Things to do in Romania

Bucharest, Brașov and Cluj-Napoca each carry their own weight here. What is left over is a different Romania: Saxon towns, a gold-mining range, and wooden churches in the far north. It rewards the detour.

Sibiu, and the castle behind it

Sibiu was founded by Transylvanian Saxons in 1191. They called it Hermannstadt, and its main square, Piața Mare, still wears their old guild-town shape. Corvin Castle stands about ninety minutes east by road, at Hunedoara, seat of John Hunyadi, whose son Matthias became king in 1458.

• Sibiu's old town — walled lanes, guild towers like the Carpenters' Tower, a covered Liars' Bridge, and wine cellars now open for tastings.
• Corvin Castle — a Gothic-Renaissance fortress rebuilt through the 1400s, one of the largest in south-eastern Europe, with a well dug, legend says, by three Turkish prisoners.
• Alba Iulia — a star-shaped Vauban citadel between Sibiu and Cluj, where Transylvania's union with Romania was declared in 1918.

Gold, wood, and the far north

Roșia Montană, deep in the Apuseni, is where Rome mined gold for over a century and a half. Work began there in 106 CE. It ran 166 years, until the Romans withdrew from Dacia in 271 CE.

Maramureș, further north again, keeps something older still. Its wooden churches, eight of them on the UNESCO list, run to a single tall spire, shingled top to bottom. Some have stood since the 1600s.

Practical

• Weather. Bucharest's summers push past 30C in August and its winters sit near freezing; Transylvania runs colder still, and Brașov county once recorded minus 38.5C.
• Currency. The leu, not the euro; cards work in cities, while cash still matters in villages.
• Getting around. Trains link Bucharest to Brașov in about two and a half hours; Cluj to Sibiu is about two hours by road.
• Wine. Sibiu's cellars and the hills around it pour reds and whites most visitors have never heard of before arriving.
• Booking ahead. Corvin Castle and the Maramureș churches want a car or a private driver; public transport there is thin.