Attractions in Transylvania

Romania'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.

The Orthodox cathedral inside Alba Carolina Fortress, built in 1921–1922 for the coronation of Ferdinand and Marie as king and queen of Greater Romania, with a 58 m bell tower and royal portraits in fresco.

Romania's oldest and longest cathedral, Romanesque and Gothic, at the heart of the Alba Carolina Fortress; it holds the tomb of John Hunyadi and the first Renaissance chapel in Transylvania.

A cave in the Apuseni Mountains that holds one of the largest underground glaciers in the world: a block of ice over 10,000 years old, reached by stairs down a shaft 60 m across.

A 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.

A Renaissance castle with four round towers, built by the Bethlen family on a hill above the Târnava Mică; today it is the emblem of Jidvei wines and is visited on hourly guided tours.

A modern spa complex in Ocna Mureș, opened in 2023, with heated salt-water and fresh-water pools, saunas and treatments. It is above ground only: the old salt mine cannot be visited.

An undeveloped cave in the Bihor Mountains near Casa de Piatră: a huge portal, tens of metres high, through which the Gârdișoara stream vanishes underground.

An active cave in the Trascău Mountains, with a portal almost 40 m high in the limestone wall and an underground river of lakes and waterfalls, visited only on guided tours in a wetsuit.

An 18 m waterfall spilling down a limestone wall in the Țara Moților region, near the village of Nemeși in Vidra commune; a landscape reserve 500 m from the road to Avram Iancu.

An 800 m wall of red clay and sandstone on the edge of Sebeș, carved by rain into columns, towers and earth pyramids, a badlands landscape rare in Romania.

A chain of travertine cascades on the Șipote stream, below the Bedeleu cliffs in the Trascău Mountains: the last one drops straight into the Arieș by the DN75, the upper ones are reached on a nature trail from Sălciua.

County road DJ107I, 78 km through the Trascău Mountains between Aiud and Bucium, near Abrud: villages scattered along the ridges, thatched houses and views from over 1,100 m.

National road DN1R, 80 km through the Apuseni Mountains between Huedin and Albac: past Lake Beliș-Fântânele, through the Moți villages and over the Ursoaia Pass, at about 1,320 m.

A 70–80 m chain of waterfalls, with a 25 m main drop, plunging into a huge sinkhole in the Trascău Mountains and vanishing underground; seen from a wooden balcony a short walk from the road.