Romania itinerary ideas

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I'm thinking about a week in October. Flights from our nearest airport would get us in on a Sat evening and out the following Sat evening. I don't want too hectic a pace so I'm thinking just split between Bucharest and Brasov and do day tours from there? I would like to see the city sights, some castles, and some bears. Could potentially add in one other stop but I don't know if it's necessary! If anyone has done a 1 week itinerary I'd love to see it. Thanks 🙂

We're Interrailing and spending 3 nights in Brasov this summer. There seems to be loads to do round there, and plenty of public transport to access it: Harman and Prejmer fortified churches, Bran and Rasnov castles, getting cable cars right up into the mountains (there are loads of hiking routes), visiting other towns like Sibiu and Sighisoara.

There are plenty of companies offering bear hide experiences in the forest: basically they feed the bears at special places (apparently to keep them from raiding the bins in town and it's all ethical), or there is a place called Libearty Bear Sanctuary where you can visit rescued bears. We've booked an animal tracking hike with a company called Transylvanian Wolf, where we go high into the mountains looking for signs of animals, although there's no guarantee we will see any (I soooo want to see wolves!! 🤞). Transylvanian Wolf offer a variety of interesting sounding tours visiting Saxon villages, meeting Roma communities etc.

We are going to Bucharest and Brasov in October half term. We are having 3 days in each place. If you have any recommendations let me know.

Did 12 days in Romania in June, starting from Cluj Napoca (nice enough), onto Sibiu (stunning) then onto Brasov (also lovely) then onto Sinaia (on the train between Brasov and Bucharest, mountains) then finally to Bucharest. My views - Bucharest is "OK-ish" best bits were a full day in Bucharest Terme (just up from the airport, buy your tickets in advance online, £30 for the day but well worth it) and the Palace of the Parliament (book ahead, take your passport) also liked the special tour of the bank (free, but you have to book ahead, and passport needed) and wandering around the old town bits near Revolution Square and the Soviet potato. I did not like the drinking areas of Bucharest, pushy people. It takes about an hour or so to get the train up to Sinaia and you can get a cable car to the top of the mountain, stunning, and Pele's castle is nearby (if open, it was closed when we were there). We stayed in the Hotel Sinaia, and we found it amazing for the price (full spa, and brilliant breakfast for about £60 - bear warning at night) then Brasov is also lovely, and we ended up going to Bran Castle, but only because "that's what you have to do". Was dreading it really, but if you go early enough to escape the crowds, it is actually better than I thought it would be, but it is touristy. Uber door to door is about £21, and if you get there early, you have it to yourself - there is a bus, and we got it back for a few pounds each but it leaves you in a bus depot, we got an uber back from that and it was only a few pounds, there is a good open air pool near Brasov that is worth a visit if you are into that sort of thing. Romanian people are absolutely lovely, especially if you have "thank you" at your disposal (which sounds like Keir-toss). I have travelled all over Europe and I don't think I have seen many prettier cities than Sibiu and Brasov. We stayed in SC apartments in Brasov and Bucharest, hotel in Sinaia, Sibiu and Cluj. All good.

Thank you so much @avignon1234 I will look into the parliament tour and the bank. Did hike up to the Brasov sign?

No, we didn't hike to the sign, and now you have mentioned it, the cable car was being renovated and had been closed for some time i.e. months rather than weeks.

Returning to the thread now we've been...Brasov turned out not to be our favourite place on our trip. It was pretty touristy for the size of it, perhaps because it's within easy day trip reach of Bucharest? And I wouldn't say there was loads to do in the town. That said, the Weavers' Bastion was really beautiful and interesting.

Our trip into the mountains was lovely...we went to a very wild, remote area with our guide. We didn't see bears or wolves....but we did see their paw prints! And saw a lot of really interesting birds that were new species to me, and heard a lot of interesting stories about Romanian life from our guide. Also, DS2 nearly got kidnapped by a shepherd's dogs. Despite their fearsome reputation, it turns out these ones really really liked children, and they definitely wanted to keep him 😆

The Romanian for "Thank you" is "Multumesc".

Love it when people come back and update. I have Romania fairly top of my list for May 2026, to overlap with my 50th. I think because of swim training/competitions we will be limited to 6 days over half-term, but sounds like we won't linger in Bucharest. We will probably focus on Brasov and Sighisoara.

Ok, so we are back from our trip to Romania. We really enjoyed it.

We had 3 nights in Bucharest and 2 nights in Brasov.

When we arrived we jumped on the airport bus (no. 100) that takes you straight into the city centre from outside arrivals. It is a 35 minute journey and leaves every 15 minutes. You can just tap your debit card as you get on the bus. This is the cheapest airport transfer I have ever done... it cost 52p or 3 RON. There is an airport train every 40 minutes to Gard De Nord for 6 RON, but the bus dropped us 100m from our Airbnb.

We stayed in the old town of Bucharest. This was a bit of a party area so we could hear music late into the night. You got pestered a lot to look at tourist menus etc. It was, however, very central and everything walkable.

Day 1 Free walking tour, Parliament building, mooch around the old town.
Day 2 Heritage village in King Michael's park. Craft fair and local music and dancers. The Athenium and stroll through the various parks
Day 3 Tour to Peles Castles, Bran Castle and last stop Brasov. We did not return to Bucharest and used the tour to see the castles and a transfer to Brasov. (Do not pay to go in Bran Castle, £20 per person, as it is full of fake stuff and too many people to enjoy it- we read the reviews so gave it a miss, everyone who went in was disappointed)
Day 4 Free walking tour of Brasov, hike up to the Brasov sign and mountain walk down. Dinner at Bistro de l'Arte. Amazing food!
Day 5 Coffee in the square, walk round the city walls and the orthodox church, train back to Bucharest (£6-£11 2.5 hours). Airport bus back to airport.

Do not use the yellow taxis in Bucharest. They charged a lady on the tour £60 for the 20 minute journey from the airport. It is about £10 in an uber or 52p on the bus.

Bucharest was OK. Not the prettiest of capitals, Brasov was lovely and had a great atmosphere. The Carpathian mountains and autumn colours were stunning.

Apologies for bumping an old thread. Does anyone have any winter specific tips? We’re going in February half term - two nights in Bucharest and five in Brasov. We won’t be skiing but I’d like to go to the ski resort area (Poiana) so the children can play in the snow.

@Cranmer do you remember the name of the tour company you used to see the castles?

We booked it through Get You Guide with a company called Trip2Ro. We paid £33.64 for 2 people (£16.50 each) through an offer.

www.getyourguide.com/en-gb/bucharest-l111/from-bucharest-peles-bran-castle-old-town-brasov-t135264?ranking_uuid=8e58e0be-cd64-4f2c-acc0-f11ff6478058&date_from=2026-02-20&_pc=1,2