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Most villages in southern Romania have a number of stork nests, like this one in Năvodari (Stage 22)

Among a wide variety of reptiles, dice snakes are common around Kopăcki rit while wild land tortoise can be found in Romania’s Đerdap National Park (Stages 15–16).

Preparation

When to go

The route is generally cycleable from April to October. The best times are probably late spring (May–June) and early autumn (September–October) as it can be very hot during July and August when 40ºC is not uncommon on the Hungarian plain and in southern Romania.

How long will it take?

The main route has been broken into 32 stages averaging 54km per stage, although there is a wide variation in stage lengths from 30km (Stage 30) to 96km (Stage 19). A fit cyclist, cycling an average of 90km per day, could complete the route in 19 days. However, the main determinant of how long the trip will take is not the distance you can cycle in a day; rather it is the distance between accommodation options, particularly in Romania. Unless you are camping, or are sufficiently fluent in Romanian to ask around in villages for private accommodation, you will find it difficult to achieve a steady daily distance and should allow at least three weeks for the journey. Travelling at a gentler pace of 60km per day and allowing time for sightseeing, cycling from Budapest to the Black Sea would take four weeks.