Shipping to Romania: how to address your shipments correctly

Bucharest in summer. The smell of freshly baked covrigi (Romanian pretzels with sesame seeds) wafts across the boulevard. On the left, an Art Nouveau palace with ornate balconies. On the right, a gray apartment block from the seventies: ten floors, three stairwells, dozens of apartments. On the next corner, a hip concept store, next to it a kiosk selling prepaid cards. Contrasts wherever you look. And that's exactly how addresses in Romania feel.

But first the question: Is Romania worthwhile as a market?

The figures speak for themselves: 60% of Romanian internet users shopped online in 2024. Just ten years earlier, this figure was only 17%. This represents an increase of 43 percentage points, the biggest jump in the entire EU (Eurostat). Even more interesting for you as a retailer: 54% of Romanian online shoppers placed multiple orders with foreign stores in 2023. This puts Romania eleven percentage points above the European average (Geopost via Statista). In addition, online expenditure reached a total of around 11.7 billion euros in 2024 (ecommercenews.eu).

In short: Romania is a market that is growing. And Romanian customers are already ordering abroad on a regular basis. However, the address must be correct for your parcel to actually arrive. That's because Romanian addresses are tricky. Block, staircase, floor, apartment number. Six sectors in Bucharest alone. Villages without street names. That's why this article shows you what to look out for.

This is how Romanian addresses are structured

At first glance, Romanian addresses are reminiscent of Austrian addresses. House number, staircase, door number. The principle is similar. However, Romania goes much further. Block, staircase, floor and apartment number are separate, standardized components of every address. In Austria, you write a compact „Hauptstraße 10/2/19". Romania, on the other hand, breaks down every detail individually with abbreviations.

In addition, everything is in one line. Not in the additional address field. And this is precisely the most common error in German checkout forms.

Line 1: Name of the recipient

There is no special feature here. First name and surname, as everywhere.

Line 2: Street, house number and additional information

This is where it gets exciting. Romanian addresses put everything that identifies the building in this one line. They are separated by commas, in a fixed order from upper case to lower case:

Street type + street name → House number (nr.) → Block (bl.) → Staircase (sc.) → Floor (et.) → Apartment (ap.)

An example: Str. Florilor nr. 8, bl. I19, sc. 2, et. 2, ap. 25

This is a typical prefabricated building. All details required. However, not every address needs everything. The smaller the building, the shorter the line.

Smaller apartment building: Aleea Mirabelelor nr. 10, ap. 1
Detached house: Sos. Brașovului nr. 214
Apartment without block, but with floor: Blvd. Păcii nr. 30, et. 3, ap. 6

The rule of thumb: the larger the building complex, the more information you need.

The most important Romanian abbreviations

Another difference to German addresses: In Romania, the street type precedes the street name. So not „Florilor-Straße“, but „Strada Florilor“. The most common abbreviations:

Road types:
Str. = Strada (street)
Blvd. = Bulevardul (Boulevard)
Sos. = Șoseaua (country road)
Al. = Aleea (avenue)
Intr. = Intrarea (access road)
Calea = Calea (path, historical)

Building details:
no. = număr (house number)
bl. = Block
sc. = scara (stairwell/staircase)
et. = etaj (floor)
ap. = apartament (apartment)
parter = Ground floor
jud. = județ (district/district)

Line 3: Postal code and city

Six digits, without spaces, without hyphen. Directly before the place name.

Example: 030045 BUCUREȘTI

For Bucharest addresses, the sector is placed on a separate line between the street and zip code.

Line 4: Country

In capital letters: ROMANIA. The international spelling is standard. „ROMANIA“ also works, but is used less frequently.

The Romanian postal code system

Six digits, no spaces, no hyphens. Just six digits in a row. This is what a Romanian zip code looks like.

030045 → correct
03-0045 → false
03 0045 → false

Until 2003, Romania still had a four-digit system. However, this no longer exists. Nevertheless, old four-digit codes still appear, for example in outdated databases or because customers enter them out of habit. So if you see a four-digit zip code in your order: Beware. It is invalid.

What the numbers reveal

The first digit stands for one of ten postal regions. The second digit identifies the district (Județ) within this region. The last four digits are used to define the delivery area, down to street level depending on the size of the town.

In large cities with over 50,000 inhabitants, the zip code is so precise that it covers a specific street or street section. Small municipalities, on the other hand, have a single zip code for the whole town. And in villages, the zip code generally begins with a 7.

Bucharest has a special role here: the second digit (01 to 06) stands for one of the six sectors. 01xxxx = Sector 1, 06xxxx = Sector 6, whereas areas 07 and 08 belong to the neighboring counties of Ilfov and Giurgiu.

Look up zip code

You want to check a Romanian postal code? You can find the official search on the website of Poșta Română.

Bucharest: Romania's capital and its six sectors

Bucharest is not just one city, but six cities in one. Each of the six sectors (Sector 1 to 6) has its own administration, its own mayor and its own postal code areas.

For you as a retailer, this means that nothing works without a sector specification. This is because the same street names occur in different sectors. For example, there is a „Strada Florilor“ in Sector 2 and in Sector 4, so if the sector is missing, the post office does not know which of the six distribution centers your parcel should go to. At best, the parcel will wander around the city for a few days, at worst it will be returned to you.

This is what a Bucharest address looks like

The sector is in a separate line between the street address and the zip code. So not in the additional address field, not after the city name, not anywhere else.

And yes: The zip code actually already reveals the sector (second digit = sector number). Nevertheless, it must be written out in full. This is what Swiss Post requires.

Checkout tip

Your checkout form probably does not have a separate field for the sector. This is why Romanian customers often write it in the additional address field or append it to the street line. Both work as long as the information is not completely missing.

Rural addresses in Romania

Out of Bucharest, into the village. And suddenly the rules are different.

In many rural communities in Romania, there are neither street names nor house numbers. Instead, the address consists only of a village name, the name of the municipality and the zip code. That's enough for the post office - after all, the letter carrier knows everyone in the village anyway.

This can still be a problem for your parcel. This is because courier services are not the village letter carrier. They need clear information.

This is what a rural address looks like:

„Sat“ stands for village, „Comuna“ for municipality. The district (Județ) is particularly important for rural addresses because it is what makes geographical allocation possible in the first place.

What you can do as a retailer

To be honest, with rural addresses, a lot is out of your control. After all, you can't know whether there are street names in the area or not. However, there are two things you can do:

Always check your phone number. In rural areas, it is not a nice-to-have, but the only way for the courier to find the recipient. Without a telephone number, „Village somewhere in Prahova“ becomes a search game that the courier will not play.

Do not shorten the circle (Județ). Many checkout forms do not have a separate field for this. Romanian customers therefore often write the circle in the city line or in the additional address field. Both are okay. The main thing is that it's somewhere.

Parcel services and packing stations in Romania

Poșta Română is the state postal service. Founded in 1862, founding member of the Universal Postal Union since 1874. Letters, registered mail, EMS Express, parcels with value indication. The first port of call for standard letters and smaller parcels. The official website: posta-romana.ro

However, private courier services play a greater role in e-commerce shipments. In addition, the Romanian courier market is currently in a state of flux.

The major courier services in Romania

FAN Courier was the undisputed market leader for a long time. Own branches, pick-up points in partner stores and a growing network of FANbox lockers (available 24/7, two-day pick-up time).

Sameday operates the largest network of Packstations in Romania under the „easybox“ brand. Accessible around the clock and particularly widespread in Bucharest. Sameday is part of the eMAG Group, the country's largest online retailer.

Cargus In turn, it relies on the SHIP & GO network: a mixture of lockers and manned pick-up points (PUDO) in partner stores. Five working days collection time. Special feature: if home delivery fails, the parcel is automatically redirected to the nearest SHIP & GO point.

Important to know: In April 2026, the Romanian competition authority approved the takeover of Cargus by Sameday (Romania Insider). The transaction is currently being finalized. As a condition, Sameday must sell the Cargus locker network to a separate buyer. Together, Sameday and Cargus are expected to replace FAN Courier as the market leader. However, nothing will change for you as a retailer in the short term. Both brands will continue to operate under their own names for the time being.

How do your parcels get to these services?

You are shipping from Germany. This means that you hand in the parcel to DHL, DPD or GLS. A local partner then takes over in the destination country.

DHL works with Cargus or Poșta Română in Romania, for example. DPD and GLS, on the other hand, have their own local branches and deliver directly to their own networks.

Your customer selects the Packstation or pick-up point in the checkout. They enter the address of the desired location as the delivery address.

Packing stations and pick-up points in Romania

In Romania, there is no postal number like at DHL packing stations. Instead, the collection code is sent automatically by SMS to the recipient's mobile number. A QR code is also sent by email. Both work for collection.

For your checkout, this means that the mobile number is mandatory. Because without it, the customer cannot pick up their parcel from the Packstation.

Packstation address example

The five most common mistakes when shipping to Romania

Error 1: Incomplete apartment details

Block, stairwell, floor, apartment. If even one piece of information is missing, the courier is standing in front of a building with dozens of apartments and no idea where to go.

Not like this:
Maria Ionescu
Str. Florilor no. 10
BUCUREȘTI

So yes:
Maria Ionescu
Str. Florilor nr. 10, bl. C, sc. 1, et. 4, ap. 8
Sector 2
021234 BUCUREȘTI
ROMANIA

Error 2: Old or missing zip code

Romania has had six-digit zip codes since 2003. However, four-digit codes are invalid. Nevertheless, they appear again and again. Just like variants with hyphens or spaces.

Invalid: 0212, 02-1234, 02 1234 Valid: 021234

If in doubt, look it up: posta-romana.ro

Error 3: Forgetting the sector near Bucharest

Same street names in different sectors. If you don't specify this, your parcel will end up in the wrong distribution center or be returned.

The sector is therefore always on a separate line between the street and the zip code. For every Bucharest address. Without exception.

Error 4: No telephone number

The recipient's mobile number is particularly important for rural addresses and packing stations. In rural areas, the courier needs it to find the recipient in the first place. At Packstations, no collection code will arrive without it.

In short: ask for the phone number in the checkout. Always.

Error 5: Country name is missing or incorrect

Sounds banal. But it happens anyway. For example, the country name is missing completely, is on the wrong line, or someone writes „RO“ instead of the full name.

ROMANIA in capital letters in the last line. Done.

Your next step

Romania is a market that is worthwhile. The online shoppers are there, they like to order abroad and the market is growing. However, Romanian addresses are not forgiving of sloppiness.

So here are three things you should remember:

Apartment details belong completely in the street line. So block, staircase, floor, apartment. Separate everything with commas, do not put anything in the additional address field.

The sector is also mandatory for Bucharest addresses. Separate line, between street and postal code. Nothing arrives without the sector.

And finally: always ask for the telephone number. For rural deliveries, for Packstations, for everything.

You can read how address validation works across national borders in our article International address verification explained in compact form.

Do you also ship to other countries? Then take a look at our articles on Shipping to Austria and to the Shipping to Great Britain to.

endereco: Address validation for international shipping

Other countries, other address formats. Our Address validation checks customer addresses in real time, directly when they are entered in the checkout. Typing errors, missing zip codes, incorrect place names: Corrections are made before the order goes out. For over 200 countries worldwide.

Want to know what this looks like for your store? Feel free to contact us.