Must see attractions in Romania

Some castles perch on mountains, others skulk in mist-shrouded hills, but Hunedoara’s juts out from an industrial jungle. Despite being surrounded by…

Over 40 years, dozens of builders, artists and wood-carvers brought Peleş Castle into existence. The neo-Renaissance masterpiece was commissioned by…

The Palace of Parliament is the world’s second-largest administrative building (after the Pentagon) and former dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu’s most infamous…

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…

Săpânţa village boasts the unique 'Merry Cemetery', famous for the colourfully painted wooden crosses that adorn the tombstones in the village's graveyard…

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…

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…

This is an ideal venue to brush up on the December 1989 anticommunist revolution that began here in Timişoara. Displays include documentation, posters and…

Alba Carolina Citadel is the crowning attraction of Alba Iulia. Within this star-shaped citadel are museums, churches and the Unification Hall that sealed…

The exquisite Athenaeum is the majestic heart of Romania’s classical-music tradition. Scenes from Romanian history are featured on the interior fresco…

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…

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…

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…

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…

Encircled by a moat fringed with willow trees, Făgăraş Citadel is an impressively intact fortification from medieval Transylvania. The oldest part of this…

Suceava's rugged, abandoned 14th-century citadel has gotten a high-tech makeover, allowing visitors to scramble over the rocks and into the various…

This ornate secessionist-style building, ostentatiously tiled on the outside and colourfully furnished within, is unlike anything else in Transylvania…

This small, spare museum just outside the train station contains the military barracks where former Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu and his wife Elena…

The Poienari Citadel was once a powerful fortress guarding entry to a strategic pass linking Wallachia with Transylvania. The castle's vantage point was…

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…