Insight Guides Romania (Travel Guide eBook) , livre ebook

How To Use This E-Book

Getting around the e-book
This Insight Guide e-book is designed to give you inspiration for your visit to Romania, as well as comprehensive planning advice to make sure you have the best travel experience. The guide begins with our selection of Top Attractions, as well as our Editor’s Choice categories of activities and experiences. Detailed features on history, people and culture paint a vivid portrait of contemporary life in Romania. The extensive Places chapters give a complete guide to all the sights and areas worth visiting. The Travel Tips provide full information on getting around, activities from culture to shopping to sport, plus a wealth of practical information to help you plan your trip.
In the Table of Contents and throughout this e-book you will see hyperlinked references. Just tap a hyperlink once to skip to the section you would like to read. Practical information and listings are also hyperlinked, so as long as you have an external connection to the internet, you can tap a link to go directly to the website for more information.
Maps
All key attractions and sights in Romania are numbered and cross-referenced to high-quality maps. Wherever you see the reference [map] just tap this to go straight to the related map. You can also double-tap any map for a zoom view.
Images
You’ll find hundreds of beautiful high-resolution images that capture the essence of Romania. Simply double-tap on an image to see it full-screen.
About Insight Guides
Insight Guides have more than 40 years’ experience of publishing high-quality, visual travel guides. We produce 400 full-colour titles, in both print and digital form, covering more than 200 destinations across the globe, in a variety of formats to meet your different needs.
Insight Guides are written by local authors, whose expertise is evident in the extensive historical and cultural background features. Each destination is carefully researched by regional experts to ensure our guides provide the very latest information. All the reviews in Insight Guides are independent; we strive to maintain an impartial view. Our reviews are carefully selected to guide you to the best places to eat, go out and shop, so you can be confident that when we say a place is special, we really mean it.

© 2019 Apa Digital (CH) AG and Apa Publications (UK) Ltd




Table of Contents
Romania’s Top 10 Attractions
Editor’s Choice
Introduction: Coming in from the cold
Decisive Dates
Dacians, Romans, Magyars and Turks
The birth of modern Romania
Romania since 1945
A mixed population
Food and drink
Religion in Romania
Arts and culture
Insight: folk festivals
Romanian architecture
Geography and the environment
Romania’s wildlife
Introduction: Places
Introduction: The South: Bucharest, Wallachia and Dobrogea
Bucharest
Wallachia
Dobrogea
Introduction: Transylvania
Brașov and the Eastern Saxon Lands
Insight: The Dracula industry
Sibiu, Sighișoara and the Western Saxon Lands
The Székely Lands
Cluj, Western and Northern Transylvania
Introduction: Western Romania
Crișana
The Banat
Introduction: Eastern and Northern Romania
Moldavia
Bukovina
Insight: The Painted Monasteries
Maramureș
Travel Tips: Transport
Travel Tips: A–Z
Travel Tips: Language
Travel Tips: Further Reading


Romania’s Top 10 Attractions



Top Attraction 1



Danube Delta. Where the mighty Danube finally ends its journey is home to all manner of fantastic birdlife – over 300 species in fact. For more information, click here .
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Top Attraction 2



Sibiu. A seductive labyrinth of cobbled piazzas, pretty churches and medieval arches, this ancient Saxon settlement rates as Romania’s most appealing city. For more information, click here .
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Top Attraction 3



Painted Monasteries. These 16th-century masterpieces of religious art and architecture, such as those at Suceviţa and Voroneţ, never fail to inspire. For more information, click here .
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Top Attraction 4



Făgăraş Mountains. Outdoor types will love the superb network of trails running through the Făgăraş Mountains, which harbour more than 70 lakes and Romania’s highest peaks. For more information, click here .
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Top Attraction 5



Wooden churches, Maramureş. Scattered around one of Europe’s most remote corners, these evocative structures are distinguished by their steeply sloping shingle roofs and slender bell towers; those at Surdeşti and Bârsana are probably the finest. For more information, click here .
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Top Attraction 6



Merry Cemetery. Seek out these colourful headstones on which the lives of the deceased are painted in Naïve style – a wry smile is guaranteed at every turn. For more information, click here .
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Top Attraction 7



Transfăgărăşan Highway. If you only manage one road trip, make it the 90km (56-mile) -long Transfăgărăşan, which snakes its way spectacularly across the southern Carpathians, reaching a high point of 2,042 metres (6,700 ft). For more information, click here .
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Top Attraction 8



Bear and wolf tracking. There are plenty of opportunities to see these magnificent animals in the wild, and while you’re much less likely to catch sight of the elusive wolf, you’ll have tremendous fun trying to track them down. For more information, click here .
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Top Attraction 9



Corvin Castle, Hunedoara. An immense fortress, with all the attendant turrets and spikes, Corvin Castle looks every inch the Gothic masterpiece it was intended to be. For more information, click here .
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Top Attraction 10



Bucharest. It has its detractors, but the Romanian capital now ranks among Eastern Europe’s most invigorating cities, courtesy of some compelling museums and pulsating nightlife. For more information, click here .
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Editor’s Choice




The Iron Gates, a series of gorges formed by the Danube.
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Towns and cities

Brașov. Handsome, tourist-friendly and with a beautiful setting, Brașov makes a perfect base for exploring Transylvania. For more information, click here .
Timișoara. Awash with glorious Secessionist architecture and a buzzing nightlife. For more information, click here .
Sighișoara. Lost in a medieval time-warp, sleepy Sighișoara is energetically promoted by the tourist industry and comes close to matching the hype. For more information, click here .
Cluj-Napoca. Usually known simply as Cluj, this is a sophisticated and proudly independent city. For more information, click here .
Constan ţ a. An ancient city, Constanţa has one of the best museums in the country, Roman and Greek ruins and a beach. For more information, click here.
Iași. This cultured provincial city was briefly the capital of Romania, and is home to its oldest university. For more information, click here .



Sighișoara.
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Best scenery, hiking and wildlife areas

Bucegi Mountains. Easily accessible from Sinaia and Bușteni by cable car, this spectacular range offers a superb variety of walks across a high plateau. For more information, click here .
Retezat National Park. These rocky heights are punctuated with mountain lakes and there are plenty of hiking opportunities. For more information, click here .
Rodna Mountains. In the north of Romania near the Ukrainian border, these wild mountains harbour bears, wolves and lynx. For more information, click here .
Padiș Plateau. This limestone plateau in the Apuseni Mountains west of Cluj features some incredible caves. For more information, click here .
Ceahlău Massif. Visible for miles around, the Ceahlău Massif was sacred to the Dacians and has been dubbed Romania’s Olympus. The forests surrounding the crags are teeming with wildlife. For more information, click here .
Lake Razim. Lakes Razim and Sinoe, to the south of the Danube Delta, offer tremendous bird-watching, particularly during the spring and autumn migrations. For more information, click here .
Iron Gates. A series of gorges where the mighty Danube has forged its way through the mountains between Romania and Serbia. For more information, click here .



Peleș Castle.
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Best castles

Peleș. Fantastical, fairy-tale schloss built by Romania’s first king high above the Carpathian resort of Sinaia. The sumptuous decor inside comes close to matching the extraordinary exterior. For more information, click here .
Bran. Tourists flock to this “fake” Dracula castle, but arrive early and there is much to admire (regardless of any bogus links with the fanged