridge over Danube which is being repaired and also you will to go thrue some roads with a lot of cargo traffic.
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u/consideratefox 1d ago
Nr. 2 seems cheaper, the gas in Romania is 20% more expensive than in Bulgaria
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u/admiralbeaver Romania 1d ago
Option 1 is better on the Romanian side but Option 2 is better for Bulgaria. Each option has more highways for their respective country. Option 2 has the added benefit of crossing the Danube in Vidin which is less congested than the Ruse crossing. Also you would be avoiding and the Olt valley which is a bottleneck. I'm not going to make a definite recommendation because I have never driven on the road from Vidin to Timișoara so I wouldn't know what to expect there other than to guess that it's probably less busy.
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u/Koyutz 1d ago
The second one is the way. The first one, the Olt river valley is super crowded, sometimes it has traffic restrictions. Add to that the possibility of snowfall, the highway missing in Margina, and its several hours of delay guaranteed. The second one has no highway for the majority, but at Lugoj you go on the highway, cross into Hungary at Nadlac, in ~2-3 hours you'll be in Budapest.
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u/PaintAdmirable 1d ago edited 1d ago
if you pick the 2nd option, from Timisoara to Lugoj are 50km of highway. From Lugoj to Drobeta-Turnu Severin you will have heavy traffic and when I say heavy traffic, is it really heavy during the day. From 19:00 till 20:00 you will have a gap when most of the truck drivers are retreating to the parking for break.
From Lugoj to Drobeta-Turnu Severin are only 150km.
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u/v-s-g Bulgaria 1d ago
Going through Bulgaria, I think option 1 will be faster. Once you enter going to Sofia will be straightforward. Then Sofia to Vratsa, big part of the road was renovated end of last year. Next stretch is Vratsa - Montana. Only 10-15km are bad after Vratsa, then a new asphalt from earlier this year.
The last section is Montana - Vidin. A highway is under construction and some parts of it are open. But the sections where they are not are quite traffic heavy and there are loads of trucks not obeying the speed limits. I quite hate this road and avoid it through alternative routes but driving carefully it shouldn’t be an issue. If you want to avoid E79, check the route Montana - Archar and from there to Vidin. This is what I usually drive on when I need to get to the Vidin area.
I live in Montana btw and I’m familiar with the roads around. This is not a bs info.
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u/pdonchev Bulgaria 22h ago
Route 2 is risky in Bulgaria - it goes through a high mountain pass and an incodent tegre may cost you many hours.
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u/fallte1337 20h ago
Route 1 is going to be bad through Bulgaria. Plovdiv - Veliko Turnovo is a slow windy road with heavy traffic and both available mountain passes aren’t great for different reasons. Then you have Veliko Turnovo - Ruse which has average speed zones and is full of kamikaze Romanians. It’s only about 100 kilometers but is fully capable of taking you two hours. I’d avoid it.
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u/drgala Martian 18h ago
Kamikaze Romanians? ROFL x10 😂🤣
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u/fallte1337 15h ago
The second they cross the border all bets are off. They’ll be damned if they don’t kill themselves and their entire family to overtake you on their way to their precious mamaliga. :)
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u/krmarci Hungary 20h ago
If you change your mind, and do want scenery, take this route: https://maps.app.goo.gl/3GPidareRBEuAexLA
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u/FlounderCold 13h ago
Both are equally good. But, if you want slight better road but allot of traffic, chose option 1. Less traffic but not so great roads (or maybe Vidin - Sofia on Bulgarian side got better) choose option 2. You just choose country with most of the highway, and country with mountain passing. If I were you, I would go option 2. I traveled on both options many times.
Just a small change, the road from Vidin - Lom - Montana - Barzia - Sofia was bit better, much less traffic, better roads, better views, but more curvy.
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u/anonymote_in_my_eye 1d ago
when are you traveling?
the first one gives you some of the best views in Romania, but you'd be crossing the mountains at the highest possible altitude, so you might run into trouble over the winter
the second one takes you close to the Danube gorge, which is pretty great too IMO
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u/ImYourGodX Greece 1d ago edited 1d ago
I will be traveling in november so maybe better to take the first route and not risk running into trouble in the mountains
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u/anonymote_in_my_eye 1d ago
you'll probably be fine, you might hit some snow but it's unlikely there's going to be enough to close the roads; late December is when you have to start worrying, iirc
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u/razvanciuy 1d ago edited 1d ago
In Ro, from border to Bucharest is alright, from Bucharest is a bit hectic initially on makeshift highway and slow through the mountains but not as full as in the summer time, it's on low elevation. Also that mountain pass is fantastic. From Sibiu you have a highway and good road to Timisoara or stick to the E86 straight to Arad
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u/Icy-Opportunity-8454 1d ago
Go through Serbia. That time of year there shouldn't be long waiting times at the border and the road is pretty good.
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u/Windhoox Bulgaria 1d ago
The second route is shorter and lesser traffic, but also through lower category roads. The infrastructure of northwestern Bulgaria (no idea on southwestern Romania) are not well developed and construction of a highway is on and off, i.e. TBD.
The first route is heavy traffic passing the Balkans and then the Carpathians. Not an easy one for such a long drive.
I don't know the reason for omitting this option, but Orestiada -> Sofia, Bulgaria -> Belgrade, Serbia -> Budapest is the most convenient for you. It's rough estimate 90% highway, shortens the drive to 11 hours. Serbia are not in EU, nor Schengen, but the border checks (national IDs work) are relatively short. I've been in and out many times and the longest wait was 25-30 mins.
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u/ImYourGodX Greece 1d ago
The best route would be through serbia but because i dont want to exit schengen its not an option. I have gone through north macedonia and serbia many times but this time its not possible.
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u/Windhoox Bulgaria 1d ago
I understand. Then you can try route 2, minimal traffic since it's still commercially undeveloped EU road.
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u/MinimumArt8781 Romania 1d ago edited 1d ago
The second one that is faster. The other route is more scenic but much longer, If you don't mind a few more hours you can take the longer one just for the views
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u/ImYourGodX Greece 1d ago
Thanks! I saw that there is a highway between Bucharest and Timisoara but there is none on the other route. Is that true? Is the road still acceptable to drive on?
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u/adyrip1 Romania 1d ago
The road with highways has a week point in the middle called Olt Valley. It's crowded and there are frequent crashes so there are high chances you will be stuck for hours. Also avoid on Friday or Sundays since it's a big parking lot.
The other route is less crowded but you won't have highways.
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u/MinimumArt8781 Romania 1d ago
True, on the longer route you will drive on some highways, on the shorter one you'll drive through villages and small towns. I dunno, if I were you, since you'll anyway drive for some hours I would take the longer route.
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u/No_Chocolate9486 Transilvania 1d ago
If you choose the first one I would recommend going through Brasov and Ploiesti, or taking the Transfagarasan (if it’s open).
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u/calinwiz 1d ago
Depends. Both have some beautiful views and some pretty nice rest stops. I'd go for the first mostly because I haven't done it in a while, but you're still looking at a long drive either way. Might as well enjoy it.
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u/80percentdead 1d ago
In my experience option 1 is better for Romania, a big part of the road is highway, but it can get quite busy when crossing olt valley, depends on the road work and traffic. Drove option 2 this summer, specifically calafat to Sofia and I can say the scenery is beautiful but also very annoying to drive there, as the area is mountainous and the road is one lane and full of turns and speed restrictions. Bulgaria in general has very annoying speed restrictions, as they keep changing between 40, 50 and 70 km/h. I would try as hard as possible to only drive on the highway in Bulgaria.
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u/ImYourGodX Greece 22h ago
So option 1 is better for romania but option 2 for bulgaria?
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u/80percentdead 21h ago
Yes, from my knowledge. For option 2 you would be driving in the on E70 in romania, which has a speed limit of 50 km/h in towns and villages and 100 outside (which is still better than driving through villages in Bulgaria). Also Vidin-calafat bridge is pretty empty compared to giurgiu-ruse bridge.
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u/painful8th 19h ago
This is only implicitly related to your question, but how does Waze rate these routes, in terms of needed time? Do include the estimated time of trip and weekday if possible (IIRC, Waze takes into account historical data to prioritize routes).
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u/credditz0rz Bulgaria 19h ago
I’ve done the route through Vidin before, highly recommend it, it’s super chill.
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u/Bossusaibelor24 18h ago
As a romanian that lives in Timisoara I can say that the second one is better in regards to the west side of Romania. I did not cycle in the central or east of the country so idk if that is good. In regards to the west side of Romania the second one choses the more quite road than the first.
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u/cristiand90 17h ago
Romania from Pitesti to Sibiu is neither fast nor safe. Pretty infamous road actually.
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u/WasteArrival4107 11h ago
The faster one is much more unpleasant to drive. From Vratsa all the way up to Lugoj, it is a complete nightmare - bad roads and tons of trucks all over the road. The other one is also overloaded with traffic but at least it is a little bit easier to drive.
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u/ComprehensiveDance72 4h ago
I would do Bucharest - Severin - Timisoara and from there on. I preffer it much than the one through Sibiu that you currently have on.
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u/yanislav_st 2h ago
I would recommend the first route but pass through Ruse->Craiova->Timisoara and so forth. You are skipping the main truck routes and just bad overall road conditions.
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u/Prizvolix 1h ago
I can speak for the bulgarian part, you will have a much better time with the second one. You can stop By in vratsa and visit okolchica and some other places around that.
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u/Living-Drink-7858 1d ago
I was traveling about a year ago from Berlin to Alanya (Turkey) and I was stay in Serbia first night. There was not so bad actually. Serbia has a good highways (toll), mostly flat generally, cheap apartments for night. Of course necessary crossing borders but if you are going not in weekend it passes quickly.
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u/NaKaMamessifan 1d ago
The first half of the Romanian road in the second photo is probably the most pot hole infested road in the world. Absolutely hated driving there. (Source: Me, March 26')
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u/FudgeComfortable9120 1d ago
As a romanian,just go on the highway through Serbia till Budapesta,it is much more faster then doing the romanian portions ( in both of them you dont have a highway )
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u/FearDarkn3s 1d ago
There is no safe travel in Bulgaria and Romania. We are topping the list of road casualties per 1M people.
Anyway for Bulgaria all roads are bad. The so called highways are terrible. Option A however will probably get you through Byala - Ruse, which is one of the sections with highest number of incidents.
If it was me I’d probably take option B and just try to avoid the right lane on the motorway.
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u/manu144x Romania 1d ago
I traveled through bulgaria 2 months ago and it was great, 150 km/h constantly, no issues.
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u/FearDarkn3s 21h ago
Yes, because with 150 km/h you are constantly in the left lane, which is fine. Try Trakiya end to end, only right lane with 120/130 km/h as we are supposed to the by law and we’ll speak again.
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u/BWC_Python Romania 1d ago
Why did the Bulgarians not make a highway from N to S? only east to west?
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u/stealthfighter26 Bulgaria 1d ago
Because Sofians only care how to get to the beaches.
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u/BWC_Python Romania 1d ago
but you have highway to Greece from Sofia too
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u/stealthfighter26 Bulgaria 1d ago
Yes. Beaches.
They just started building Ruse-Veliko Tarnovo but that will take ages.
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u/ImYourGodX Greece 1d ago
I have traveled on highways in bulgarian. Its not as bad as you describe
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u/FearDarkn3s 21h ago
I live in Sofia and do pretty much frequent travels on both Hemus and Trakiya. They are both pretty bad besides few new lots.
Maybe I have too high expectations.
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u/Ok_Many_1307 22h ago
If you’re interested in seeing anything interesting in Bulgaria you have to pass through Sofia
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u/Own-Photograph-5121 1d ago
Just avoid serbia i would use the 2nd one parts of it id driven too and its nice .
Serbia is bad Borders with wait tome and corruption , police / border police officers that are corrupt as hell, bad streets full of idiots that drive like maniacs because their daddy is SNS member and and and
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u/NNredE 21h ago
Well, border crossing can take ages in the summer, but in November it will probably take 10m for all. Especially now with EES and having a dedicated ramp for EU citizens. And corruption, driving like maniacs... I've never had any issue at any border. Follow the rules, and no one can force anything on you. Driving through Serbia is 99% highway, if you know how to drive on the highway, there is no maniac who can put you in danger.
I get that OP doesn't want to go through Serbia for his own reasons, but driving 3 hours from Sofia to Vidin and driving 3 hours from Gradina to Belgrade can't be compared.
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u/Cefalopodul Romania 1d ago
If this was summer I would wholeheartedly recommend the first route.