Castles are one of the most prominent national monuments in Romania and some are so widely recognized that their fame echoes around the world. These are, of course, the castles associated with the infamous region of Transylvania and the stories about Count Dracula. Nevertheless, there are many more castles in the country and each is …
Romania’s capital and largest city is a lively and entertaining place to visit, with a vibrant culture that’s been on the rise ever since the country’s communist dictatorship fell from power. There’s much to do and much to see in Bucharest, but once you have explored the streets and museums and hung out in the …
If this intoxicating city in the Southern Carpathians has a German air there’s a good reason. In the Middle Ages Brașov was developed and settled by Saxons invited to settle here by Hungarian Kings. Tax exemptions allowed German merchants to build their fortunes, trading with both Western Europe and the Ottoman Empire which was on …
A city that demands to be experienced on foot, Sibiu in southern Transylvania is home to Romania’s largest German minority. On a slope with intricate rings of fortifications, the city made a clear division between the Lower Town for artisans and merchants, and the Upper Town for the more affluent citizens and religious elite. Between …
A city loaded with history and culture, Suceava was the throne of the Medieval Principality of Moldavia until the 1565. You can step inside the churches where the princes were crowned and see the unconquerable fortress they built to repel the Ottomans. Suceava is also the jumping-off point for trips around the painted monasteries of …
The story of this thrilling Transylvanian town begins in the 12th century when the King of Hungary invited Saxon merchants to move to the region. Sighișoara soon became a place of military and commercial value in the Holy Roman Empire, and the city’s flourishing guilds built a citadel on the hilltop. A UNESCO World Heritage …
A dynamic and youthful university city, the capital of Transylvania is Romania’s second most populous urban centre. True to Transylvania’s Saxon background, Cluj-Napoca is endowed with Gothic wonders like the Stunning St Michael’s Church and the Reformed Church. Cluj-Napoca also has an exciting historical legacy as the home of Hungarian dukes and the birthplace of …
In the last northern outcrops of the Poiana Ruscă mountains, Deva sits at the base of an extinct volcano crowned with the ruins of a fortress. These stone walls have been left to decay since an explosion during the Wallachian Revolution of 1848. To lift you up the vertiginous slope to see the ruins is …
Capital of the Banat region in western Romania, Timișoara will forever by known for the Romanian Revolution in 1989. This was where street protests among the Hungarian minority descended into social unrest and fighting, and on 20 December 1989 Timișoara was the first city in the country to rid itself of Nicolae Ceaușescu’s regime. For …
A city of culture in a constant state of flux, Bucharest has been shaped by earthquakes, war and the whims of a dictator. And now in the middle of a construction boom there’s a new wave of snazzy glass facades and high-rise towers that multiply by the year. But you can still find big patches …