• Home
  • About
    • Where has GhettoIFE gone?
    • For PR’s and Agencies (Changes and Corrections)
    • Privacy Policy
  • Snapshots
  • Trip Reports
  • Travel Plus…
    • … Technology
    • … Photography

Economy Class & Beyond

You are here: Home / Trips / Bucharest 2025 / TRIP REPORT: Of Trains And Metros – Into Romania and Bucharest- Miles to Bucharest

TRIP REPORT: Of Trains And Metros – Into Romania and Bucharest- Miles to Bucharest

24/02/2025 by Kevincm

Of Trains And Metros – Into Romania and Bucharest
Miles to Bucharest

Romania Trip Report Cover

It’s time to enter a “new to me” country and work out how to get to my hotel in downtown Bucharest. To the Trains and Metros! 

In this adventure

  • The Last Gasp of Silver (or British Airways did us all dirty)
  • Off to Heathrow and the wonder of Terminal 3
  • Lounging around Terminal 3 with Cathay Pacific and Qantas
  • BA886 London Heathrow to Bucharest Henri Coandă (Club Europe)
  • Exiting Bucharest Henri Coandă Airport and into the City – Of Trains and Trams
  • The Mercure Urinii – An Accor ALL Hotel
  • A Nighttime Walk with an iPhone
  • A Morning Exploration around Central Bucharest
  • Back to Bucharest Henri Coandă Airport and the Visa Satellite Lounge
  • BA887 Bucharest Henri Coandă Airport to London Heathrow (Club Europe)
  • Two Trains, A Tube and a Bus to Home
  • Silver Retained. But a New Battle Awaits

Exiting the aircraft, it was a matter of hiking along and following the signs for Schegen and the exit.

a staircase in a building
The non schegnen area

a glass wall with people walking in the middle
Immigration

Of course, this means clearing passport control. Thankfully, the queue for Non-Schegen passengers was short, and I was dealt with in under five minutes.

With that formality complete, it was time to pass the many circular portals as I walked down the terminal building. With no baggage to claim, I continued on to the arrivals area.

a walkway with signs and luggage carousels  a person with a suitcase on a moving walkway a walkway with windows and a man walking on it
The Portal will open in 3…2..1…. v

Once in the public terminal, I loaded Google Maps to work out where I would be going next and the quickest route into Bucharest.

people inside a building with shelves of perfumes
Duty Free Arrivals

There are two routes you can take to the centre of Bucharest from the airport – the 100 Express bus, the 442 Bus (allowing you to connect to the Metro sooner) or there is an… infrequent train service, which runs every 40 minutes.

The bus cost 3 Lei (~53p/US $0.63/ €0.60), whilst the train was a budget-breaking 6 Lei (~£1.06/ US$1.26 / €1.21).

cars parked on the road
Arrivals

a group of cars parked in a parking lot
Arrivals

My timing was such that the train was the best option. I headed through the car park and towards the train station – at least it’s a covered walkway (pro tip – you can find the timetables at https://mersultrenurilor.infofer.ro/en-GB/Itineraries).

a crosswalk with a sign and people standing in front of it
To the trains 

a parking lot with cars parked in front of a building
That looks like trains. 

Upon reaching the train station, I was directed to a ticket booth, where my 6 lei were taken off me – by contactless payment.

a hand holding a ticket

I’d solve the issue of having some hard cash a little later on – but contactless works (and rather well to be honest).

With a ticket in hand and 3 minutes on the clock, I made it onboard a Siemens Desiro Two-Car Deisl multiple unit, which would operate a local stopping service at Patinoar PO and Parc Mogoșoaia to Bucharest Gara de Nord (North Station).

a train on the tracks

a train on the tracks
A Diesel Desiro 

The train is a modern Siemens Desiro Two-car unit (locally known as  CFR Călători Class 96 or “Săgeata Albastră” (The Blue Arrow))  – with very low floor sections (close enough to the ground) and very high ridge sections (where you rode under the bogies). It’s familiar enough that you recognise the train, but unfamiliar enough that you’re keeping your ears open for the voices.

With the train pulling out of the Airport train station, it quickly went from two tracks to one track as the train made a stop just outside the airport, and in the middle of a town.

a view of a road from a window
Car parking as we pulled out

a hotel seen from a window
To say the train line passes close to the hotel would… an understatement

a plant in a white pot next to benches

If I was to describe the airport service, it’s very much a branch line of a branch line. The ride quality was… there, with it able to accelerate comfortably on higher speed track. At lower speeds… it was a little bouncy across the joints in the track.

I will give high marks for putting in an airport service. I can’t judge against 40-minute frequency although I could give a lot more marks for a clockface 30-minute frequency), but I suspect there are more than a few pathing to get what they have.

a train tracks next to a body of water

a train on the tracks

Pulling into Bucarset station, it felt like a different world from the level boarding at the airport, with a big step down to the platform needed.

a train on the tracks

a train on the tracks

As well as that, the use of locomotive-based traffic was evident here, with some locomotives only having a couple of carriages connected, and loco swaps being conducted.

It’s not wrong – it’s just different coming from the world of multiple units and push-pull trains.

Exiting the train, I headed into the main train shed, as I was now working out how to get to Bulevardul Unirii (Union Boulevard). Thankfully, Metro Line 1 would take me there.

people walking in a train station
SO! Coffee.

If I had done a little more reading up before I travelled, I would had found that I was able to my trips on the metro from the phone as a contactless payment. As such, I paid for a two-trip subway ticket for 10 Lei (or £2.29/US$2.10/€2).

a person walking down an escalator

I’m not disappointed – mainly because I got to use both rides. I can live with that.

a train on the tracks

From here it was a matter of watching the on-train announcements and trying to work out my stop. Not difficult, but something to keep your wits about especially as GPS functionality is nill (although mobile service was excellent). Whilst some of the stops had English announcements, most did not. Thus, one had to keep one’s wits about them.

The system itself felt pretty safe to use – with a swipe/tap to enter the system, and you pass a gate to exit at your destination. One fare would cover your ride, as opposed to paying for distance.

I suppose the usual rule of following the signs and seeing where they take you comes to mind.

Exiting at Piața Unirii I had popped out at a side that I expected the hotel to be on. From here, it was a 10-minute walk down the boulevard and turning left for the hotel.

a woman walking past a store
MEGAPAN! 

a woman walking on a sidewalk a sign on the side of a road

Well, not before I messed up and crossed the road for an ATM to get 100 lei out.

Such is life.

a plane flying over a building
Overhead

Crossing back over, I headed to the Mecure Unirii – my base for the night.

Next: Mecure Unirii


Welcome to Economy Class and Beyond. Your no-nonsense guide to network news, honest reviews, in-depth coverage, unique research, as well as the humour and madness I only know how to deliver.

Our Social Media pool has expanded. You can find us across most networks as @economybeyond on BlueSky, Threads, Mastodon and Instagram!

Also, remember that we are part of the BoardingArea community, bringing you the latest frequent flyer news from around the world.

Related

Filed Under: Bucharest 2025, Trip, Trip Reports, Trips

Comments

  1. ffi says

    26/02/2025 at 11:14 am

    These enjoyable Tier Point runs will soon be no more.

    • Kevincm says

      26/02/2025 at 11:30 am

      I wouldn’t hold your breath on them ending. They’ll evolve 😉

      With every person and their dog offering Status Matches, there will be the need for the odd mad journey around the globe.

      Or even to more regional place.

      Like a lot of BA Frequent Flyers…. there’s a lot of food for thou9ht out there….

  • Bluesky
  • Email
  • Instagram
  • Mastodon
  • RSS
  • Threads

Recent Posts

  • Data Storage Adventures – With UGreen NASync – PART 5 Growing the Storage Pool
  • United Airlines partners with Spotify for content
  • Royal Brunei selects Intelsat for Mutli-Orbit In-Flight Connectivity
  • Lufthansa activates Free Inflight Messaging for intercontinental flights
  • JetBlue and Brightline to lauch multimodal travel options in Florida

Email Newsletter

Sign up to receive email updates daily and to hear what's going on with us!

Privacy Policy
Copyright © 2025 Economy Class & Beyond All Rights Reserved.
Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Economy Class & Beyond with appropriate and specific directions to the original content.