If You Like…
Folk Culture
ASTRA National Museum Complex This open-air museum in Sibiu holds some 300 reconstructed peasant huts and farmhouses in a lovely park setting.
National Village Museum Romania’s humbler origins are on display at this well-done skansen (open-air museum), situated incongruously in the middle of Bucharest.
Ethnographic Museum Occupying a wing of the stunningly renovated Palace of Culture, this collection of folk arts and crafts in Iaşi ranks among the most comprehensive in the country.
Huedin Microregion A bucolic paradise near the Apuseni Mountains much beloved by Hungarian folklorists as a stronghold of pastoral Transylvanian life.
Maramureş Large parts of this remote rural area to the north of Transylvania still feel untouched by modern times.
Castles & Fortresses
Fortified Church The whitewashed fortified church in Viscri, some 900 years old, is a splendidly restored feat of medieval engineering.
Royal Citadel Suceava's rugged and abandoned 14th-century fortress has received a high-tech makeover with amusing videos and touchscreen exhibits.
Bran Castle This mighty fortified castle got its start under the Teutonic knights as a watchtower over a strategic pass between Transylvania and Wallachia.
Peleş Castle If your taste runs to more aristocratic piles, this former residence of King Carol I will not disappoint.
Poienari Citadel Climb the 1480 steps up to this hilltop fortress that really was the stomping ground of feared Wallachian prince Vlad Ţepeş, aka Dracula.
Medieval Towns & Villages
Sighişoara The glorious 14th-century clock tower stands atop the town's citadel, marking out Transylvania's most picturesque Saxon town.
Curtea de Argeş This former Wallachian capital boasts the extensive ruins of a Princely Court with an intact, frescoed 700-year-old church.
Sibiel A pretty and remote Saxon village that recalls Little Red Riding Hood, with the village almost swallowed by the neighbouring forest; in recent winters packs of wolves have been spotted.
Ieud One of at least a dozen historic Maramureş villages; this one has two wooden churches and many traditional etched wooden gates.
Măgura The peaks of the Piatra Craiului mountains form a breathtaking backdrop to this tiny village not far from Braşov.
The Great Outdoors
Sfântu Gheorghe Relax on a pristine beach one day, scout out rare pelicans the next at the end of the Danube Delta.
Apuseni Mountains Nature Park This protected area in the northwest of the country is marked by amazing limestone formations, including arguably Romania's best caves.
Iron Gates National Park The Danube flows through a dramatic and perilously narrow gorge here along the southern border with Serbia.
Făgăraş Mountains Home to the country's tallest and most majestic mountains, with at least six peaks topping 2500m.
Around Braşov The woods and hills around Braşov are the perfect spot for tracking wild animals, including wolves, lynx and bears, on a guided tour.
Nightlife
Bucharest's Old Town The tiny lanes that once surrounded the old Princely Court have been converted into an unbroken string of bars, pubs and clubs.
Mamaia Romania’s most popular Black Sea resort is ground zero for the country’s best summer beach clubs.
Timişoara You'd expect the home of the biggest university in the west of the country to hold epic parties and you'd be right.
Cluj-Napoca Not to be outdone by Timişoara, this is another big-league college town with pubs and clubs on every corner.
Vama Veche Locals contend you haven't really partied on the Black Sea until you've pulled a beachside all-nighter here over an August weekend.
History
Palace of Parliament Former dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu's must-see alabaster albatross is an admittedly extreme example of severe, communist-era architecture.
Military Barracks The modest barracks where the Ceauşescus were executed on Christmas Day in 1989 has been reopened as a simple but chilling museum.
Former Ceauşescu Residence Grandiose or simply extreme kitsch? You be the judge as you tour the villa where the Ceauşescus lived for two decades.
Museum of the 1989 Revolution Timişoara launched the country's anticommunist revolution in 1989, and this moving exhibition tells that very brave tale.
Cucuteni Museum This gem in Piatra Neamţ highlights the ancient Cucuteni people and their provocative sculptures of feminine beauty.
National History & Archaeological Museum The amazing reach of ancient Greek and Roman cultures are displayed at Constanţa's landmark museum.
Iron Gates Museum The highlight is a scale model of the Roman bridge constructed across the Danube River in AD 103.
