Transylvania
Some castles perch on mountains, others skulk in mist-shrouded hills, but Hunedoara’s juts out from an industrial jungle. Despite being surrounded by…
Must-see attractions in Romania
Sinaia
Over 40 years, dozens of builders, artists and wood-carvers brought Peleş Castle into existence. The neo-Renaissance masterpiece was commissioned by…
Bucharest
The Palace of Parliament is the world’s second-largest administrative building (after the Pentagon) and former dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu’s most infamous…
Wallachia
The Endless Column, one of Constantin Brâncuşi's best-known and most celebrated works, sits at the eastern end of Calea Eroilor (20 minutes on foot from…
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Timişoara
This is an ideal venue to brush up on the December 1989 anticommunist revolution that began here in Timişoara. Displays include documentation, posters and…
Transylvania
Alba Carolina Citadel is the crowning attraction of Alba Iulia. Within this star-shaped citadel are museums, churches and the Unification Hall that sealed…
Bucharest
The exquisite Athenaeum is the majestic heart of Romania’s classical-music tradition. Scenes from Romanian history are featured on the interior fresco…
Bucharest
This restored villa is the former main residence of Nicolae and Elena Ceauşescu, who lived here for around two decades up until the end in 1989…
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Transylvania
One of the high points of any vampire-themed trip to Transylvania is kitsch Hotel Castel Dracula. Its blood-curdling decorations, and location on a…
Grigore Antipa Natural History Museum
Bucharest
One of the few attractions in Bucharest aimed squarely at kids, this natural-history museum, showing off Romania's plant and animal life, has been…
Bucharest
West of Calea Victoriei is the locally beloved Cişmigiu Garden, with shady walks, a lake, cafes and a ridiculous number of benches on which to sit and…
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Transylvania
Encircled by a moat fringed with willow trees, Făgăraş Citadel is an impressively intact fortification from medieval Transylvania. The oldest part of this…
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Wallachia
This small, spare museum just outside the train station contains the military barracks where former Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu and his wife Elena…
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Wallachia
The Poienari Citadel was once a powerful fortress guarding entry to a strategic pass linking Wallachia with Transylvania. The castle's vantage point was…
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Sibiu
Sibiu's Gothic centrepiece rises more than 73m over the old town. Inside, marvel at ghoulish stone skeletons, 17th-century tombs and the largest organ in…
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Wallachia
Curtea de Argeş was an early capital of Wallachia, and these ruins from the 13th and 14th centuries mark the spot where the court once stood. The main…
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Zosim Oancea Glass Icons Museum
Transylvania
This museum of painted icons, named after the priest who collected them, is a true hidden gem. Unlike the sombre wooden icons you’ll see elsewhere in…
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Wallachia
The art museum is the only real must-see in Craiova, both for the art itself, including a small but important collection of six works by internationally…
Cluj-Napoca
More of a living, breathing creative space than a gallery, Fabrica de Pensule teems with just-made artwork by local and foreign creators who use this…
Cluj-Napoca
The showpiece of Piaţa Unirii is 14th- and 15th-century St Michael’s, the second-biggest Gothic church in Romania (after Braşov’s Black Church). Its neo…
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Transylvania
The Sarmizegetusa Regia archaeological site is Romania’s Stonehenge. Only stones remain, enclosed by pretty woodlands, but they reveal compelling clues…
Transylvania
Rising above the town on a rocky promontory, Bran Castle holds visitors in thrall. An entire industry has sprouted around describing it as ‘Dracula’s…
Bucharest
Tiny Snagov Island, at the northern end of Snagov Lake, is home to Snagov Monastery and Vlad Ţepeş' alleged final resting place. The small stone church…
Museum of the Romanian Peasant
Bucharest
The collection of peasant bric-a-brac, costumes, icons and partially restored houses makes this one of the most popular museums in the city. There’s not…
Bucharest
What was supposed to be a 6km-long dam during the communist era, left abandoned after the 1989 Revolution, turned over 22 years into a vast urban delta…
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Sighişoara
Sighişoara's delightful medieval buildings are enclosed within its citadel, a Unesco-listed complex of protective walls and watchtowers. Walking in the…
Transylvania
Five kilometres from central Sibiu, this is Europe's largest open-air ethnographic museum, where churches, mills and traditional homes number among 400…
Bucharest
The city’s most prestigious burial ground houses the tombs of many notable Romanian writers – a map inside the gate points out locations. Many Romanians…
Sibiu
Brukenthal Palace is worth visiting as much for its resplendent period furnishings as for the European art within. Duck beneath the Music Room’s…
Bucharest
The tiny and lovely Stavropoleos Church, which dates from 1724, perches a bit oddly a block over from some of Bucharest's craziest Old Town carousing. It…
Bucharest
This is the lovingly restored residence and studio of 19th-century Romanian painter Theodor Aman. Aman's skill was in small, finely rendered oil paintings…
Bucharest
On the shores of Herăstrău Lake, this museum is a terrific open-air collection of several dozen homesteads, churches, mills and windmills relocated from…
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Transylvania
Not enough time to join a bear hide excursion to see these impressive carnivores lumbering through their natural habitat? Libearty Sanctuary is the next…
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Transylvania
Commonly paired with Bran Castle on day trips from Braşov, Râşnov Fortress might just be the more enchanting of the two. The medieval citadel, built by…
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Transylvania
Biertan’s late-Gothic church, ringed by concentric walls and flanked by towers, is among the largest and most impressive in Transylvania. The triple-naved…
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Braşov
Romania’s largest Gothic church rises triumphantly over Braşov’s old town. Built between 1385 and 1477, this German Lutheran church was named for its…
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Transylvania
Wondrously decorated with carved columns, apocalyptic frescoes and gardens with barely a petal out of place, Brâncoveanu Monastery is as pristine as its…
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Moldavia & the Bucovina Monasteries
Agapia Monastery is an active nunnery, housing 300 to 400 nuns in two locations. The main monastery, Agapia din Vale, stands at the western end of Agapia…
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Wallachia
While the museum houses an ethnographic and natural-sciences section, as well as an aquarium displaying Danubian species, the highlight is a scale model…
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Romania
Oradea's Orthodox synagogue dates from 1890 and was the main house of worship for around a third of the city's Jewish residents before WWII. It survived…
