Attractions in Transylvania

A 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.

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.

A glacial lake at 2,034 m in the Bâlea cirque of the Făgăraș Mountains, at the top of the Transfăgărășan; reachable by car in summer and by cable car all year round.

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.

Romania's biggest tiered waterfall, dropping about 60 m over the lower step of the Bâlea cirque in the Făgăraș Mountains; an hour's walk up from the Bâlea Cascadă chalet on the Transfăgărășan.

A 13th-century hilltop fortress on a volcanic hill above Deva, with three enclosures restored by 2024 and wide views over the Mureș valley.

A natural dam lake formed in 1837, when a mountainside blocked the Bicaz valley; the trunks of the drowned forest still rise from the water, at the upper end of the Bicaz Gorge.

A roughly 30 m, two-tiered waterfall at the foot of the Vlădeasa massif, on the Stanciului valley near Răchițele; the water fans out over the rock like a veil, and in winter the frozen wall is an ice-climbing spot.

A reservoir on the Bistrița Ardeleană between the Bârgău and Călimani mountains, nicknamed “the sea in the mountains”, with the Colibița resort spread along its shores.

A spa resort in the Olt gorge between the Harghita and Bodoc mountains: naturally sparkling mineral springs, mofettes, a wellness centre with thermal water and trails up to Falcon Rock.

A mountain spa resort at 900 m in northern Harghita, with carbonated mineral springs you can drink from for free, old wooden villas, travertine caves and a new spa centre.

The pass where the DN1A crosses from the Teleajen valley into the Bârsa region at 1,263 m, below the Ciucaș Mountains: a mountain road between Cheia and Săcele and the trailhead for Ciucaș Peak.

A 20–30 m waterfall in the Cormaia Valley, at the foot of the Rodna Mountains near Sângeorz-Băi; a built path of about 1 km, with steps, footbridges and chains, climbs alongside its tiers.

A thermal waterfall that never freezes, spilling over a moss-covered travertine wall, a quarter of an hour's walk from the centre of the Geoagiu-Băi spa resort.