Top 100 attractions in Romania

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.

Romania's highest road: the DN67C climbs from Novaci over the Parâng Mountains to 2,145 m at the Urdele Pass and drops past Lake Oașa to Sebeș, 148 km above the clouds.

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.

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.

The second resort of the Romanian coast, on the strip between the Black Sea and Lake Techirghiol: three kilometres of fine sand and a sapropelic mud cure a few hundred metres from the waves.

The travertine gate carved by Constantin Brâncuși in 1937–1938 at the entrance to Târgu Jiu's Central Park, part of the “Heroes' Way” ensemble, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Romania's largest year-round spa resort, 8 km from Oradea: thermal springs of up to 49 °C, open-air baths that run all winter and a reserve of water lilies and thermal lotuses.

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.

A roughly 90 m waterfall that drops in several tiers down a limestone wall in the Rodna Mountains, above the resort of Borșa; reached by chairlift and a short forest walk.

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 best-known gorge in the Carpathians: the DN12C road runs between limestone walls over 300 m high, along the Bicaz river, between Lacu Roșu and Bicaz-Chei.

Romania's largest natural bridge and the only one in the world carrying a public road: a 30 m limestone arch left standing after a cave roof collapsed, in the village of Ponoarele on the Mehedinți Plateau.

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.

A pentagonal bastion fortress built by the princes of Transylvania in the 16th–17th centuries: five bastions, a princely palace housing the Oradea City Museum, and courtyards you can walk into freely.

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.