Attractions in Muntenia

The DN7C crosses the Făgăraș Mountains for 151 km, from the Vidraru dam up to the glacial Bâlea Lake at 2,042 m, then winds down in hairpin bends into Transylvania.

King Carol I's summer residence, built between 1873 and 1914 at the foot of the Bucegi Mountains in Sinaia, with carved wooden interiors, armouries and stained glass.

The heaviest building in the world, raised by Ceaușescu in the 1980s on Spirii Hill; the guided tour passes through marble-clad state rooms hung with crystal chandeliers weighing several tonnes.

The Unirea mine, dug between 1938 and 1970, is a string of 14 salt halls over 50 m high, 208 m underground, which you reach by minibus; 100 km from Bucharest.

The Neo-Romanian summer residence of the 'Nabob' Gheorghe Grigore Cantacuzino, with a ballroom lined with coats of arms, a terrace facing the Bucegi Mountains and the Nevermore Academy exterior from Wednesday.

A reservoir over 10 km long on the Argeș, held back by the 166 m Vidraru arch dam; the Transfăgărășan runs along its crest, watched over by a statue of Prometheus.

The royal residence of King Ferdinand and Queen Marie, today the seat of the Romanian Presidency and the National Cotroceni Museum: period salons, the king's library, the queen's apartments and Șerban Cantacuzino's rebuilt church.

The Brâncovenesc palace built by Constantin Brâncoveanu in 1702, with its carved stone loggia, the old kitchen, a church from 1688 and a large lakeside park, 15 km from the centre of Bucharest.

The stone mushrooms of the Bucegi plateau, at ~2,200 m: conglomerate rocks worn by wind, frost and rain, a few minutes from the Bușteni cable car and the Sphinx.

A 39 m steel cross raised in the 1920s on the edge of the Caraiman escarpment, at 2,291 m, in memory of the heroes of the First World War; it can be seen from all over Bușteni.

The temple-castle built by Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu in memory of his daughter Iulia, to plans he claimed she gave him in spiritualist séances; today a memorial museum.

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.

Vlad 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.

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 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.