Europe's Most Dangerous Country To Drive In Is Also One Of Its Most Beautiful

Romania is home to spooky castles, rugged mountains, immense Communist architecture — and some of the most dangerous roads in all of Europe. In 2023, the European Road Safety Observatory established that Romania had the second most dangerous roads on the continent, with 81 deaths per one million residents. The institution found Bulgaria's roads to be marginally worse, with 82 deaths per one million residents. For context, the European average is 46 deaths per one million residents. 

Romanian roads can indeed feel unsafe. We traveled from Bucharest to Brasov, Sibiu, and the Transfagarasan highway and found many potholes, stray dogs, and tailgating drivers who were seemingly inches behind us while driving on winding, mountainous roads. Fortunately, the Carpathian Mountains diluted the stress thanks to their wild beauty. The Carpathians are an awesome landscape of dense forests, jagged peaks, and green open valleys, combining the views of Scotland, Scandinavia, and the Alps with Romanian ruggedness.

Romania is a developing country, and you see this in the ramshackle villages found up amongst the misty peaks. Rural European life is rarely this wild and lacking in infrastructure and health and safety. We drove past a horse-drawn cart with no lights — it was after 10 p.m. — and we later got lost in a gypsy village and happened upon a tree full of chickens. It's dangerous on occasion, but also raw, curious, and beautiful.

Rent a car in Bucharest, the Romanian capital, and head north to Transylvania, one of the best places to visit for a hauntingly beautiful Halloween getaway. Soon, you'll hit trees and mountains en route to Sinaia, a historic valley town home flanked by dense forests. You can stop here if you like or continue north along winding hairpin corners to Brasov, which you'll enter along a huge communist boulevard in the Astra neighborhood. We did this at night, and the atmosphere was like something out of the Cold War, despite the McDonald's and other capitalist landmarks.

Brasov's communist past is intriguing, but the medieval old town is the place to be. Tâmpa Hill towers over the area, flooding the charming cobbled streets with an immense wooded slope at their southern ends. After Brasov, head southeast to Bran Castle, the inspiration for Bran Stoker's "Dracula." Then, for the best of the rugged Romanian experience, head west to the Transfagarasan highway.

Built during the communist period, the highway cuts through the Fagaras mountains for some 56 miles. There are bears, a dam, and an incredible collection of corners, climbs, and 1000-foot drops that create one of the most exhilarating — and dangerous — roads in the world. If you have the time, keep heading west to Corvin Castle, one of the world's most haunted destinations, and the city of Timișoara, a cultural melting pot known as Eastern Europe's "Little Vienna."