Roman Mosaic

Black Sea Coast & Littoral

　　Located just behind and south of the National History & Archaeological Museum, a modern building protects what's left of a Roman floor mosaic dating from the 4th century that was discovered in the 1960s. The site is near where the forum of ancient Tomis is thought to have existed. On...

Natural Sciences Museum Complex

Black Sea Coast & Littoral

　　The museum complex is more of a zoo than traditional museum, with exhibits on flora and fauna, including live birds and other animals, common to the Black Sea region. The complex features a dolphinarium, with daily performances of trained dolphins. Bear in mind that sea-animal encounters and similar shows have...

National History & Archaeological Museum

Black Sea Coast & Littoral

　　This is the city's most important museum, though on balance it's a minor disappointment. The stunning exhibits of vases, jewellery and statuary from the Greek and Roman periods, lasting until about AD 500, easily justify the admission price, but the top-floor exhibits on more recent times lack signage in English....

Arbore Monastery

Székely Land

　　This Unesco-protected church in the village of Arbore receives a fraction of the visitors of the other painted monasteries and hence feels more private and special. The small scale allows you to study the paintings up close, to appreciate the skills and techniques. The monastery dates from 1503 and was...

Endless Column

Székely Land

　　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 the other pieces in the central park). The 29.35m-tall structure, threaded with 15 steel beads, is meant to symbolise the synthesis of heaven and physical...

Merry Cemetery

Székely Land

　　Săpânţa village boasts the unique 'Merry Cemetery', famous for the colourfully painted wooden crosses that adorn the tombstones in the village's graveyard. Shown in art exhibitions across Europe, the crosses attract coachloads of visitors who marvel at the gentle humour of the epitaphs and the human warmth that created them....

Peleş Castle

Székely Land

　　Over 40 years, dozens of builders, artists and wood-carvers brought Peleş Castle into existence. The neo-Renaissance masterpiece was commissioned by Romania’s first king, Carol I, and its first stone laid in 1875. Today this former royal summer residence is a wildly popular tourist attraction. Visits are by compulsory 40-minute guided...

Corvin Castle

Székely Land

　　Some castles perch on mountains, others skulk in mist-shrouded hills, but Hunedoara’s juts out from an industrial jungle. Despite being surrounded by steel mills, Corvin Castle is Transylvania's most spellbinding fortress. You’ll be thunderstruck the moment you walk over the drawbridge, with pointed turrets rising above, into the stone courtyard....

Council Tower

Saxon Land

　　The former Council Tower links Piaţa Mare with its smaller sister square, Piaţa Mică. First built in the 13th century, and refortified in the 16th, it has served as storage for grain, a prison and a watchtower across its long history. ...

Bridge of Lies

Saxon Land

　　The 1859-built iron bridge is nicknamed the Bridge of Lies. Depending on who you ask, it stems either from tricky merchants who met here, or young lovers swearing their undying affection (or virginity). If you tell a lie upon it, it's supposed to creak. ...

Natural History Museum

Saxon Land

　　Ornate ceilings flanked by moose heads make this Natural History Museum worth a peep for its 19th-century architecture alone, while the dinosaur garden outside is great for kids. Exhibitions include cave bear remains from 40,000 years ago, a woolly rhino skull, and some displays of taxidermied Romanian wildlife (to the...

Pharmaceutical Museum

Saxon Land

　　On the site of Sibiu's first documented apothecary, this museum delves into the herb-scented history of medicine. More than 6600 items such as microscopes, mortars and pestles, pills, powders and shudder-inducing suppository moulding kits and surgical kits are presented around the three rooms of this 1568 building. 　　Displays about the...

City Walls

Saxon Land

　　Thirty-nine towers, each protected by different guilds, watched over medieval Sibiu. See the remaining handful by walking north up Str Cetăţii past the Potters’ Tower and then Carpenters’ Tower, to the Natural History Museum. Further along you’ll see the Haller Bastion. Named after a 16th-century mayor of Sibiu, the building...

History Museum

Saxon Land

　　This impressive museum begins with re-enactments of cave dwellers squatting in the gloom and dioramas of Dacian life. Out of these shadowy corridors, the museum opens out to illuminating exhibitions about Saxon guilds and local handicrafts (most impressive is the 19th-century glassware from Porumbacu de Sus). There's plenty of homage...

Brukenthal Palace

Saxon Land

　　Brukenthal Palace is worth visiting as much for its resplendent period furnishings as for the European art within. Duck beneath the Music Room’s chandeliers to admire colourful friezes and 18th-century musical instruments, before sidling among chambers exhibiting 17th-century portraits amid satin chaise longues and cases packed with antique jewellery. Sumptuously...

St Mary's Evangelical Church

Saxon Land

　　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 Romania, all framed by a magnificent arched ceiling. Built in stages from the mid-1300s to 1520, the church was planted atop the site of an older...

Breite Ancient Oak Tree Reserve

Sighişoara

　　Escape the crowds and visit the enchanting Breite Ancient Oak Tree Reserve, 2km west of town. Its 133 hectares boast 800-year-old oaks, with circumferences of 400cm to 600cm. ...

Cemetery

Sighişoara

　　Flowing behind the Church on the Hill, this lofty cemetery with views over Sighişoara is a suitably spine-chilling spot to ramble after visiting the church and covered stairway. ...

Scholars' Stairway

Sighişoara

　　From Piaţa Cetăţii, turn south up Str Şcolii to reach the 176-step covered stairway, which has tunnelled its way up the hill since 1642. With light dappling through the roof and buskers at the top, it's a charming ramble. ...

Church of the Dominican Monastery

Sighişoara

　　This late-Gothic church has a spooky air, and guards a trove of baroque finery inside. First mentioned in 1298, the church was rebuilt between 1482 and 1515 after Mongol and Tatar invasions, and again after Sighişoara's great fire in 1676. The bronze baptismal font dates to 1440, though most of...

Church on the Hill

Sighişoara

　　Don't miss hiking up the covered stairway to 'School Hill' (418m) to admire this evocative late-Gothic, triple-naved church. Originally a 13th-century Romanesque basilica, it was restored in Gothic style across the 14th and 15th centuries. Inside, find traces of 15th-century frescoes, Renaissance furnishings, and an impressive Gothic altarpiece (1520). 　　There's...

Clock Tower

Sighişoara

　　The multicoloured-tiled roof of Sighişoara’s Clock Tower glitters like the scales of a dragon. The tower was built in the 14th century and expanded 200 years later. It remains the prettiest sight in town, offering a magnificent panorama from the top. The views are as good a reason to visit...

Casa Vlad Dracul

Sighişoara

　　Vlad Ţepeş (aka Dracula) was reputedly born in this house in 1431 and lived here until the age of four. It's now a decent restaurant, but for a small admission the staff will show you Vlad's old room (and give you a little scare). Bubble-burster: the building is indeed centuries...

Citadel

Sighişoara

　　Sighişoara's delightful medieval buildings are enclosed within its citadel, a Unesco-listed complex of protective walls and watchtowers. Walking in the citadel is today a tranquil, fairy-tale-like experience, but these towers were once packed with weapons and emergency supplies, guarding Sighişoara from Turkish attacks (note the upper windows from which arrows...

Mihai Eminescu Museum of Literature

Iaşi

　　This museum documents the writings, life and loves of Eminescu (1850–89), Romania’s favourite writer and poet. The great love of the married poet, Veronica Micle, was married also. They each outlived their spouses but never married due to Eminescu’s deteriorating health. The busts of Micle and Eminescu face each other...

Alexandru Ioan Cuza University

Iaşi

　　This is the impressive headquarters of Romania's first university, founded in 1860. The building dates from around the turn of the 20th century and the inauguration was overseen by King Carol I himself. One of the highlights of the interior is the Gheorghe Asachi Technical Library, a beautifully restored historic...

Church of the Three Hierarchs

Iaşi

　　Built by Prince Vasile Lupu between 1637 and 1639, and restored between 1882 and 1904, this is one of Iaşi's most beautiful churches. Its exterior stone pattern work is exquisite and reveals Turkish, Georgian and Armenian influences. It also contains the marble tombs of Prince Lupu and his family (to...

Moldavian Metropolitan Cathedral

Iaşi

　　This cavernous cathedral, built between 1833 and 1839, was designed by architect Alexandru Orascu and decorated by painter Gheorghe Tattarescu. Since 1889, when the cathedral claimed the relics of Moldavia's patron saint, St Paraschiva, from the Church of the Three Hierarchs, the faithful have flocked here each October to see...

Art Museum

Iaşi

　　The art museum occupies much of the Palace of Culture's 1st floor, with some 24 chambers of paintings organised according to category: Romanian modern art, universal art (foreign works), and contemporary art. Highlights of the Romanian section include some 20 works by Nicolae Grigorescu, plus pieces by others, including Moldavian...

Botanical Gardens

Iaşi

　　Iaşi's Botanical Gardens are Romania’s first (1856) and largest (100 hectares). They sprawl across Parcul Exposiţiei's western side and offer 21km of shady lanes, 800 rose varieties and orchid gardens, plus greenhouses with tropical flowers and carnivorous plants. Kids will enjoy the lawns and small lake. The gardens are about...

Golia Monastery

Iaşi

　　This beautiful late Renaissance–style monastery is guarded by thick walls and the 30m-high Golia tower, which you can climb (120 steps) for views out over the city. The 17th-century church is notable for its vibrant Byzantine frescoes and intricately carved doorways, and features bastions from 1667. The complex also contains...

Palace of Culture

Iaşi

　　Iaşi's premier attraction and symbol of the city is the grandiose Gothic-revival Palace of Culture that dominates the horizon at the southern end of B-dul Ştefan cel Mare şi Sfânt. Though it looks as if it stepped out of a medieval fairy tale, the building is only around 100 years...

Banat Village Museum

Timişoara

　　This open-air 'village' was created in 1917 and exhibits more than 30 traditional peasant houses dating from the 19th century. Take tram 1 (black number) from the Northern Train Station. ...

Orthodox Metropolitan Cathedral

Timişoara

　　The Orthodox cathedral was built between 1936 and 1946. It's unique for its Byzantine-influenced architecture, which recalls the style of the Bucovina monasteries; the floor tiles remind of traditional Banat carpets. At 83m, the dome is the highest in Romania. ...

Timișoara Art Museum

Timişoara

　　This museum displays a representative sample of paintings and visual arts over the centuries as well as regular, high-quality temporary exhibitions. It's housed in the baroque Old Prefecture Palace (built 1754), which is worth a look inside for the graceful interiors alone. ...

St John of Nepomuk & Virgin Mary Statue

Timişoara

　　The statue of St John of Nepomuk and the Virgin Mary, located in the centre of Piaţa Libertăţii, was made in 1756 in Vienna and brought to Romania in memory of the victims of the 1738–9 plague. Etched around the monument's base is the story of hapless St John of...

Reformed Church

Timişoara

　　The 1989 revolution began at the Reformed Church, where Father László Tőkés spoke out against Ceauşescu. You can sometimes peek in at the church, and it is usually open during times of worship. ...

Synagogue in the Fortress

Timişoara

　　Built in 1865 by Viennese architect Ignatz Schuhmann, the synagogue acts as an important keynote in Jewish history – Jews in the Austro-Hungarian Empire were emancipated in 1864, when permission was given to build the synagogue. It was closed at the time of research for renovation, but the fine exterior...

Communist Consumers Museum

Timişoara

　　This museum houses an odd collection of pre-1989 consumer goods manufactured in Romania. It fills to the point of overflowing three rooms and a hallway below a popular cafe south of the centre. Most of the toys, appliances and periodicals will mean nothing to foreigners but it's worth a visit...

Museum of the 1989 Revolution

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 photography from those fateful days, capped by a graphic 20-minute video (not suitable for young children) with English subtitles. Enter from Str Oituz 2. ...

Art Museum

Braşov

　　A gallery to kill time in, more than a star attraction, the Art Museum has two floors of mostly Romanian paintings, including the luxuriant modernism of Gheorghe Vânătoru and Theodor Pallady's stirring portraits. Inexplicably, some of the collection's magnificent 19th-century landscapes are crowded together in the stairwell. ...

Hirscher House

Braşov

　　The Renaissance Hirscher House, completed in 1545, was once the largest building in Braşov. It was commissioned by Apollonia Hirscher, the widow of Braşov mayor Lucas Hirscher, so that merchants could do business without getting rained on. 　　According to a local legend, would-be grave robbers got the fright of their...

Ethnographic Museum

Braşov

　　If you've ever wondered how hemp and goat hair were transformed into Transylvania's traditional scarlet and white village-wear, this exhibition space adjoining the Art Museum has the answers. Beyond the looms are displays on local folk customs, including videos of village dances on screen. Audiovisuals are in Romanian only, but...

Old Town Fortifications

Braşov

　　Old Braşov was once enclosed by mighty fortified walls, 12m high and more than 3km-long. Built in stages between 1400 and 1650, these walls and defence towers were built in anticipation of attacks by the Turks. The most popular viewing area is along the western section, which runs along a...

Piaţa Sfatului

Braşov

　　This wide square, lined with cafes, was once the heart of medieval Braşov. In the centre stands the 1420 Council House (Casa Sfatului), topped by the Trumpeter's Tower, in which town councillors would meet. These days at midday, traditionally costumed musicians appear at the top of the tower like figures...