Car & Van Hire - Timisoara

As Transylvania's capital, Timisoara has enormous tourist appeal. The majority of sights are located in the Cetate neighbourhood or Old Town. Here you'll find Theresa Bastion, an 18th-century fortress now home to Banat's National Museum. The old passages within the fortress have been remodelled to accommodate stores, coffee shops and restaurants. A couple of blocks away is Union Square, flanked by eye-catching Baroque and Art Nouveau buildings, one of them being Timisoara's National Museum of Art. The streets surrounding Union Square offer an abundance of eating and drinking venues serving Romanian and international cuisine.

There are more historical buildings between Liberty Square and Victory Square, which opens onto a pedestrian avenue that leads to the imposing Metropolitan Cathedral. The cathedral is surrounded by a large park that's especially charming in the spring when cherry trees blossom. Beyond the park is Bega River, where you can take a boat tour and see the city's landmarks from a different perspective. This can also be a great outing for visitors with children.

Along the river, you'll find Ion Creanga's Children's Park, popular with local families thanks to its replica of Disney's Sleeping Beauty castle. Another family-friendly option is driving to Banat Village Museum, home to an accurate replica of a traditional Transylvanian village.

Timisoara is one of Romania's top shopping destinations. A short five-minute drive from the city centre is Iulius Mall, the biggest shopping centre in western Romania. The mall is home to more than 450 stores, 12 movie theatres and is often the setting of open-air events like gastronomic fairs and outdoor concerts. The second biggest shopping complex in Timisoara is Shopping City, located 6 kilometres away from the downtown area.

Timisoara is a European capital of culture, which means the city's events calendar is packed year-round. There are always performances at Mihai Eminescu National Theatre, the German State Theatre, the National Opera House and Banat Philarmonic Concert Hall. Other well-known events are the Street FOOD Festival (May-June), Flight Theatre Festival (June), Huniade Castle Medieval Festival (June) JazzX Jazz Music Festival (June-July) and the International Festival of Animation and Theatre for Children (October).

First-time visitors to Romania who plan on driving around are often warned about the poor state of the roads, but this isn't an issue in Timisoara and the surrounding areas, where most roads are on par with those in Western Europe.

The country has an above-average number of roundabouts, which in large cities like Timisoara can be multi-lane. Be especially vigilant when exiting a roundabout, as it's common for local drivers to switch from the inside to the exit lane without signalling.

You should be aware that pedestrian crossings are often placed a couple of metres outside roundabout exits. Although some local drivers can have erratic habits, the majority of Romanian drivers respect pedestrian crossings. If you exit a roundabout and pedestrians are about to cross, always stop and wait for them to do so, even if this slows the flow of traffic behind you.

Not stopping at pedestrian crossings is punished with a 30-day licence suspension. Other driving infractions that incur the same penalty include illegal overtaking, running a red traffic light, and not giving priority to other vehicles as required. Your licence can be suspended for 60 days if the infraction involves not respecting one-way street signs, which are plentiful in Timisoara's Cetate area.

Speed limits are in line with those in other European countries. On motorways, you must not exceed 130 km/h. When driving on all other roads outside of built-up areas, the speed limit is 90 km/h and in built-up areas, it goes down to 50 km/h. Speed limits can be lower on any road category during adverse weather conditions, which in Timisoara and the surrounding areas mostly take the form of dense fog. Fines for speeding can reach €600, in addition to a possible 90-day driving licence suspension.

In addition, Romania has very strict regulations in place to control drunk driving. Penalties range from steep fines to imprisonment for 1 to 5 years.

Although there are no toll roads in Romania, the country uses a vignette system, called rovinieta. This is a pre-paid ticket (not a sticker) that you can buy at petrol stations covering anything from seven days to one year. However, you only need to purchase a rovinieta for cross-county driving. For example, if you've arranged a car or van hire in Timisoara and plan on driving outside of Timis county, a rovinieta will be required. The system is enforced by radar, and the fines for driving without a rovinieta are steep.