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If you're going to go hiking, do be aware, there are bears here. Literally, the bears come down looking for food. Hey there, fellow travelers. Mark here with Wolters World, and today we're in Bucharest, Romania, and today I want to talk about are some of the scams, tourist traps, and safety issues you might want to be aware of when you're coming here to Romania. And to start off with, I know a lot of people are like, "I don't know. Can I visit Romania? Is it safe to visit Romania?" Yes, it is totally safe to visit Romania. It's actually my first don't of coming to Romania is don't think you're not going to be safe when you're here because honestly, they have a very low violent
crime rate. You have really wonderful people that are helping you out. It is actually a very safe place to visit even though people don't know much about Romania, so they get kind of worried about it. So, I want to take that off your plate right there. You don't really have to worry about your safety when you're here. Now, of course, you have to do your usual, you know, travel safety kind of things. Use the safe in your hotel to put your passport away, you know, and make sure you have your wallet in your front pocket in your very busy place where lots of tourists are, just like anywhere in the world. But, I'll be honest with you, I felt safer here in Romania than I have in Germany or France
or Spain when it comes to like pickpockets and all those kind of things. So, that's one of the good things. So, I want to get that uh help you calm down and know you don't have to worry about Dracula sucking your blood when you're here, and it's super safe. But, uh but I'll be honest with you, there's like one kind of tourist trap thing I do want you to be aware of, and that is the overabundance of Dracula and Vlad Țepeș souvenirs and how the closer you are to like Sighișoara where he's from or Bran Castle, you know, Dracula's Castle, they're probably going to charge you a bit more for those souvenirs you want to get when you're there. So, just be aware, it might be a little overpriced at your Bran Castle if you're
going to get your eats and your snacks and your souvenirs of Romania when you are there. But, in all honesty, Romania is actually a very affordable place, so even if you're getting kind of the tourist trappy prices for some of your souvenirs cuz you will want to get some of the Dracula and some of the Vlad Țepeș souvenirs cuz you're going to see these things so much, it really isn't going to bust your budget, so it's okay. Aside from overpriced Dracula souvenirs, I think the one really actually tourist scam you need to watch out for. This is something that all the Romanians, literally every Romanian we've talked to, that's the first thing they'll tell
us if we ask, "Hey, what should I know about Romania? What is like an unwritten rule of Romania? What should we really know?" They all said, the first thing said, "Don't take a taxi off the street because they know you're not from here and they're going to take advantage of you." This is not me saying this. This is multiple locals saying this. So, what you want to do is you want to get an app like, you know, Bolt is a big app here that we've been using and get your taxis that way. Or get an app from one of the taxi companies cuz you can just call it up, have it on your phone, you don't have to call. You can just use the app and have it, it'll pick you up, drop you off. You already know the price you're going to
pay. And like with Bolt, you can say if you want to pay via the app or you can pay them in cash. So, you can just do it that way, too. And that's the thing is what you'll notice is the taxis actually already might have a Bolt logo on the side. Even if you see the Bolt logo on the side, it's still a good idea just to order with the app, wait a few minutes, and you'll be fine, okay? Those things, even the locals, that's what they do all the time. So, that's one of the big ones I wanted you to kind of know about. Now, another little tourist trappy, scammy kind of thing. Um one thing I would say is make sure when you get your bill, you check your bill to make sure everything you ordered is on there because
sometimes an extra drink might pop on or maybe the wrong beer is listed that might be a bit more. Now, I won't lie to you, this has gotten way better last few years, like the last 10 years or so, those kind of like little scammy things at restaurants has come down a lot. So, that's really cool. But, I would say it's a good idea to like, you know, just take a look at it. Also, uh don't forget you do tip here and you can just tell them, "Hey, put on 10% or just like 10 to 15%." And you just tell them they'll put it on when you do your credit card, so it's no big deal, but you tell them when they're there.
Otherwise, you need to give them the lay, the cash for the tip directly in their hands, okay? Um but in general, I've found the service here being very good, so I'm not really worried about getting ripped off, so that's very nice. And the people are very friendly, so they're helping tourists if they're in a situation. So, that is really kind of cool. And when you go around Romania, especially in tourist areas, I want to let you know, not everyone has benefited from the economic boom and the European Union funds and all these kind of things. So, you probably will have someone come up, you know, sometime maybe in Braşov, sitting outside of a meal. You might have a little kid coming
up to beg for you, an older lady begging for you. So, just be aware that it is something that does come up and it's up to you. Like, we like we were having our food, people came by, we just here, take the food, so they had that. But, it's up to you cuz I know some people like, don't do that, some people do that. But, it is up to you. I know the government recommends you do not help them out, but it's up to you for that. But, I just want you to be aware of it and they're not usually like the like, hey, give me some kind. It's like, hey, do you're going to eat that? Hey, you got a little money for me? And it's just kind of like the very passive like kind of begging kind of thing, not the really
active in your face kind of stuff that kind of gets you scared like you have in other places like in Chicago like, give me a dollar. You don't have that when you're here. And speaking of money, I think another thing is really important is exchange houses. So, if you're going to be getting money here, I mean, you definitely want to look around and look at the exchange rates, but also look at the commissions that they're going to charge because that's one of the ways that sometimes they trick you into exchanging money there to get the lei, the local currency. And then you end up getting a uh you know, a huge commission and you kind of lose out. So, what I recommend you do is just go to
one of the banks, okay? Go to the banks and go to one of their ATMs and take out money there and make sure you do not fall for the biggest most [clears throat] frustrating scammy kind of thing out there and that is the conversion because you're like, oh, lei, I don't know what lei is. Um I'll I'll just take it out for dollars and I'll do it that way. Look, some of the companies that do that is private companies, public or whatever, they charge such a bad exchange rate that you might be losing 10 or 15% if you take the conversion So, when it offers you to pay, do you want to pay in dollars, you want to pay in lei? Pay in lei and let your home bank, let them deal with that, okay? Because that's going to give
you a much better rate, okay? Now, other things I wanted to talk about when you're here. Pickpocketing does occur, especially if you're in Bucharest with a lot of people around and you're going to see the sights. Braşov, it's not it's not unheard of, but it's like very rare when you have it here, but that is one of the things I always recommend, keep your wallet in your front pocket. If you want to use your money belt, you're okay like that. But, in general, your fear of pickpocketing in Romania is significantly less than places like France or Germany. And of course, just like any place where tourists goes, you do have the usual touristy trappy kind of things, you know, it's going to cost you more to eat on the square than off
the square. Um you know, if anybody's playing the three-card monte or any of these things, you're not going to win those, so just be aware of the usual touristy trappy kind of things because more and more tourists actually are coming to Romania. Now, you don't have to worry about the over-tourism like onslaught of people, which is nice cuz it makes it easier to meet the people here. Also, it's a little bit easier to like keep track of where you're going and where you're at, so you feel a bit safer, too, which is really nice. Now, if we go into like just general safety kind of things, I want to talk about one is driving here, which you have to realize is Romania doesn't have a lot of
like four-lane highways. There's a lot of two and one lanes or one and one like two-lane highways or three-lane highways, and people will pass very, very quickly, and there's like a whole thing with how to know when you should pass, when you don't pass cuz people like the trucks will signal people and it and it can be very dangerous. Like we almost got killed in a head-on a collision 2 days ago. I mean, it's it can be scary sometimes. You're like, "Oh my goodness." And just like any big city like here in Bucharest, the traffic can be a bit crazy, so I do want you to be very careful when you be driving around here because also you have a lot of these winding roads. You go to the
Carpathian Mountains and stuff, and it's windy, windy, windy, and sometimes it's a lot of switchbacks. So, if you do have, you know, motion sickness, have a barf bag, but also have maybe have some Dramamine to help you with that if you're going to be taking a ride cuz we do have some people get a little nauseous when we were driving around. Also, when you are going around, you can do hikes here. You can ski there's beautiful here, but if you're going to go hiking, especially if you're like by Braşov, you know, up in that area, um do be aware, there are bears here. Yes, there's even a bear sanctuary here. You can you just make an appointment, you can actually go see the bears. But
sometimes on the outskirts of Braşov, literally the bears come down looking for food. And so, that is one of those things you need to be careful you're going to go hikes. Make sure you let people know you're going to go on a hike, but also stay on the marked paths just like anywhere because that's going to help you be a little bit safer, but don't be surprised if there is a bear that comes by or, you know, there's there are wolves here and there are deer here. You can see those two, but do be aware of that cuz the wildlife, it's wild. It is not something you're going to feed. You mean, it's like, "Ooh, bear, let me give it some of my lovely tripe soup." No, no, no, no. No, don't
do that. Oh, there's another safety thing, the tripe soup. Not my jam. Um no, but that but the bear thing is a serious thing when you're like in the mountains and stuff, so do be aware of that. Now, back in the day, I'm sure if you look online, people talk about stray dogs and stuff. The stray dog issue that was here in Bucharest, you know, 20 years ago for 10 years ago, doesn't exist anymore. I mean, maybe you'll see a stray dog, but like nothing really big. So, that's not really a worry anymore. I saw that a lot online. I want to kind of dispel that one as well. And that's the thing, coming to Romania, like the first time I came to Romania was over 20 years ago and I would tell you, the changes it's
had in terms of better service, safer environment, you know, the rip-offs and scams have really kind of gone away when you're here. It is a really safe place to go. And the thing is I want to tell you, it's also very good family-friendly place to visit so you feel safe coming here with your family, too. And the thing is your kids will love the fact they're going to Transylvania to see all the Dracula stuff and all these kind of things are going to be a good selling point. Um but I will say, no matter where you are, whether you're here in Bucharest or you're going around, another safety thing I want to tell you is you got to be aware of the cobblestones because the cobblestones themselves, you know, they're always a little uneven, but here, especially in Bucharest, you'll
see like big old holes like in the ground and stuff. And if you're sitting here looking at the beautiful architecture around Bucharest, you might miss something and not just twist an ankle, you'll break a leg in some of the things here, so you want to be careful with that because there's going to be a lot of different uneven pavements and I know some of our viewers, you know, they're living with mobility. I will tell you, Romania is not the best for limited mobility in terms of a safety thing, but just in general of getting around, so do be aware of that. So, if you're going to be going to like Bran Castle, if you have any limited mobility, it's going to be very difficult cuz there's lots of very steep
steps and very narrow kind of things and I guess that would be a hey, if you're claustrophobic, Bran Castle might be a little claustrophobic inducing in some of the passageways and some of the hidden passageway you go through, so do be aware of that. But overall, I got to tell you like coming to Romania, I'm not worried at all. Like Justin's going out, I'm going out. Like Caleb if he was here, I'll be like, "Hey dude, you can go out and have some fun. I'm not really worried at all." I mean, the thing is you're here in Bucharest, you have the big city kind of worry kind of thing, but you have that in every big city. That kind of like, "Oh, there's a lot more people. I don't know." But
honestly, Bucharest pretty safe, Braşov super safe. Like we were going out no worries at all. So, I hope this helps to leave some of your fears about visiting Romania. Yes, there's some scammy things you should watch out for. And make sure you have your Bolt app and stuff like that. But in general, Romania two thumbs up for me. Anyway, I wish you all the best. I'll say bye from here in Bucharest, Romania.
