Bucharest does not have only one bus station, as there used to be six bus stations which were originally conceived by destination, so that buses do not have to cross all city to go from A to B. So the communists had a glorious idea, making us cross the whole city. Oh, my Stalin! Nowadays, the main bus stations are the following:
- București Filaret (1 Gara Filaret Square, tel.: (021)3360692, www.acfilaret.ro) gathers buses going to Chișinău and other towns in Moldova, Thessalonica and Athens in Greece and generally to Moldavia and Eastern Romania.
- București Rahova (164 Alexandriei, tel.: (021)4204795) serves buses going to Alexandria and towns South-East of Bucharest. It is reachable by tram # 32 from the south-western corner of Unirea Square.
- București Grivița (221-223 Chitilei, tel.: (021)6675970) has buses running to Chitila, Buftea, Târgoviște. It is reachable by tram # 45 from București Nord Station.
- București Militari (141 Iuliu Maniu, tel.: (021)2208440) serves buses going to Pitești, Râmnicu Valcea, Sibiu, Olănesti Spa, Potlogi Village, as well as other destinations in Northern Wallachia and South Transylvania. They even have odd buses to Oradea or Cluj (expect long rides, better take the train or plane).
- C&I Bus Terminal (35 Ritmului, tel.: (021)2508669) has a lot of small and very uncomfortable vans with almost no luggage space going to Sinaia – Brașov, Târgu Mureș, Deva, Tulcea and even Bistrița, with new routes being added quite often. Their only advantage is that they are fast, but to do so their drivers often act irresponsibly. I do not recommend this option, but it might be helpful and quick.
- Other “bus stations”: while some of the international buses stop in Revoluției Square, some others (as well as their connections towards various cities in Romania) stop on the makeshift bus station on the Splaiul Unirii / Victory Avenue crossing. Vans going to Giurgiu start from the area around Eroii Revolutiei metro station. Vans going to Slobozia start from the area around Obor metro station (at the beginning of Colentina Road). Buses to some other regions (Tulcea, Cheia, Buzau) leave from a few garages in the area around Bucharest North railway station.
A very useful tool for looking what starts where, when and going to which destination is http://www.autogari.ro, but always check with the respective operators that things go according to the website. And thank the City Hall for its never caring. Feel free to let me know if you need information on a specific route and cannot find the operators or timetable. I shall do my best to help on the matter.
