Romania holidays

Romania is Eastern Europe's most-underrated cultural destination — Transylvania's medieval Saxon villages (UNESCO — Biertan, Viscri, Saschiz, Sighișoara, with their fortified churches and Saxon-built towers, the centuries-old craft traditions of basket-weaving and ironwork), Bran Castle (popularly known as "Dracula's Castle" although Vlad the Impaler only briefly stayed here), the painted monasteries of Bucovina (UNESCO — Voroneț with its famous "Voroneț blue" frescoes, Sucevița, Moldovița, Humor), the Maramureș wooden churches (UNESCO — the eight surviving 17th-18th century wooden churches with their dramatic skinny spires, plus the Merry Cemetery of Săpânța with brightly-painted humorous epitaphs), the Carpathian Mountains for brown-bear-and-lynx wildlife (more bears than any European country outside Russia — 6,000+), the Black Sea coast at Constanța and Mamaia, the Danube Delta UNESCO biosphere reserve (Europe's largest wetland, the headline birdwatching destination), and the Belle Époque capital Bucharest with the world's heaviest building (the Palace of Parliament, 365,000 sq m).

A 10-14 day Romania trip: Bucharest (2-3 nights — Old Town walking with the Romanian Athenaeum, the Palace of Parliament tour, the Village Museum, Stavropoleos Monastery, dinner at Caru' cu Bere or Hanu lui Manuc) → drive north to Brașov in Transylvania (2 nights — the Black Church, Council Square, day-trips to Bran Castle and Peleș Castle, Sinaia mountain resort) → Sighișoara UNESCO citadel (1 night — the Clock Tower, the Vlad the Impaler birthplace house, the 175 covered stairs) → Saxon villages of Viscri and Biertan (1 night — Viscri is where King Charles owns a guesthouse, the fortified churches) → drive to Bucovina painted monasteries (2 nights — Voroneț, Sucevița, Moldovița) → optional Maramureș wooden churches (2 nights) or Danube Delta (3 nights for birdwatching from Tulcea and Sulina). The country is large; distances are real.