The short version
Craiova is about 230 km from Bucharest. There are three ways to do it and they suit different trips.
- Train — the civilised option, and the right one if you are coming for the Christmas market or anything that involves wine. You arrive in the centre with no parking problem.
- Car — the flexible one, and the only sensible choice if you intend to carry on into Oltenia for Târgu Jiu, Horezu or Segarcea.
- Plane — not from Bucharest. But Craiova airport matters if you are coming from abroad, because Wizz Air flies here directly and skipping Bucharest altogether is often faster.
Checked October 2026. Timetables and fares change; we do not quote figures we cannot date. Check the operator before travelling.
By train
The route runs Bucharest to Craiova via Videle and Roșiori, and it is one of the better main lines in the country.
Where you arrive. Craiova station is in Piața Constantin Brâncuși, about twenty-five minutes' walk east of the centre, or a few minutes by taxi. That matters more than it sounds: you step off and you are in the city, not at a ring road.
Why it beats the car for a city break. No parking — which in December is the single most common complaint about a Craiova trip, see where to park. No driving after a wine bar. And the route is the kind you can work or read on.
Book ahead for December weekends. The market pulls traffic from the capital and the good departures fill.
Places in this piece
By car
The route. The A1 motorway south-west out of Bucharest, then DN65/DN6. Roughly 230 km, and the drive is unremarkable, which is a compliment — this is flat country and there is no mountain pass to queue behind.
When it is the right choice. When Craiova is the base rather than the destination. Every day trip in Oltenia effectively requires a car: Târgu Jiu is 110 km, Horezu 113, Segarcea 29, Drobeta-Turnu Severin 112, Rânca 134. The monasteries and the cave have no useful public transport at all.
What to plan for. Parking in the centre, which is paid and contested, and in December partly closed for the market. The practical answer is to park once on the ring and walk in — the centre is fifteen minutes end to end. See getting around Craiova.
Summer warning. The Oltenian plain in July and August is genuinely hot — a 30 °C daily high is the average, not the exception. A car without working air conditioning is a bad way to arrive. See the weather month by month.
By bus
Coaches run the route and are the cheapest option. They are slower than the train and they drop you at a terminal rather than in the centre. Worth it on price alone; not worth it otherwise.
By plane — and why this section matters
Nobody flies Bucharest to Craiova. But if you are reading this from outside Romania, the useful fact is that you may not need Bucharest at all.
Craiova International (CRA) sits eight kilometres east of the centre on Calea București. Wizz Air operates most of the routes, with London, Madrid, Barcelona, Italy and Germany among the destinations, and Animawings and SunExpress adding others.
Flying into Craiova rather than Otopeni and driving down saves four hours and a hire car. If your trip is Craiova and Oltenia rather than Bucharest and Transylvania, check CRA first.
Where to stay nearby
Live prices and availability on a map centred on this exact spot — hotels, apartments and hostels, so you can judge the walk from here rather than guess from an address.
Bookings made through this map earn us a commission. Your price is unaffected.
Which to choose
Coming for the Christmas market, a weekend, or the museums: train. The centre is walkable, the market is in it, and you will be drinking mulled wine.
Coming to see Oltenia — Târgu Jiu, Horezu, Tismana, Segarcea, the Danube: car. There is no realistic alternative.
Coming from abroad: check whether Craiova airport flies from where you are before you book Otopeni.
Coming on the cheapest possible terms: bus, and accept the time.
Doing it as a day trip
Possible, and long. Two to three hours each way means the day is mostly travel, and you will see the Art Museum and the centre but not Romanescu.
An overnight is much better, and in Craiova it is cheap — where to stay has the detail. In the first half of November, when the market is open and the rest of the country has not started, it is cheaper still. The weekend version is in a weekend in Craiova from Bucharest.
What to do when you arrive
If it is your first time, one day in Craiova is the timed route. If you have the weekend, two days. If you came specifically for the sculptures, Brâncuși in one day gets you to Târgu Jiu as well.
The Friday and Sunday problem, and why Craiova does not have it
Anyone who travels out of Bucharest regularly knows the pattern: the DN1 towards the mountains is a car park on Friday evening and again on Sunday afternoon, and a two-hour drive becomes four.
The Craiova road does not behave like that. It runs south-west across the plain rather than north into the Carpathians, it carries far less weekend leisure traffic, and there is no valley to funnel everyone into a single lane. Allow for the usual exit from Bucharest and the rest is predictable.
That predictability is a real argument for Craiova as a weekend from the capital, and it is the thing the mountain destinations cannot offer.
If you are continuing into Oltenia
Craiova is the gateway rather than the destination for a lot of trips, and the arithmetic is worth having in front of you before you decide where to sleep.
From Craiova: Segarcea 29 km, Bechet 68 km, Calafat 89 km, Targu Jiu 110 km, Drobeta-Turnu Severin 112 km, Horezu 113 km, Baia de Fier 119 km, Tismana 131 km, Ranca 134 km. Every one of those we measured ourselves — the dates and the method are on the Oltenia page.
Bucharest to any of them direct is a long day. Bucharest to Craiova, a night there, and out in the morning is a much better shape of trip.
Arriving late
If you are coming after work on a Friday, the city handles it better than most. The restaurants in the centre serve late, the bars run to two, and in market season the square is busy until the stalls close. Arriving at nine does not write off the evening.
