Oradea is the capital city of Bihor County, in Cri?ana, Romania. The city proper has a population of 206,614 as of the 2002 census; this does not include areas from the metropolitan area, outside the municipality; they bring the total urban area population to approximately 240,000. Oradea is one of the most prosperous cities of Romania.
Oradea/ Nagyvarad is one the few undiscovered gems of Romania’s tourism. Despite the city being one of the largest and most important in Transylvania, with a high degree of administrative, economic and commercial importance, it is often overlooked by tourists in favor of other Transylvanian cities such as Brasov, Sighisoara or Cluj-Napoca. The city can also act as a pleasant stopover if you are coming to Romania from Hungary, or leaving the country.
The city lies at the meeting point of the Cri?ana plain and the Crisul Repede’s basin. It is situated 126 meters above sea-level, surrounded on the north-eastern part by the hills of Oradea belonging to the Ses hills.
The main part of the settlement is situated on the floodplain and on the terraces situated down the river Crisul Repede. Oradea is famous for its thermal springs.
The river Crisul Repede crosses the city right in the centre, providing it with a picturesque beauty. Its output depends on the season; the water containers (the dyke near Tileagd) have partly controlled it ever since they were built in the early 1980s.
The city combines a good location and climate with romantic baroque architecture from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, with a lovely jumble of Romanian and Hungarian cultures. The city was passed back many times between Hungary and Romania, with both these cultures are apparent in the city giving it a special charm and pleasant mix of architecture.
Oradea, situated 8 km from the Hungarian border (and a whopping 650 km by train from the capital of Romania, Bucharest), can even serve as a starting point for a Romanian journey, as it is served by trains coming in from Budapest and other parts of Europe. Many tourists also make a stopover in Oradea before travelling further on to Cluj-Napoca, Brasov or Bucharest. Recently, tourism is booming and people are even considering attributing the name Le Petit Paris (The Little Paris) to it.
Oradea is located in Romania, in the county of Bihor (BH), in Transylvania. The city proper has a population of 206,527 (according to the 2002 census); this does not include areas in the metropolitan area which bring the total urban area population to approximately 350,000. Oradea is one of the most prosperous cities of Romania. The city is on the Crisul Repede river, and has a sizeable Hungarian minority. It is also home to many renowned shoe factories.
Getting into Oradea is moderately easy, especially from Romania. Most visitors arrive in by train, as Oradea is located at the western extremity of the Romanian train network. If you’re travelling from Bucharest, there are two or three trains per day, one of which is a very comfortable yet fairly inexpensive night train, especially if you decide to travel in a refurbished first-class sleeper. Make sure that you take your tickets well in advance if you intend to travel by the first-class sleeper cars because the tickets sell out quickly.
The journey from Bucharest is a 10-hour, 650 km trip across Romania. Getting to Oradea from other parts of Transylvania is a lot easier and quicker - there are now fast InterCity (IC) connections with brand-new trains from Germany to Cluj-Napoca, Arad and Timisoara. Besides these, there are fast trains that link Oradea at least once daily with nearly every major city in Romania.
If Oradea is your entry point to Romania, and you are coming from Hungary or Central Europe, connections are scarcer. There are three trains per day from Budapest to Oradea (some of which continue onwards to Brasov and Cluj-Napoca). Two of these trains are early in the morning, and one leaves Budapest in the afternoon and arrives in Oradea in the late evening, after about six hours.
Even though this method is fairly accessible, due to the fact that Budapest is a railway hub, the trains, provided by the Hungarian railways, are seldom comfortable. The wooden wallpaper decor of the train compartments is tasteless, and the red plush seats are soft, low and uncomfortable. This isn’t aided by the lack of light and cleanliness of the train, even in first class.
If you do travel from Hungary to Oradea by train, make a booking or board a Romanian train or carriage, as these are nowadays of a much higher standard. Romanian carriages are colored in blue or red and have the acronym CFR written on the side (CFR is the Romanian State Railways).
Intercity bus and coach services running through Oradea are strongly on the increase, and most of the residents see them as a welcome departure from what they see are slow, uncomfortable trains. This is due to the fact that intercity coach travel is very much a novelty in a country where trains and aeroplanes have been the primary form of public transportation for decades. Even today, train is by far the recommended way, being much more comfortable and increasingly modern and luxurious.
Bus services are private, and are either run by large cross-European companies such as Eurolines or small Romanian or Hungarian companies which operate coaches between, say, Oradea and Budapest.
Oradea’s closest large international airport is Budapest’s Ferihegy, which serves flights from all corners of Europe. See above for information on train connections to Oradea. Cluj-Napoca is another option for most flights from elsewhere in Europe.
Oradea also has a fairly small but increasingly busy international airport. This airport has TAROM flights from Bucharest twice daily, as well as flights to Satu Mare and other provincial cities. These flights are average in terms of comfort, but are fairly expensive, and are not worth the money. There are international flights by private Romanian carrier Carpatair to places such as Ancona, Venice, Padova, Rome, Milan, Munich and Stuttgart, which are useful if you come from these places.
Oradea’s architecture is a mix between Communist-era buildings, mainly in the outer quarters, and beautiful historical buildings that are remnants of the era when the city was part of Austria-Hungary. In addition to many Baroque buildings, Oradea is remarkable for its particularly rich collection of Art Nouveau architecture.
During the Communist period and in the first years of Romania’s post-Communist transition, many of the historical buildings became derelict or were deteriorating. After 2002, when Romania entered into an economic boom, many historical buildings in the city were restored to their previous state and currently the city gives off a very historic and well-maintained feel.
The beautiful city centre is worth visiting, as are the Baile Felix health spas, accessible by bus and located outside the city. The beautiful city center is worth visiting, as are the B?ile Felix health spas, accessible by train or bus and located outside the city. Other sites worth visiting are:
- Baroque Palace of Oradea – today Muzeul ?arii Cri?urilor, a wonderful Baroque museum with 365 famous windows. It was the Roman Catholic bishop’s palace until 1945, when the Communist regime took the building into public ownership. It was returned to the Roman Catholic church in 2003. Its collection includes many fossils of dinosaurs and birds from the bauxite mines at Cornet-Brusturi.
- Catedrala baroca – the biggest Baroque cathedral in Romania,
- Cetatea Oradea - Oradea’s Fortress, with a pentagonal fort,
- Biserica cu Luna – a church unique in Europe, with a type of astronomical clock depicting the phases of the moon,
- Pasajul Vulturul Negru – the “Black Eagle” Passage,
- Ady Endre Museum - a museum dedicated to one of the greatest Hungarian poets,
- Teatrul de Stat – the State Theatre, plans for which were designed by two Austrian architects who had built around 100 theatres and opera houses in Europe by the end of the 19th century,
- Str. Republicii – one of the most beautiful streets of Transylvania, displaying an incredible number of Art Nouveau buildings (under restoration in 2006),
- There are around 100 religious sites of different denominations in Oradea, including three synagogues (however, only one is said to be still in use) and the biggest Baptist church
Hotels in Oradea range from modern and gleaming structures with all the amenities to cosy, wonderful and very elegant pensions to old, charming but somewhat uncomfortable hostels. Prices of hotels tend to be fixed, so it’s not much use haggling.
Note that prices are increasingly being quoted in euro, not Romanian lei (the local currency), and euro is accepted in most places. Hotels in Oradea are cheaper than in Western Europe, but not by an overly significant margin.
As Oradea city center is not that large, anywhere is OK to stay. In the “satellite quarters” of Oradea there are rarely hotels, except in the Nuf?rul quarter, where it’s not worth staying.
Try finding accommodation in the city, near Str. Republicii or the Town Hall, or near Bd. Magheru and the Civic Center. Both places are just as good, even though the you will find Str. Republicii accommodation to be probably more desirable, due to the abundance of shopping, dining and partying facilities on the street, which is the liveliest in Oradea. These accommodations are also noisier.
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