"Oil Refinery Town!!!" a Ploiesti Travel Page by silentnights

Ploiesti is a typical "communist" era city. Most people live in large apartment buildings named "blocs" and the surrounding areas are dominated by large and old oil refineries. There is not really too much to do here if you are a tourist, but many visitors will have to travel through Ploiesti via railway if they are traveling to the northern reaches of Romania from Bucharest. If you do happen to end up here, the city does have a few "attractions". Perhaps the most interesting site is St. John's Cathedral which dates from 1810. If you are trying to kill some time, check out the lively Central Market which is located behind the Catheral. There are a few reasonable priced hotels too. If you arrive arrive at Gara de Sud, there is a new hotel located about a block west of the station's main entrance. Just exit the station and turn left, you can't miss it. If you want a hotel downtown, there is the Hotel Prahova, Central Hotel, and the Turist Hotel. To get there from Gara de Sud, take bus #30 or #44 to the center of town. You can't miss the center of town because that is where the Mcdonald's is located. In order to catch the bus from Gara de Sud, walk out of the station's entrance/exit and on the far right is the bus stops going towards the center. You can buy a ticket there for 6500 lei. When you get on the bus, be sure to "punch" your ticket by using the ticket counters on the buses. If you fail to "punch" the ticket, sometimes "officers" will come on board to make sure you have a "punched" ticket. Even if you have a ticket but it is not "punched", you can get a 200,000 lei fine. Once you settle in at your hotel, there are many restaurants and a movie theater all centrally located downtown.