The fortresses of Romania span two millennia: from the Dacian fortifications of the Orăștie Mountains and the Greek colonies on the Black Sea shore, to the princely seats of the rulers of Moldavia and Wallachia and the walled towns and fortified churches built by the Transylvanian Saxons. Most are concentrated in southern Transylvania, where almost every Saxon village had its own defensive wall, but also in Moldavia, along the line of Stephen the Great's fortresses. Some are hilltop ruins overlooking the plain; others have been restored and house museums.
Alba Carolina Fortress is the largest bastion fortress in the country, while Sighișoara Citadel is a still-inhabited medieval town on the UNESCO World Heritage list. Sarmizegetusa Regia takes you back to the time of the Dacians, the Suceava Princely Fortress to medieval Moldavia, and Histria Citadel to ancient Dobruja.
146 results
Top 20A medieval fortress built by the people of Brașov on a rock in the Bran Pass, later Queen Marie's summer residence and known around the world as “Dracula's Castle”.
Top 20A moated, bastioned fortress in the centre of Făgăraș, seat of the princes of Transylvania in the 17th century and now home to the Făgăraș Land Museum.
Top 20Romania's largest bastion fortress, a seven-pointed star built by the Habsburgs in 1715–1738 at Alba Iulia; baroque gates, cathedrals, the Union Hall and a changing of the guard, all with free access.
Top 20A Saxon-built, still-inhabited medieval walled town on a hill above the Târnava Mare, with guild towers and the famous Clock Tower; a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1999.
Top 20The Saxon church on the hill in the middle of the village, guarded by three rings of walls and towers; inside, Romania's largest polyptych altarpiece and a door with a lock from 1515.
Top 20The capital of the Dacian kingdom, hidden in the beech forests of the Orăștie Mountains: the walls of Decebalus's fortress, the paved road and the sacred area with andesite and limestone sanctuaries, a UNESCO site.
Top 100Vlad the Impaler's fortress, perched on a ridge above the Argeș Gorge on the Transfăgărășan; 1,480 steps lead up to walls that look out over the whole valley.
Top 100A Saxon peasant fortress climbing in tiers up a basalt hill above the town of Rupea, first recorded in 1324 and restored in 2010–2013, with wide views over the Transylvanian hills.
Top 100A pentagonal bastion fortress built by the princes of Transylvania in the 16th–17th centuries: five bastions, a princely palace housing the Oradea City Museum, and courtyards you can walk into freely.
Top 100A 13th-century count's residence, bought by the Saxon villagers in 1430 and turned into a peasant fortress: a Romanesque keep, two rings of walls and a chapel, in a valley near Sebeș.
Top 100One of the largest Saxon fortified churches: a Gothic church on a cross-shaped plan, ringed by an oval wall with over 270 refuge rooms reached by timber galleries.
Top 100A Late Gothic Saxon church beside the DN13, with a bell tower modelled on Sighișoara's Clock Tower; on the hill above the village stand the walls of a 14th-century peasant fortress.
Top 100A medieval Moldavian fortress on a rocky spur above Târgu Neamț, built by the Mușatin princes and strengthened by Stephen the Great, which held out against Mehmed II's siege in 1476.
Top 100A medieval peasant fortress on a rocky hill above Râșnov, looking out to the Bucegi and Piatra Craiului mountains; the upper enclosure is under restoration, but the Fortress Garden and Báthory Tower are open.
Top 100A 13th-century hilltop fortress on a volcanic hill above Deva, with three enclosures restored by 2024 and wide views over the Mureș valley.
Top 20Top 20Top 20Top 20Top 20Top 20Top 100Top 100Top 100Top 100Top 100Top 100Top 100Top 100Top 100
