Romania is a sovereign country located in Southeastern Europe. It was a former member of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and became capitalist after the revolution of 1989. The country is known as a developing nation and is one of the poorest in Eastern Europe. If you need to visit Romania for work or you are going there for vacation and are planning on using the internet, it would be in your best interest to use a VPN. There are several really good reasons to do so, but we will first share our favorites.
| Rank | VPN Service | Our Score | Server Locations | Visit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | 9.8 | 160 |  |
| 2 |  | 9.4 | 87 | |
| 3 |  | 9.2 | 95 | |
| 4 |  | 9.0 | 110 | |
| 5 |  | 8.8 | 73 | |
The first settlements in Romania date back 40,000 years ago and are the earliest in Europe. The name means “citizen of Rome” and the first known uses were from Italian humanists in the 16th century that were visiting the three principalities in the region. Those areas are known as Wallachia, Moldavia, and Transylvania. Even if you are not very familiar with the country and the history, you likely know of one of the country’s most infamous residents, Vlad III. He is also referred to as Vlad Dracula. He is known for his great acts of cruelty and those inspired the character of Count Dracula in the 1897 book, Dracula.
In modern times, the country has a unitary semi-presidential republic government structure. Their economy is growing at a rapid rate of 5% a year and is tied with Malta for the most in the European Union. There has been quite a bit of foreign investment recently, and their economy is diverse. Romania is second in economic reform around the world, only being edged out by another former Soviet country, Georgia.
The climate of Romania is described as temperate and the country has four distinctive seasons. The average annual temperature is 52ºF in the southern portion and 46ºF in the north. No matter what type of climate you are looking for or what you want to do, you can find it in Romania as long as you are there in the correct season. That includes visiting the historical sites if you wish.
Internet Access and Privacy in Romania
Though the country is beautiful, the internet helps to fuel growth and tourism. In 2013, the city of Timișoara, Romania became the city with the highest download speed in the world of 89.91 Mbps. By comparison, the city of Bucharest came in at just under 34 Mbps. Since then, the town of Cristesti has the fastest internet speed of 139.12 Mbps. Not only is the speed great for business, it is one of the cheapest with 1 Gbps cost of about 8 Euros a month. With all the speed and low cost, there are sure to be criminals waiting for you. That is the first reason behind using a VPN.
In many locations, free WiFi is being offered by a growing number of places. That means you are at an increased risk of someone getting your private and sensitive data. Whether those are financial records, company secrets, or other things, you are vulnerable if you are not connecting to a VPN to encrypt your data and help secure your privacy. By doing so, you make it much more difficult for prying eyes.
Another good reason to use a VPN is to help you deal with censorship. While Romania does not have any censorship rules, you would still be restricted from accessing certain content while there. That includes sports betting sites and others. If you enjoy streaming and you want to stream from your home country, Romania is an ideal place to do so. Even with the slight encryption speed drop, performance is fast enough that you probably won’t be able to tell the difference. Those are just two of the many reasons to use a VPN.
How to Choose a VPN for Romania
Whether you want to protect your privacy from prying eyes or get around geo-restrictions, you will want to use a VPN while in Romania. With the number of choices available, it is sometimes hard to know which one. As we mentioned, a VPN protects your privacy by using encryption. Many of the providers we mention will give you a choice between protocols. The one you should choose whenever possible is OpenVPN. That is because it is considered to be the top choice in the community. If you are given the option between the UDP and TCP version, both will do the job nicely. The difference is, UDP is faster, so it may be preferable. If you have connection issues, you’ll want to check out the TCP version. Though it is slower, you have a better chance of keeping your connection stable. You may not be able to tell a difference, however, given the speeds in the country.
For some other options, please look at our top 10 VPN services list. We think you’ll be satisfied with the choices we gave you above, though. The options are based on security, speed, reliability, and price. They are also providers with a good network of VPN servers in Romania. That way, you can have the best speeds. Of course, they all have great networks. Speed is important if you plan on accessing, downloading, or streaming any content. We hope our guide will help you make a good decision and find the best VPN for you.