Museums and memorial houses

A 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.

Stephen the Great's foundation of 1466–1469, the site of his tomb, with the Treasury Tower of 1481 and a museum holding one of the richest collections of medieval embroidery.

The former residence of Romania's kings on Revolution Square, now the National Museum of Art of Romania: the Throne Hall, the Voivodes' Staircase and the country's largest collection of Romanian and European art.

The Movilă family's fortified monastery, built in the 1580s among the hills of Bukovina, with a church painted almost entirely inside and out and the famous "Ladder of Virtues"; a UNESCO site.

The main square of old Brașov, lined with merchants' houses and dominated by the Council House, the old town hall with its watchtower, now the County History Museum, with Tâmpa as a backdrop.

Queen Marie's Art Nouveau castle, built between 1899 and 1902 next to Peleș, with the Gold Room, the Gold Bedroom and interiors designed by the queen herself; her heart is kept here.

The stone stronghold of the princes of Moldavia in Suceava, built by Peter Mușat and strengthened by Stephen the Great, with a bridge over the moat, walls over 10 m high and a display of medieval arms and treasure.

Transylvania's largest Baroque aristocratic residence, gutted in 1944 and being brought back to life by an award-winning training site; neo-Gothic façade, lapidarium and an exhibition on Miklós Bánffy.

The ruins of the oldest city on Romanian soil, a Greek colony founded by Miletus in the 7th century BC on the shore of Lake Sinoe, with the site museum alongside.

The Bucharest home of Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu from 1965 to 1989, also known as the Ceaușescu Mansion or Spring Palace, with its lavish interiors, mosaic pool and private cinema, seen on guided tours only.

The triumphal monument Trajan raised in 109 for his victory over the Dacians, reconstructed in 1977, with the original metopes in the village museum and the ruins of the Roman city nearby.

The finest Baroque palace in Transylvania, built between 1774 and 1785 on Cluj's Union Square, with classical statues along its attic; it houses the Art Museum, with five centuries of Romanian and Transylvanian painting.

Mircea the Elder's foundation on the banks of the Olt, consecrated in 1388: the Holy Trinity church, with stone-and-brick façades, a Brâncovenesc porch and the prince's tomb in the narthex.

Eclectic castle with towers and a moat, rebuilt in 1894–1896 by the Károlyi family in the middle of a three-century-old dendrological park; inside, period interiors, wax figures and African trophies.

A storybook estate in Chimindia, near Deva: a castle with a guided tour and an observation tower, a traditional village in miniature, a playground and a little train for children.