24 Hours in Romania

A Quick Guide on What to Do in Romania

DAY 1: BUCHAREST

If you are flying in – logistically it makes the most sense to start in Bucharest. It is the capital and largest city and will likely have the cheapest flights.

1. Walking Tour
I like to ideally start every city trip with a walking tour. This is a great way to orient yourself, see the major landmarks, and learn a bit about the history and culture in the city.

Below are a few different companies that offer free tours. I used the first one, but the other two also have good reviews:

Tina Tip: Even though they are “free” tours – the guides generally work for tips so come with cash and donate what you can. I usually give somewhere between 15-30€.

2. Stavropoleos Monastery Church: Strada Stavropoleos 4
This is a super beautiful Eastern Orthodox monastery centrally located in the Old Town. Built in 1724 in the Brâncovenesc style. This monastery is also known for having the largest collection of Byzantine music books. Make sure you also check out the pretty court yard.

3. Lunch at Caru’ cu bere: Strada Stavropoleos 5
Right around the corner from the Stavropoleos Monastery Church is this traditional restaurant. Serving up all sorts of Romanian food, my sister and I actually went here twice. Our favorite eats were the cabbage rolls, polenta and pork knuckle, as well as the vegetarian platter. This starter tasty homemade zacusca (roasted red pepper and bean dip) and vinete (eggplant salad) – which we loved so much we made it at home! For dessert we tried the donuts with jam and sour cream which were insanely good. Besides the yummy food, the beautiful wood paneling and stained glass windows make it such a lovely spot for a nice meal and a break from all the walking.

4. Visit the Palace of Parliament
This big guy is the heaviest building in the world at a whopping 4,098,500,000 kilograms / 9.04 billion pounds aka a “shit ton.” The construction of the Palace began in 1984, on the initiative of Nicolae Ceausescu, the Romanian communist dictator. He was a bit of a showy dude, and wanted to make the Parliament large and lavish to demonstrate a sense of power. His dream was to speak from the large balcony, but he never got the chance to because he was executed in 1984 – before the completion of the building. Ironically, the first one to ever speak from it was Michael Jackson in 1992 and he said “Hello Budapest” which is a somewhat classic mix-up between the capital of Hungry and Romania but obviously annoying for the locals.

Ceausescu and his wife’s executions were actually televised (yeah super dark) but if you are interested in reading more about it – I have definitely gone down a rabbit hole of Wikipedia pages. Here is one that is fascinating: Trial and execution of Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu

Anyways – a highly recommend getting tickets and getting a tour. They take you around several rooms all with unique and somewhat over the top décor which, of course, is fun to see. The ticket is also very reasonably priced (7-10€).

5. Dinner
Here are some other great options:

Manuc’s Inn: Strada Halelor 9
Located in the oldest operating hotel building in Bucharest, this is such a great dinner spot! Tons of dishes, more delicious vinete and live traditional Romanian music to enjoy!

Crama Domnească: Strada Stavropoleos 5
More delicious Romanian dishes. We loved the bread bowls!

6. Check out the nightlife!
There are tons of cool bars in the Old Town to explore! Here are some fun ones that we tried:

Beer O’Clock: Strada Gabroveni 4
Corks: Strada Băcani nr. 1
Abel’s Wine Bar: Strada Nicolae Tonitza 10
Nomad Skybar: Etaj 2, Strada Smârdan 30
The Druken Lords: Intrarea Nicolae Șelari 3-5

Honorable Mentions
If you have some more time in Bucharest here are a few other things you should check out.

“Dimitrie Gusti” National Village Museum: Şoseaua Pavel D. Kiseleff 28-30
This open air museum showcases what traditional Romanian village life looked like.

Arcul de Triumf: Piața Arcul de Triumf

Bucharest Botanical Garden: Șoseaua Cotroceni 32

National Museum of Romanian History: Calea Victoriei 12

DAY 2: TRANSYLVANIA

The spookiness, castles and Dracula are often what draws tourists to this region in Romania. As someone who is way too obsessed with castles this leg of the trip was my absolute favorite. If you are not the type to want to rent a car – there are tons of great organized day trips to different areas in the Transylvania region. My sister and I booked a day trip from Bucharest to the Dracula Castle & Brasov. We booked it through Get My Guide and this was a great way to see a lot in a short amount of time. If you want to drive around and do your own thing I would still totally recommend the stops we made on this tour.

Peleș Castle: Aleea Peleșului 2, Sinaia
This Neo-Renaissance masterpiece in the Carpathian Mountains was my favorite castle of the day. The outside is stunning with exquisite details, large statues, and a lovely terrace. You can easily spend a lot of time snapping pictures of every angle. I really enjoyed the tour inside the property as well. You learn a lot about how modern Peleș was as it became the world’s first castle fully powered by locally produced electricity. The rich history about King Carol and his specific wants for the castle’s look and feel is fascinating. It is definitely worth going inside and learning about the King while gawking at the lavish furnishings and meticulously decorated rooms.

Bran Castle (aka Dracula’s Castle): Strada General Traian Moșoiu 24, Bran
Bran became widely known as Dracula’s castle because people believe the inspiration behind Bram Stoker’s vampire was Vlad the Impaler. Who was kind of a crazy ruler who’s signature execution style was impaling his prisoners and posting them at the edge of his property to ward off enemies. However, Stoker had never even been to Romania and there is little evidence to show if Vlad had even been to the Bran Castle. Stoker described Dracula, as a Transylvanian Count with a castle located high above a valley perched on a rock with a flowing river below in the Principality of Transylvania. So, to say that Bran Castle was the actual inspiration is a bit of a stretch mixed with great tourism marketing for visiting this castle. But with that being said, it is still a really cool castle to visit with interesting history. Plus, the fact that it is built into this giant rock is dope.

Brașov
Surrounded by the southern Carpathians, this Transylvanian city is 100% worth the stop. With the little time we had in this historic city, we walked around exploring the medieval city walls, the famous Black Church and enjoyed the Christmas markets (we visited in January) in the city square while also getting a view of the Brașov “Hollywood” sign in the mountains.

Our favorite meal we ate in all of Romania has to be at La Ceaun (Strada Michael Weiss 27, Brașov). My sister still talks about how wonderful this meal was. We ate a sour mushroom soup, delicious cabbage rolls and lots of mulled wine. We didn’t have a wait for the restaurant, but we also visited during the off season. I would recommend trying to make a reservation because if you are in Brașov you can’t miss it!

That completes my 2-day itinerary for Romania! I hope you enjoy this unique country that has so much to offer! Please eat lots of cabbage rolls and vinete for me!

If you are curious about where I am traveling right now – check out my “About Me” page and follow me on Instagram: @sliceoftina 🙂