Constanţa Getting there & around

Getting there & away

Land

Bus

Constanţa has two bus stations. From the southern bus station (Autogară Sud; 665 289; B-dul Ferdinand), buses to Istanbul (17½ hours, €40) depart daily. Tickets are sold in advance from Özlem Tur (514 053), just outside the bus station. There are three maxitaxis daily to Brăila (€5.60) and 10 daily to Galaţi (€6.70), each of which stop at Constanţa’s northern bus station (Autogară Nord; 641 379; Str Soveja 35) on the way. Maxitaxi 23 also departs to Mamaia from here.

From the northern bus station services also include at least one daily maxitaxi to Chişinău (€13, 9 hours) and Iaşi (€11.20, 7 hours), and four to Histria (€1.75, 1½ hours). Maxitaxis leave for Tulcea (€3.70, 2½ hours) every 30 minutes from 6am to 7.30pm.

If you’re travelling south along the Black Sea coast, buses are infinitely more convenient than trains. Exit Constanţa’s train station, turn right and walk 50m to the long queue of maxitaxis, buses and private cars destined for Mangalia, stopping at Eforie Nord, Eforie Sud, Neptun-Olimp, Venus and Saturn.

Eurolines (662 704; Str Ştefan cel Mare 71) sells bus tickets to European destinations and can arrange car rentals and sell last-minute plane tickets to Germany.

Train

Constanţa’s train station (B-dul Ferdinand) is near the southern bus station, 1.5km from the town centre. The 24-hour left-luggage office is downstairs.

The Agenţie de Voiaj CFR (617 930; Aleea Vasile Canarache 4; 7.30am-8.30pm Mon-Fri & 8am-1pm Sat) sells long-distance tickets only; for the local train service (down the coast), buy your tickets at the train station. Student discount tickets are sold at the last window on the left.

There are 11 to 15 daily trains to Bucharest (€8.75, 2½ to 4½ hours), though some terminate at Bucureşti Obor. The fastest is the intercity ‘Marea Neagră’. There are daily services to Suceava (via Iaşi), Cluj-Napoca, Satu Mare, Galaţi, Timişoara and other destinations. As many as 19 trains a day head from Con­stanţa to Mangalia (€1.30, 1¼ hours), stopping at Eforie Nord, Eforie Sud, Cos­tineşti and Neptun.

There are one to two daily trains to Chişinău in Moldova (€20, 12 hours). The Ovidius train to Budapest also runs overnight (17 hours) via Bucharest and Arad.

In winter, services are reduced.

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Air

During summer there are international flights from Athens and sometimes from Istanbul to Constanţa’s Mihail Kogălniceanu airport (258 378), 25km from the centre.

As road and train connections with the capital are so good, Tarom (662 632; Str Ştefan cel Mare 15; 8am-6pm Mon-Fri, 8.30am-12.30pm Sat) has only a once-weekly flight to Bucharest (one-way adult/student €50/26). Carpatair (255 422; constanta@carpatair.com), located at Constanţa’s airport, flies to Timişoara and beyond six days a week.

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