Top 20 attractions in Romania

A medieval fortress built by the people of Brașov on a rock in the Bran Pass, later Queen Marie's summer residence and known around the world as “Dracula's Castle”.

John Hunyadi's Gothic residence, on a rock above the Zlaști river and reached by a long bridge on stone piers; inside, vaulted halls and towers from the 15th century.

Europe's largest wetland, a biosphere reserve and UNESCO site: channels, lakes, reed beds and over 300 bird species, from pelicans to egrets; visited by boat from Tulcea.

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 church founded by Stephen the Great in 1488, painted on the outside with the Last Judgment on a background of "Voroneț blue"; a UNESCO site near Gura Humorului.

The cemetery in Săpânța with over 800 oak crosses painted blue, showing naive scenes from the lives of those buried there and witty epitaphs in verse; begun in 1935 by the craftsman Stan Ioan Pătraș.

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.

A salt mine worked from the Middle Ages until 1932 and turned into a spectacular underground park: a Ferris wheel, a lake with rowing boats, an amphitheatre and salt walls 120 m below ground, near Cluj.