TIFF Cluj: Getting Around During the Film Festival

The Transilvania International Film Festival is the largest film festival in Romania and, for more than two decades, the event that most visibly changes the rhythm of Cluj-Napoca. Ten days, usually in the first half of June, during which the city takes in tens of thousands of visitors and the programme runs from morning until well past midnight.

If you are coming from elsewhere, TIFF brings three logistical problems worth solving in advance rather than on the day. Exact dates for the coming edition are announced on the festival official website — check there before booking anything.

Problem 1: your accommodation will not be central

Hotels around Piata Unirii sell out months ahead, and prices rise significantly during the festival. Late bookers end up in the outer neighbourhoods, then in the surrounding villages.

That is not necessarily a problem, but it changes the transport arithmetic. If you are sleeping in Floresti and have a 10:30pm screening in the centre, getting back at 1am is not something the bus network will solve.

Areas where accommodation is easier to find during TIFF: Marasti and Gheorgheni (10–15 minutes from the centre), Manastur and Zorilor (well connected by day, harder at night), Floresti and Baciu (cheaper, but heavy traffic at peak hours), Apahida (close to the airport, convenient if you fly out early on the last day) and even Turda, 40 minutes away on the motorway, when nothing is left in Cluj.

Problem 2: screenings finish at night

The TIFF programme does not stop when public transport does. Evening screenings, particularly the open-air ones in Piata Unirii, frequently finish after midnight, and festival parties run much later.

At those hours, a ride booked in advance at a fixed price is the difference between going straight to your accommodation and waiting 40 minutes in the street alongside everyone else who has just left the same screening. The night rate for city rides is 4.75 lei/km, with a minimum fare on short trips — the price is confirmed when you book and is not recalculated on arrival.

Practical tip: if you know in the morning which evening screening you are attending, book the ride back at the same time as the ticket.

Problem 3: the venues are spread out

TIFF does not take place in one building. Screenings run across several cinemas and spaces around the city, plus open-air events and, in some editions, screenings outside Cluj altogether — including at Banffy Castle in Bontida, 30 km away.

If you have two films close together in different venues, walking will not fit. For delegations, film crews or groups moving between locations together, the 17-seat minibus handles it in one trip, and we issue company invoices.

Arriving by air during the festival

Cluj Airport is 9 km from the centre, 15–25 minutes depending on traffic. During TIFF, demand for transfers rises noticeably, especially on the first and last days.

• Book your transfer when you book your flight, not the day before
• Send us your flight number — we track the actual landing time, and if you are delayed the waiting is included
• We meet you at arrivals with a name sign; our drivers can communicate in English
• Payment by cash, card on the in-car terminal, or bank transfer with an invoice

Details on the Cluj airport taxi page.

If you are staying on

Many international visitors add a few days after the festival. The most requested day trips from Cluj:

• Turda Salt Mine — 35 km, a salt mine converted into a visitor attraction
• Turda Gorge — a nature reserve with marked trails, combines with the salt mine in one day
• Lake Tarnita — the first mountain lake heading into the Apuseni
• Rimetea — the white-house village below Piatra Secuiului
• Sibiu or Sighisoara, for the classic Transylvania circuit

In short

• Book accommodation early; if you miss the centre, budget for night transport
• Arrange evening rides in the morning, not when you walk out of the screening
• Send your flight number when booking the airport transfer
• For groups and delegations, a minibus is simpler and cheaper than three cars

See also our guides to Untold and Electric Castle, the other two peak periods in Cluj.