# Tourist attractions in Muntenia

[Romania](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/attractions)

Muntenia is the eastern half of the old principality of Wallachia, stretching from the ridges of the Southern Carpathians down to the Danube, between the Olt in the west and the Siret in the east. Over a short distance the land drops from the Bucegi and Făgăraș mountains through the Subcarpathian hills, with their vineyards, salt and spa resorts, to the Bărăgan plain and the Danube marshes. This is where Bucharest, the capital, lies, along with Ploiești, Pitești, Brăila, Buzău and Târgoviște, the former seat of the Wallachian princes. Anyone looking for tourist attractions in Muntenia will find royal castles, Brâncoveanu-era palaces and some of the most visited places in Romania.

The best-known spots are in the Prahova Valley and the mountains around it: [Peleș Castle](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/castelul-peles) in Sinaia, [the Bucegi Sphinx](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/sfinxul-din-bucegi) on the Bucegi plateau and the [Transfăgărășan](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/transfagarasan), the road that climbs from Argeș towards Bâlea. In [Bucharest](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/city/bucuresti) the [Palace of the Parliament](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/palatul-parlamentului) and the royal palaces await, on the Dâmbovița plain the [Brâncoveanu Palace in Potlogi](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/palatul-brancovenesc-potlogi), while towards the Danube [Balta Mică a Brăilei](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/balta-mica-a-brailei) preserves a strip of the floodplain of old. The counties with the most attractions are [Prahova](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/county/prahova), [Argeș](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/county/arges) and [Dâmbovița](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/county/dambovita).

## Tourist attractions

46 attractions

- [Slănic Prahova Salt Mine](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/salina-slanic-prahova) — Salt mines · Slănic, PH · 60 lei · 2 – 2½ hours · Top 20
  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.
- [Transfăgărășan](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/transfagarasan) — Scenic roads · Argeș County · Free · 3½ – 4 hours · Top 20
  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.
- [Peleș Castle](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/castelul-peles) — Castles and palaces · Sinaia, PH · 100 lei · 1 – 1½ hours · Top 20
  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.
- [Palace of the Parliament](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/palatul-parlamentului) — Castles and palaces · București · 85 lei · 1 – 1½ hours · Top 20
  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.
- [Cantacuzino Castle](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/castelul-cantacuzino) — Castles and palaces · Bușteni, PH · 85 lei · 1 – 1½ hours · Top 100
  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.
- [Văcărești Nature Park (the Văcărești Delta)](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/delta-vacaresti) — National parks and reserves · București · Free · 1½ – 2 hours · Top 100
  Romania's first urban nature park: 183 ha of ponds, reed beds and willows inside an abandoned reservoir in southern Bucharest, home to over 180 bird species, otters and foxes, a few hundred metres from the tower blocks.
- [Lake Vidraru](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/lacul-vidraru) — Lakes · Arefu, AG · Free · ½ – 1 hours · Top 100
  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.
- [Cotroceni Palace](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/palatul-cotroceni) — Castles and palaces · București · 50 lei · 1 – 1½ hours · Top 100
  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.
- [Dâmbovicioara Cave](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/pestera-dambovicioara) — Caves · Dâmbovicioara, AG · 30 min · Top 100
  A small, easy-to-visit cave on the Rucăr–Bran corridor, in Piatra Craiului National Park: a dry gallery carved by the Dâmbovicioara stream, with about 250 m laid out and lit.
- [Babele](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/babele) — Mountains and trails · Moroeni, DB · 10 lei · ½ – 1 hours · Top 100
  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.
- [Mogoșoaia Palace](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/palatul-mogosoaia) — Castles and palaces · Mogoșoaia, IF · 15 lei · 1½ – 2 hours · Top 100
  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.
- [Heroes' Cross on Caraiman Peak](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/crucea-caraiman) — Monuments and historic sites · Bușteni, PH · 10 lei · 2½ – 3 hours · Top 100
  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.
- [Ialomița Cave](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/pestera-ialomitei) — Caves · Moroeni, DB · 30 lei · ½ – 1 hours · Top 100
  A cave cut into the wall of the Ialomița Gorge, in the heart of the Bucegi Mountains at 1,660 m, with a monastery built against its mouth and 480 m of lit galleries leading to the Bears' Hall and the Altar.
- [Iulia Hasdeu Castle](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/castelul-iulia-hasdeu) — Castles and palaces · Câmpina, PH · 18 lei · ½ – 1 hours · Top 100
  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.
- [Lake Snagov](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/lacul-snagov) — Lakes · Snagov, IF · Free · Top 100
  A liman lake some 16 km long, 40 km north of Bucharest, between forests, villas and jetties, with a water-lily reserve in the middle and Snagov Monastery on an island.
- [Pelișor Castle](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/castelul-pelisor) — Castles and palaces · Sinaia, PH · 30 lei · ½ – 1 hours · Top 100
  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.
- [Poenari Citadel](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/cetatea-poenari) — Fortresses and fortifications · Căpățânenii Ungureni, AG · 30 lei · 1½ – 2 hours · Top 100
  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.
- [Primăverii Palace](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/palatul-primaverii) — Castles and palaces · București · 85 lei · 45 min · Top 100
  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.
- [Royal Palace](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/palatul-regal) — Castles and palaces · București · 32 lei · 2½ – 3 hours · Top 100
  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 Bucegi Sphinx](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/sfinxul-din-bucegi) — Mountains and trails · Moroeni, DB · 10 lei · ½ – 1 hours · Top 100
  An 8 m conglomerate rock shaped by wind, frost and rain that, from certain angles, looks like a human head; it stands on the Bucegi plateau at 2,216 m, next to Babele.
- [Therme București](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/therme-bucuresti) — Resorts and thermal baths · Balotești, IF · 71 lei · 4 – 4½ hours · Top 100
  A thermal and wellness complex on the edge of Bucharest, on the DN1: geothermal pools under a glass dome full of palm trees, water slides, saunas and a sandy beach open in summer.
- [Urlătoarea Waterfall](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/cascada-urlatoarea) — Waterfalls · Bușteni, PH · 10 lei · 2 – 2½ hours · Top 100
  A roughly 15 m waterfall on the eastern slopes of the Bucegi Mountains, an hour's easy forest walk from Bușteni; the most visited waterfall in the massif and a classic outing on the Prahova Valley.
- [Neajlov Delta](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/delta-neajlovului) — National parks and reserves · Comana, GR · 5 lei · 2½ – 3 hours
  The roughly 1,100 ha Neajlov marsh in Comana Natural Park, with channels, reed beds and waterbirds, less than an hour from Bucharest; seen by small boat, rowing boat or kayak.
- [Balta Mică a Brăilei](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/balta-mica-a-brailei) — Deltas · Brăila, BR · 80 lei · 1½ – 2 hours
  The last stretch of free-flooding Danube floodplain between Giurgeni and Brăila: seven river islands, 52 lakes and over 200 bird species, reached only by boat.
- [Berca Mud Volcanoes](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/vulcanii-noroiosi-berca) — National parks and reserves · Berca, BZ · 4 lei · 1 – 1½ hours
  Two plateaus of cold-mud cones and craters, Pâclele Mari and Pâclele Mici, in a nature reserve in the Buzău Subcarpathians, with a lunar-landscape feel.
- [People's Salvation Cathedral](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/catedrala-mantuirii-neamului) — Monasteries and churches · București · Free · ½ – 1 hours
  Romania's National Cathedral, on Arsenal Hill next to the Palace of the Parliament: a 127 m Neo-Byzantine church with its altar consecrated in 2018 and its painting consecrated in 2025, open to visitors only in announced periods.
- [Telega Salt Baths](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/baile-telega) — Resorts and thermal baths · Telega, PH
  Salt lakes formed over the old salt mines of Telega, near Câmpina: in summer you swim in water holding almost 277 g of salts per litre. The mine galleries cannot be visited.
- [Transbucegi](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/transbucegi) — Scenic roads · Dâmbovița County · 10 lei · 2½ – 3 hours
  The DJ713 climbs from the DN71 near Sinaia over 16 km of tarmac to 1,925 m at Piatra Arsă: the only road that takes you by car onto the Bucegi plateau.
- [Arch of Triumph](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/arcul-de-triumf) — Monuments and historic sites · București · 15 lei · 45 min
  The 27 m interwar monument at the end of Șoseaua Kiseleff, built in memory of the Great Union, with 292 steps up to a terrace overlooking northern Bucharest.
- [Brâncoveanu Palace in Potlogi](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/palatul-brancovenesc-potlogi) — Castles and palaces · Potlogi, DB · 30 lei · 1 – 1½ hours
  The princely court built by Constantin Brâncoveanu in 1698 for his eldest son, with a loggia-fronted palace, walled courtyards and restored gardens, ~50 km from Bucharest.
- [Bucharest Zoo](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/gradina-zoologica-bucuresti) — Zoos and aquariums · București · 20 lei · 1½ – 2 hours
  The capital's zoological garden, open since 1959 in Băneasa Forest, with tigers, lions, bears, wolves, zebras, monkeys and more than 150 species on almost 6 hectares.
- [Capra Lake](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/lacul-capra) — Lakes · Argeș County · Free · 2½ – 3 hours
  A glacial lake at 2,230 m on the southern side of the Făgăraș Mountains, just below the ridge; about an hour's walk from Bâlea Lake, over the Capra saddle.
- [Capra Waterfall](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/cascada-capra) — Waterfalls · Argeș County · Free · 20 min
  A waterfall of about 40 m on the Capra stream, right beside the Transfăgărășan on the southern side of the Făgăraș Mountains, at 1,690 m; you see it from the bridge, without any hiking.
- [Caraiman Waterfall](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/cascada-caraiman) — Waterfalls · Bușteni, PH · 10 lei · 2½ – 3 hours
  A waterfall on the rock step at the head of the Jepi valley, below the Caraiman chalet in the Bucegi; it only flows in full in late spring and early summer, hence its nickname of the ‘ghost waterfall’.
- [Cașoca Waterfall](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/cascada-casoca) — Waterfalls · Siriu, BZ · Free · ½ – 1 hours
  A waterfall of about 8 m dropping over a sandstone ledge in a wooded gorge of the Cașoca Valley, near Lake Siriu; also known as the Pruncea Waterfall, it can be reached by car almost to its foot.
- [Cișmigiu Gardens](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/parcul-cismigiu) — Parks and gardens · București · Free · 1 – 1½ hours
  Bucharest's oldest public park, laid out from 1847 in the landscape style around a lake, with shady avenues, the Writers' Rotunda and romantic stone corners, right in the city centre.
- [Dimitrie Gusti National Village Museum](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/muzeul-national-al-satului-dimitrie-gusti) — Museums and memorial houses · București · 40 lei · 2 – 2½ hours
  An open-air ethnographic museum on the shore of Lake Herăstrău, in the middle of Bucharest: farmsteads, wooden churches, mills and workshops brought from all over the country and rebuilt here since 1936.
- [Grigore Antipa National Museum of Natural History](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/muzeul-de-istorie-naturala-grigore-antipa) — Museums and memorial houses · București · 32 lei · 1½ – 2 hours
  The museum on Kiseleff Road holds the 1907 dioramas, the Deinotherium skeleton and over 2 million zoological, palaeontological and mineralogical pieces, in a building inaugurated in 1908.
- [King Michael I Park (Herăstrău)](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/parcul-regele-mihai-i-herastrau) — Parks and gardens · București · Free · 2 – 2½ hours
  Bucharest's largest park, on the shore of Lake Herăstrău: nearly 190 hectares of strolling paths, the Japanese Garden, Caryatid Alley and Rose Island.
- [Lake Bolboci](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/lacul-bolboci) — Lakes · Moroeni, DB · 10 lei · ½ – 1 hours
  A reservoir on the Ialomița at 1,438 m, in the heart of the Bucegi Mountains, held back by a 55 m stone dam and ringed by spruce forest, between the Tătaru and Zănoaga gorges.
- [Lake Siriu](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/lacul-siriu) — Lakes · Siriu, BZ · Free · ½ – 1 hours
  A reservoir over 10 km long in the Buzău valley, between the Siriu and Podu Calului mountains; the DN10 winds along its shore over viaducts, with views of the water and the 122 m rockfill dam.
- [Manuc's Inn](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/hanul-lui-manuc) — Monuments and historic sites · București · Free · 45 min
  An inn from 1808, built by the merchant and diplomat Manuc Bei beside the Old Court: a listed building with an inner courtyard and wooden balconies, where the 1812 Russo-Turkish peace talks took place.
- [National Museum of the Romanian Peasant](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/muzeul-national-al-taranului-roman) — Museums and memorial houses · București · 20 lei · 1½ – 2 hours
  The museum in the Neo-Romanian building on Kiseleff Road, named European Museum of the Year in 1996, keeps over 100,000 objects of peasant art and civilisation.
- [Romanian Athenaeum](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/ateneul-roman) — Monuments and historic sites · București · 15 lei · 45 min
  The concert hall in the heart of Bucharest, built in 1886–1888 and paid for largely by public subscription: Ionic columns outside, a fresco over 70 m long telling the story of the Romanians inside.
- [Stavropoleos Monastery](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/manastirea-stavropoleos) — Monasteries and churches · București · Free · 30 min
  A small convent in the Old Town with a Brâncoveanu-style church from 1724, façades painted with saints in medallions, an arcaded courtyard and a lapidary of stones from vanished Bucharest churches.
- [Zbuciumată Waterfall](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/cascada-zbuciumata) — Waterfalls · Nucșoara, AG · Free · 30 min
  A waterfall of almost 100 m in three tiers on the side of the Valea Rea valley in the Făgăraș Mountains, below Moldoveanu Peak; it can be seen from Stâna lui Burnei, at the end of the forest road from Slatina.

## Counties

- [Argeș](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/county/arges)
- [Brăila](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/county/braila)
- [Buzău](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/county/buzau)
- [Călărași](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/county/calarasi)
- [Dâmbovița](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/county/dambovita)
- [Giurgiu](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/county/giurgiu)
- [Ialomița](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/county/ialomita)
- [Ilfov](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/county/ilfov)
- [Prahova](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/county/prahova)
- [Teleorman](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/county/teleorman)
- [Bucharest](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/city/bucuresti)

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Full page: https://peplaiuri.ro/en/region/muntenia
Other languages: Română: https://peplaiuri.ro/regiune/muntenia.md · Deutsch: https://peplaiuri.ro/de/region/muntenia.md · Italiano: https://peplaiuri.ro/it/regione/muntenia.md
Source: Pe Plaiuri (https://peplaiuri.ro/en) — Guide to tourist attractions in Romania