Health & safety
Health and Safety in Romania: Bears, Dogs, Ticks and Taxis
Romania is safer than its reputation and safer than most visitors expect. Violent crime against foreigners is rare, the cities are comfortable to walk at night, and the ordinary business of travelling here is unremarkable. What is unusual is the shape of the risks that remain: almost all of them are alive. Europe's largest population of brown bears lives in the mountains that most itineraries cross, stray dogs are a real presence outside the city centres, and the forests carry ticks. Get those three right and there is very little left to worry about.
Updated 2026-08-16
Bears, and the one rule that matters
Romania has by a wide margin the largest brown bear population in Europe, concentrated in the Carpathians — which is to say, in the mountains that nearly every Romanian itinerary crosses. This is genuinely one of the great European wildlife facts and it is also a real safety consideration, because a growing number of those bears have learned that humans mean food. They come to rubbish bins at the edges of mountain towns, they wait beside certain roads, and they have lost the wariness that used to keep the two species apart.
The single most important thing a visitor can do is refuse to participate in that. Never feed a bear, and the habit that matters most is the specific one: feeding them from a car window on the high mountain roads, where drivers stop for photographs and hand food out. It is illegal, it is the direct cause of the habituation, and it is how a bear learns to approach the next vehicle. Do not stop for a bear at the roadside, do not get out, do not photograph it from close range, and drive on.
Away from the road, the rules are the ones that apply to bear country anywhere: make noise as you walk so nothing is surprised, keep dogs leashed, never come between a female and cubs, store food securely and do not cook or leave rubbish near where you sleep. If you do meet one on a trail, do not run — back away slowly while facing it and talking calmly. Guided bear-watching from a proper hide is a completely different and entirely legitimate activity, and it is the right way to see them.
Stray dogs and rabies
Stray dogs are much less visible in central Bucharest than they were a generation ago, but they remain a genuine feature of outskirts, small towns, industrial edges and rural roads, often in loose groups. Most are indifferent to people. The behaviour to know is that they defend territory rather than hunt: a group that ignores you on the way past may follow and bark on the way back, and the response is to keep walking calmly, avoid eye contact, not run, and not raise a hand as though to throw something, which they read as a threat. Cyclists and runners are the ones who most often have trouble, simply because speed triggers chase.
Sheepdogs in the mountains are a separate matter and deserve real respect. They are working animals guarding flocks, they are large, and they are doing their job when they come at you — the correct response is to stop, not to run, to let them assess you, and to detour widely around the flock. Shepherds will usually call them off if they are within earshot.
Romania is not rabies-free, and that changes the calculus on any bite or deep scratch from a dog, cat, fox or bat. Wash the wound thoroughly with soap and water immediately, then seek medical advice the same day rather than waiting to see how it looks — post-exposure treatment is highly effective and time-sensitive. Pre-exposure vaccination is worth discussing with a travel clinic if your trip involves a lot of rural cycling, running or working with animals.
Ticks, water and the medical picture
The forests and long grass carry ticks, and both Lyme disease and tick-borne encephalitis are present. The daily habit is what does the work: repellent, trousers tucked in on overgrown paths, and a deliberate check of skin, scalp and hairline at the end of any day spent in woodland or meadow. Remove anything you find promptly with fine tweezers, gripping close to the skin and pulling steadily rather than twisting. A spreading circular rash or a flu-like illness in the following weeks is a reason to see a doctor and mention where you have been. Vaccination against the encephalitis exists and is a conversation for a travel clinic several weeks ahead if you plan a lot of hiking.
Healthcare is a two-tier picture worth understanding before you need it. The public system is free at the point of use for EU citizens with a European health card and for UK visitors with the global equivalent, and it is competent for emergencies, but it is underfunded and facilities vary a great deal by region. Private clinics in Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, Timișoara and the other cities are modern, quick and inexpensive by Western European standards, and they are where most visitors will be happier for anything non-urgent. Comprehensive travel insurance is the sensible answer, and it should explicitly cover mountain activity if you intend to hike.
Tap water is treated and safe to drink in the cities, though a great many Romanians drink bottled by preference and you will notice that. In villages and at mountain springs the picture is more variable and local advice is worth taking. The food guide covers eating with the same confidence — food hygiene in restaurants is generally good, and the countryside's home-produced cheese, brandy and preserves are part of the pleasure of being here rather than a hazard.
Taxis, roads and ordinary vigilance
The one human risk worth naming specifically is the unmetered taxi, and it is concentrated at Bucharest's airport and main railway station. The scam is simple: a driver quotes a fare that is several times the going rate, or runs a meter set at an inflated tariff, and the tariff is legitimately printed on the door — which is what makes it work, because it is technically not fraud. The answer is equally simple. Use a ride-hailing app, which is widespread, cheap and removes the negotiation entirely, or use the official ordering terminals in the airport arrivals hall rather than accepting an approach from anyone offering a taxi.
Beyond that, petty theft is the ordinary European picture: pickpocketing in crowded markets, on busy public transport and around the main tourist sites in Bucharest and Brașov, and opportunistic theft from parked cars — never leave anything visible, particularly at trailheads. Card skimming exists, so prefer ATMs attached to bank branches. Solo and female travellers generally report Romania as comfortable and unthreatening.
As with anywhere, your own foreign ministry publishes current travel advice for Romania and reviews it periodically; reading the current notice close to your departure date is a sensible habit rather than a sign that anything is wrong. On the roads, the risk is real and it is mostly about darkness. Rural roads carry unlit horse carts, livestock, pedestrians and cyclists, overtaking behaviour on single-carriageway national roads is assertive, and the combination after dark is the country's genuine driving hazard rather than anything about the surface — the transport guide covers what that means for planning a route. Drive rural roads in daylight, allow more time than the distance suggests, and treat the mountain passes with the caution their weather deserves.