The decision to drive to the Transfăgărășan came fast. That is probably how all real journeys begin — first comes the overwhelming desire to see a place with your own eyes, and only then comes the realization of how much stands behind one simple thought: “we need to go.”
And almost immediately, we ran into something I think anyone who has ever planned a big road trip on their own will recognize. There is no shortage of content out there — beautiful videos, inspiring articles, stunning photos, bold headlines. But when you start looking for something genuinely useful for building an actual route, most of it turns out to be surface-level or purely promotional. Footage that makes you want to get behind the wheel even more? Plenty. Answers to the questions your entire trip depends on? Almost nowhere.
When is the best time to leave? Which border crossing should you pick to avoid waiting for hours? Which roads are actually worth taking? How do you build a route where the joy is not just in the destination, but in every single kilometre along the way?
We did not just want to feel inspired. We wanted to understand.
This trip at a glance: Sumy, Ukraine → Riga, Latvia → Transfăgărășan, Romania. Seven countries (Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania). Roughly 4,200 km total. Two legs: 2,300 km to Riga in 30 hours, then another 1,900 km south to Romania. A journey that started as a work trip and became one of the greatest adventures of our lives.
If you are new here, you might want to start with our first story — it explains who we are and why we started this blog.
Planning a Route to the Transfăgărășan: When Inspiration Is Not Enough
That was when I started digging much deeper. Not the usual tourist roundups, but real experiences from real people — on car forums, in old blog entries, in random travel notes that were probably never meant to be guides. Some of them read almost like literature. Others were little more than photo galleries with short captions. And some were just dry road logs. But almost every one of them had something genuine in it. Something that could actually help.
It took more than a day. For over a week, I searched whenever I had a free moment. I compared routes from Ukraine to Romania, gathered small details that turn out to be not so small at all: what to pack, how to prepare the car, where to stop for the night, what not to miss. And gradually, our own route started to take shape — through Chernivtsi, with stops at places that felt truly worth our time.
How Long It Actually Takes to Plan a Road Trip to the Transfăgărășan
Even for what seemed like a relatively straightforward drive — about 1,200 kilometres one way — the planning took over a week. We were almost ready to go. The route was mapped out, the stops were marked. It felt like we were one step away from the start.
And then COVID put everything on pause.
The trip had to be shelved indefinitely. Our route stayed behind — somewhere in saved notes, pinned map locations, open browser tabs, and our heads. And I suppose at the time we did not yet know that this story had not ended. It had simply stopped for a while.
How Our Road Trip to the Transfăgărășan Unexpectedly Began
As it often happens, everything started again completely out of the blue.
One evening, my boss called and asked if I would like to come to Riga on a work assignment. COVID was behind us, the trip was company-paid, and my answer was almost instant: yes.
And then came the sentence that was probably just a routine detail for him, but for me became the beginning of everything:
“Details are sorted — I’ll see you in Riga in two days.”
I agreed immediately, but with one condition: I would drive my own car, handle the work tasks, and then take an extra week of vacation. Because in my head, it was no longer just about Riga. In my head, there was still that same road. The Transfăgărășan. The same trip that had never happened because of the pandemic.
And that was when the real excitement kicked in.
Anna was already calling her office to arrange time off. We both knew this was a chance we did not want to lose. But at the same time, a different thought kept spinning: the old plan no longer worked. Yes, we were still starting from Sumy. But after Riga, the entire logic changed — a different rhythm, different stops, a different sequence of countries. Everything had to be replanned.
Why We Wanted to Plan Every Detail
Maybe some people would say that is too much. That you could leave a few things to figure out on the go, skip some research, not dig quite so deep into every detail. And maybe for some travellers that works perfectly well. But I knew one thing for certain: I did not want to miss a single chance to make this trip better. I did not want to come home thinking, “If only I had prepared a little more…”
I think that is my personal philosophy of the road. We have less time than we think. And there are far more beautiful places out there than free weeks in a year. That is exactly why I never want to repeat the same route just because I did not plan well enough the first time. I always want to live a trip as fully as I can — as fully as that moment allows.
So I sat down and built a new route. New stops. New countries. A new schedule. And the second time around, it was a little easier, because I still had my earlier research on Romania to work from.
Before we even left Ukraine, we had put together a list of places we wanted to see. The rest of the route came together on the drive north. And here, I have to thank my navigator — my wife, Anna. On trips like these, you understand very clearly that a route is not just maps and pins on a screen. It is also the person beside you, the one you are living through all of it with.
By the way, our dachshund Nika stayed home this time, with my sister. The trip was too spontaneous, the paperwork for crossing borders with a dog was not ready, and for our first big adventure like this, we did not want to take the risk. But you will definitely get to know Nika better — she has since become a full member of our Canadian road trips.
The Drive to Riga: 2,300 Kilometres in 30 Hours
Day one.
We left Sumy at one in the afternoon. The plan was simple — get to Riga as fast as possible. Outside, it was +38°C. The air conditioning in our car was broken. And in less than 24 hours, my boss was expecting me. Ahead of us: Poland, Lithuania, Latvia. About 2,300 kilometres of road.
Yes, that was roughly 300 kilometres longer than the standard route. But we deliberately chose a more remote border crossing, because we knew from experience: fewer queues at the border often means less time lost overall. And that is exactly how it played out. The distance was longer, but we got through faster.
Thirty hours — and we were in Riga.
I still remember that moment clearly. The exhaustion was at a point where the body was running on pure willpower. But inside, there was a strange and powerful feeling — we had actually done it. The Airbnb host, after finding out how far we had driven in such a short time, and then hearing that after checking in we were heading straight to a dinner meeting, just smiled and said that we Ukrainians are absolutely insane.
We looked at each other. He might have had a point.
Three Days in Riga Before the Main Leg
The next three days were work days. For me — meetings, tasks, business. For Anna — time to finalize the route, review the details, and sort out every stop across Romania.
We were exhausted, but happy.
And the most important thing in that moment was the realization: tomorrow, the part we had been dreaming about would finally begin. Another 24 hours behind the wheel. Another 1,900 kilometres. Ahead — Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, and finally Romania.
And there — the Transfăgărășan. A road that had once been nothing more than a picture on a screen and a route saved in our notes. A road we had almost lost once, but that came back to us — at a different time, by a different path, but with the same pull.
Why We Decided to Share This Story
That was the moment we felt, more clearly than ever, why we wanted to start this blog.
Not just for beautiful stories. But to gather in one place the kind of experience we ourselves were once so desperate to find. So that people who dream of similar road trips do not have to spend weeks piecing together scattered advice. So they can find honest, tested, real human information — the kind you actually want to read before you leave.
If you have not read our first story yet — about who we are, how we fell in love with the road, and why we started Explorer Canada — it is there for you. It gives the context that makes this journey a little more personal.
That is how it works. Step by step, routes are born that stay with you for a long time.
And the real story of this trip begins next.
In the next post, we will take you through the full drive from Riga to the Transfăgărășan — with specific stops, costs, mistakes, decisions, and every detail we once wished someone had shared before we started. Follow along in our Trips section.
