Romania rewards the long way round.
Which castle day really stops at both Bran and Peleș. When the mountain road opens. Where the bears are wild and where they are rescued. Reviews of the tours that make the distances worth driving.
Bran, Peleș, the bears and the salt cathedrals.
Six days almost every Romania itinerary is built around, and the tour that does each of them properly.
Brașov puts the castles inside an hour.
Bran and Râșnov sit one way out of the old Saxon square, Peleș the other, and the bear forests are behind the town. Base here for three nights and the whole belt is a day trip.
Castle days and bear days: what Romania books first.
Every review →The tours more travellers take than anything else in the country, and what each one gets right for the money.
1
Dracula’s Castle, Peles Castle, & Brasov Old Town
A 12-hour Bucharest day trip to Peleș, Bran Castle (Dracula’s), and Brasov old town, with guided history and time to wander.
From · $40
Read our review →
2
Dracula Castle, Peles Castle & Brasov Old Town
from $40
3
Dracula’s Castle, Peleș Castle & Brașov Day Trip
from $36
4
Palace of Parliament Tickets and Guide
from $38
5
Day Trip to Dracula Castle, Peles Castle & Brașov
from $45
6
Bucharest to Dracula Castle, Peles Castle and Brasov Guided Tour
from $33
7
Palace of Parliament Tickets and Guided Tour
from $28
8
Dracula’s Castle, Peles Castle and Brasov Day Trip from Bucharest
from $33
Bucharest is a walking city with a very heavy building in it.
Ceaușescu’s parliament weighs more than any other building on earth and still has empty corridors. Around it: Belle Époque boulevards, the Old Town lanes, and thermal domes twenty minutes north.
Bears, hairpins and salt cathedrals.
Castles turn up all over Europe. Six thousand wild bears, a military road at two thousand metres and a ferris wheel down a salt shaft do not.
The Brown Bears
Romania holds most of Europe’s brown bears outside Russia, roughly six thousand of them in the Carpathian forests. There are two ways to see one: a wooden hide at dusk in the hills above Brașov, with no guarantee and no show, or the sanctuary at Zărnești, where rescued bears live in oak woodland. The hide is the wilder evening; the sanctuary is the certainty.
- 1Top Gear Road and Wild Brown Bears Day Trip★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 782 reviews
- 2Small group max 7 – Bears Safari on Top Gear -Transfăgărășan★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 208 reviews
- 3Bear Sanctuary, Dracula Castle, and Râşnov Fortress★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 176 reviews
The Transfăgărășan
Cut over the Făgăraș range in the 1970s as a military route, the road climbs past two thousand metres at Bâlea Lake. Snow keeps the top half shut from November until late June, so the season is short and a July Sunday is busy. Day tours run it from Bucharest with the Vidraru dam and Poienari on the way.
- 1Small group max 7 – Bears Safari on Top Gear -Transfăgărășan★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 208 reviews
- 2Brasov Private Tour: Transfagarasan road & Poienari Fortress★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 71 reviews
- 3Top Gear Road – Transfăgărășan Highway Day Trip★★★★★★★★★★ 4.0 · 68 reviews
The Salt Mines
Turda and Slănic are not caves. They are worked-out salt galleries the height of a cathedral, held at a steady twelve degrees, with air dry enough that people come down for the day to breathe it. Turda put a ferris wheel and a rowing lake at the bottom of the shaft; Slănic kept its raw chambers and the figures carved into the walls.
- 1Salt Mine Day Trip to Slănic★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 869 reviews
- 2Slănic Prahova Salt Mine Ticket and Transfer★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 790 reviews
- 3Turda Salt Mine, Corvin Castle, Alba Carolina Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 184 reviews
Bucovina painted its churches on the outside.
Voroneț, Suceavița and Moldovița carry whole exterior walls of fresco — blue, green and gold, still legible after five hundred winters. They are a long way north of everything else, which is why the tours that reach them start early and give them a full day.
- 13-Castle: Peles,Bran,Rasnov,Sinaia Monastery from Brasov w pickupfrom $87
- 2Bucovina Painted Monasteries Day Tourfrom $102
- 3Peles Castle, Bran Castle, Rasnov Fortress and Sinaia Monastery Tour from Brasovfrom $84
Romania stays cheap right up until you hire a driver.
Every reviewed tour sorted by what it actually costs. Walking tours and mine tickets sit at the bottom; the private castle-and-bear days sit at the top.
Old Town walks, salt-mine tickets, Therme entry and half-day city rides.
The standard castle day from Bucharest or Brașov, wine tastings, bear hides, delta boats.
Private drivers, the Transfăgărășan run, and multi-day trips into Maramureș and Bucovina.
Four Romanian bookings that will not wait until you land.
Most of the country can be sorted from a hotel lobby the night before. These four run on snow gates, closing days and a security desk that wants your passport details in advance.
- 01Slănic Prahova Salt Mine Ticket and TransferThe pass over the Făgăraș only opens from late June to the end of October. Outside that the top is behind a snow gate.
- 02Top Gear Road and Wild Brown Bears Day TripHides take small groups on fixed evenings and the sanctuary runs timed visits, so both cap how many people go in a day.
- 03Dracula’s Castle, Peles Castle, & Brasov Old TownPeleș closes on Mondays and Tuesdays, and again for maintenance through November.
- 04Palace of Parliament Tickets and GuideThe Palace of the Parliament is entered on a booked tour with ID checked at the door. Walk-ups get turned away.
At Tulcea the Danube gives up and spreads out.
All Danube Delta trips →
Boat Trip to Caraorman Forest – Danube Delta (5-6 hours)
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Orsova: Danube’s Cauldrons Boat Tours with Audio Guide
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When the Carpathians close in, Romania goes underground.
Mountain weather turns inside an hour and Bucharest summers push thirty-five degrees. The answers are indoors and mostly below the surface: a salt gallery at a steady twelve degrees, the thermal domes north of the capital, and the concrete history along the boulevard.
By region — where to base yourself
Bucharest867 tours
Brașov211 tours
Cluj-Napoca83 tours
Sibiu46 tours
Sinaia33 tours
Timișoara27 tours
Sighișoara12 tours- Every region →
By experience — what sort of day do you want?
Bucharest, the mountains, Transylvania, home.
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