The route that gives Romania the treatment it deserves rather than the Dracula tourism that the international marketing defaults to: two days in Bucharest for the Palace of the Parliament (the second largest building in the world by floor area, built by Ceaușescu’s decree in 1984 at a cost of 40 billion dollars while Romania’s population went hungry, the specific communist megalomaniac architecture visible as the most honest monument to the 20th-century dictator’s vision of his own importance) and the vibrant Floreasca neighbourhood food scene (the Romanian cuisine — the sarmale (the stuffed cabbage rolls), the mici (the grilled sausage), and the papanași (the fried doughnuts with the sour cream and the jam) that the Romania food scene is built around), three days in Transylvania for the Bran Castle and the Brașov and the Bucegi Natural Park brown bear tracking, and two days in the Moldavia region for the Painted Monasteries (the UNESCO monasteries whose exterior frescoes have survived 500 years of Bucovina winters in the specific blue and ochre and green that the Voroneț pigment gives).
Reading time: 10 minutes | Last updated: 2026
Before You Leave
Getting there: Fly London-Bucharest (Wizz Air, Ryanair, Blue Air — from £20 one way). Romania is Schengen — UK citizens visa-free 90 days.
Currency: Romanian Leu (RON). 1 GBP ≈ 5.80 RON (2025). ATMs in every city; cash preferred in rural areas.
The value: Romania is 30-40% cheaper than Poland and 50-60% cheaper than Prague at the comparable quality level. The mici at the Bucharest street stall: RON 5 / £0.86 each.
The Route
Bucharest (2 nights) → Brașov / Transylvania (3 nights) → Moldavia / Suceava base (2 nights)
DAYS 1-2 — Bucharest
The Palace of the Parliament:
The Palatul Parlamentului (the 1,100-room palace on the Unirii Boulevard — the world’s second largest building by floor area after the Pentagon, the building that required the demolition of a 5km² area of historic Bucharest in 1984 to create its site, the building that employed 700 architects and 100,000 workers simultaneously during construction):
The guided tour (mandatory for the interior): RON 80 / £13.79. The specific palace instruction: the palace was built to a specific scale — the front door is 8 metres tall. This is not visible in the exterior photograph and is the specific scale comprehension that the interior tour gives.
The Floreasca neighbourhood:
The Bucharest food scene (the Floreasca and the Dorobanți neighbourhoods — the restaurant concentration, the specific Romanian contemporary cooking visible in the restaurants that have made Bucharest one of the most rapidly developing food scenes in Eastern Europe):
The sarmale (the stuffed vine or cabbage leaves — the minced pork and rice, the slow-braised sour cream sauce, the specific Romania winter dish served year-round in Bucharest): RON 30-50 / £5.17-8.62 at the traditional restaurant.
DAYS 3-5 — Transylvania
The Brașov old city:
Brașov (the medieval walled city in the Transylvanian Alps — the Black Church (the largest Gothic church in Romania, built 1383-1480, blackened by the 1689 fire that gave it its name), the Piața Sfatului (the main square, the council house in the centre, the specific Saxon Transylvanian architecture)):
The Tâmpa Mountain (the cable car from the city centre to the 995-metre peak above — the BRAȘOV sign (the Hollywood-sign equivalent) visible from the peak, the city visible below): RON 30 / £5.17 return.
The Bran Castle:
The Bran Castle (the “Dracula’s Castle” — the 14th-century castle marketed as Vlad the Impaler’s residence (Vlad spent at most a few nights here; the connection is primarily the marketing department’s work) but that is genuinely one of the most dramatically positioned castles in Eastern Europe, the castle on the rock above the Bran pass visible from the road below):
Entry: RON 45 / £7.76. The honest Bran instruction: go for the architecture and the mountain position, not the Dracula connection.
The Bucegi Natural Park brown bear:
The Sinaia and Bușteni area (the specific bear tracking: the brown bear (Ursus arctos) is not rare in Romania — Romania has the highest brown bear population in Europe outside Russia (approximately 6,000-8,000 individuals), and the Bucegi range gives the bear tracking accessible from the Bușteni cable car station):
The guided bear observation hide (the hides in the forest above Bușteni and Predeal, the evening visit (6pm-10pm), the bear visible at the bait station (the specific ethical debate around the bait-station bear photography — the bear comes to the artificial food source; the individual decides the ethics for themselves)):
RON 200-400 / £34.48-68.97 per person for the guided evening in the hide.
DAYS 6-7 — The Painted Monasteries
The drive to Moldavia:
The 5-hour drive from Brașov north through the Subcarpathian hills to Suceava (the Moldavian region capital) — the Bicaz Gorge (the canyon on the Moldova River, the road through the 300-metre walls of the gorge visible from the car window, the specific Romania geological encounter):
The Voronețul Monastery:
The Voroneț Monastery (the 1488 monastery near Gura Humorului — the exterior frescoes covering all four walls of the church, the Last Judgement on the western wall (the specific iconographic programme covering the full Judgement narrative, the heaven and the hell visible simultaneously, the specific theological argument in the 15th-century pigment)):
The Voroneț blue (the albastrul de Voroneț — the specific lapis lazuli-derived blue pigment that the Voroneț exterior frescoes use, the blue that has maintained its specific intensity through 500 Moldavian winters, the pigment composition that the art historians still debate):
Entry: RON 10 / £1.72.
The Moldovița and Sucevița Monasteries:
The circuit (the 100km circuit connecting the principal painted monasteries — the Humor, the Moldovița, the Sucevița, the Arbore): each with the entry fee of RON 10-15 / £1.72-2.59, the full circuit in one day at the unhurried pace.
What It Costs
| Category | Budget | Mid-Range |
|---|---|---|
| Return flights (UK-Bucharest) | £20-80 | £40-150 |
| Car hire (5 days) | £75-150 | £110-220 |
| 7 nights accommodation | £60-175 | £175-490 |
| Food (7 days) | £20-60 | £60-150 |
| Activities (palace, bear hide, monasteries, cable cars) | £60-100 | £70-120 |
| Total | £235-565 | £455-1,130 |
Romania is the best-value 7-day European itinerary in the BGGD library. The Wizz Air flight from £20 each way and the RON exchange rate give the Transylvanian castle, the brown bear, and the UNESCO monastery circuit for under £600 total.
