I highly recommend reading my previous post about Romania before diving into this one. A few of the references I make below are explained in more detail there.
If you could only see the number of intros I’ve written and deleted for this post. My gosh, all those poor, wasted words. I used to do this for a living, you know—sell people on destinations with just a few evocative sentences. But Romania is complicated.
Don’t misunderstand me: Sean and I both loved it. It’s astoundingly beautiful and unspoiled, supremely friendly and affordable, and delightfully rough around the edges.
But it also has the highest poverty rate in the EU, and the second-highest rate of emigration in the world after Syria. It might look like a fairytale with its castles and wooden churches, but it has faced (and continues to face) real hardships. It’s an emotional gut-punch. Plus, it just doesn’t have tourism down to a science yet like its more westerly neighbors. Guided tours and day trips are very hard to find, sites can be closed or only half-way operational without warning, and even getting to local attractions can be a pain.
I don’t have a 100-word elevator pitch, but what I do have is on the ground experience. If you’re curious what the heck it’s like to travel in Romania, here it is—the whole story—warts and all:
Our itinerary
We spent 14 nights in Romania, but the route we took could definitely be covered in less time. (We tend to linger a little longer in places because constant transferring is inefficient and expensive.)
If we did it again as responsible adults, we’d cut a few nights from every city, add at least one more destination—Cluj-Napoca (the “capital” of Transylvania) or Maramureș (the very remote and very authentic northern region)—and rent a car (more on that later). Here’s where we went:
Bucharest (3 nights): “Dreary,” “dirty,” “communist-era hellscape”—Romania’s capital doesn’t exactly come highly recommended. But we actually enjoyed it. There are a few pearls tucked into the featureless concrete city blocks, and it’s the best place to learn about Romania’s history and modern struggles.
Braşov (4 nights): We. Loved. Braşov. And not just because we stayed in a freakin’ WINE CAVE while we were there. It’s very cute, and it’s the second-largest city in Transylvania, so there’s a lot going on. It’s also a good base camp for reaching Peleş and Bran castles.
Sighişoara (3 nights): Tiny Sighişoara is a fortified town with a kaleidoscope of character. (Plus, Vlad Țepeș was born there, which gives it some vampire cred.) The other cities we went to were very cosmopolitan, but Sighişoara felt like an authentic Romanian small town (complete with wood burning fireplaces and backyard farms that were used out of necessity). It’s beautiful, but there isn’t a ton to do.
Sibiu (4 nights): It didn’t get much more German than Sibiu. The city’s German name (Hermannstadt) is plastered all over the place, the Lutheran church is its defining feature, and they were even setting up a Christmas market when we left. It’s also a foodie paradise—we ran out of time to try all the restaurants and craft beer places we found.
The highlights
Romania doesn’t have a singular defining site. There’s no Eiffel Tower, no Buckingham Palace, no blue-domed houses stacked above the sea. What it does have is castles and fortified towns galore, plus an abundance of untamed outdoor space.
Everything in Romania feels just a little unkempt, and that’s just the way we like it:
Palace of the Parliament (Bucharest): This place has such a sinister history that it’s weird to call it a “highlight.” But it was fascinating, and if you’re not on your guard, you might even be impressed by its sprawling marble-and-gold interior.
Peleş Castle (Sinaia): This might be the platonic ideal of a McMansion (yes, a king actually lived there, but construction wasn’t finished until 1914, so I think it qualifies). It’s an absolutely stunning place in an equally stunning setting. I took a lot of interior design notes.
Tâmpa Mountain (Braşov): This mountain is just outside the city walls, so it’s easy to get to and offers great views into Braşov. The unmanicured trails are also lined with warning signs about bears and other wild creatures, which added a layer of drama.
Our freakin’ WINE CAVE (Braşov): I’ve never stayed anywhere cooler than a wine cave. Ours was full of antiques, had a great big kitchen, and only cost $40/night. I’ll be honest—we spent a lot of time in it.
Scholar’s Stairs (Sighişoara): Built in the 17th century (and probably not renovated since) this covered wooden stairway connects Sighişoara’s lower town to its hilltop Gothic cathedral and massive cemetery. It was overcast and rainy on the day we climbed, and we felt like we’d stepped into a vampire movie when we reached the top.
Lutheran Cathedral of St. Mary (Sibiu): The big draw at this massive 14th-century church is the 240-foot tall steeple. It offers amazing views all the way to the Carpathian Mountains. The only way to get up there was with a 5 Lei/person ($1.18) tour, which we grudgingly agreed to. But it turned out to be excellent! Our guide took us deep inside the rickety guts of the church, explained its Protestant vs. Catholic history, and gave us the complete rundown of Sibiu’s German roots.
The infrastructure
I’m going to give it to you straight: Romanian public transit is not good. (Anything is better than what we have in the U.S., but it’s lightyears behind Western Europe.)
Trains and busses are shabby German hand-me-downs, and they are s-l-o-o-o-w. They also don’t run all that often or to all that many places. Allow me to illustrate with a few word pictures:
We were told the train from Braşov to Sighişoara was slower and more expensive than the bus, so naturally we opted for the bus. It was literally falling apart at the seams, and we were definitely the only foreigners onboard. (The driver exclaimed “oh my godt” when we told him where we were from.) It took 3.5 hours to travel 72 miles, which included stops at three mechanic shops to fix a flat tire.
Sighişoara is just 57 miles from Sibiu, but there’s no direct train—we had to connect in Copşa Mică, around the halfway point. It took 45 minutes to go the first 30 miles, and a little over an hour to go the remaining 27 miles.
We’d planned to rent a car for a day in Sighişoara to visit the Salina Turda salt mine. When no automatics were available, we decided to try our luck in larger Sibiu. When we struck out again, we looked into the bus: the 90-mile journey would’ve taken three hours (one way!). We opted to stay in Sibiu and get brunch and massages instead.
Sean’s Romanian friend strongly recommended renting a car, but it would’ve eaten up a third of our daily budget. (While the trains and busses weren’t spectacular, they were incredibly cheap. The two-hour, multi-train odyssey to Sibiu only cost $5/person.) If we did it all over again with a grown-up budget, we would travel by car exclusively to get to more places quicker and easier.
The food
Yes yes, more please! Romanian food is rich, hearty, and absolutely delicious. Pork and sour cream are used to excess. Sausage and polenta are ubiquitous.
We ate and drank like kings in fancy wine caves and cozy taverns, and we never paid more than $35 for an entire meal (including drinks and dessert). These were some of our favorite indulgences:
Mici: A slightly spongy, casingless sausage made of a variety of ground meat is outstanding with a beer and the local mustard.
Sarmale: Cabbage rolls stuffed with ground pork and rice. The ones we had were always served with a hefty mound of polenta.
Bulz: A thick polenta porridge mixed with sheep’s cheese. We preferred ours topped with sausage (naturally).
Ciorbă: Sour soups are on almost every menu. We bravely tried the beloved tripe variety (it tasted like garlicky noodles), but our favorite was fasole (beans) served in a bread bowl.
Papanaşi: If you follow me on Instagram, you saw these donuts topped with sour cream and tangy fruit jam almost every day.
The people
Romanians are, without a doubt, some of the most outgoing and hospitable people we’ve encountered in Europe. Whenever someone would do something nice for us, we’d smile, shrug, and say “that’s Romania.” It happened all the time:
When we were walking down the stairs to the Bucharest metro, a perfect Romanian gentleman asked if I needed help with my bag. It’s the only offer I’ve gotten in the past three months.
When we looked confused at the bus station in Braşov, three locals rallied around us (including a woman who spoke absolutely no English) to make sure we had our tickets and knew where to go.
When we were mulling beer purchases at a pizza place in Sibiu, one of the workers appeared out of nowhere and explained every option to us without being asked.
And then there were the expats, like Sean’s Romanian friend who had us over for dinner at her house in Germany, gave us tons of recommendations, and arranged for us to meet up with her brother in Bucharest. Or my brother’s Romanian friend in Vienna who let us stay at her Airbnb in Sibiu for free!
The TL;DR version is this: Uninitiated travelers ought to get a few stamps from Italy, the UK, or Germany before attempting a Romanian vacation. But if you’ve already seen most of Europe’s traditional highlights and you’re looking for a cheap and bucolic thrill, Sean and I both highly recommend it. Have a papanaşi for us and say “alo!” to the locals. I guarantee they’ll say it back.
What’s the first thing you think of when I say Colombia? Cocaine? Pablo Escobar? Narcos? FARC? Terrorism? That’s fair. But what if I told you everything you thought you knew about the country is wrong?