Romania 2 Day Itinerary

Two days is not enough time to understand Romania, but it is enough time to understand why people come back. The country holds the largest medieval fortified church network in Europe, a working Transylvanian town with a 14th-century Black Church at its centre, and mountains close enough to a capital city that you can see Peles Castle and still make dinner in Brasov. What it also holds, particularly in the summer tourist season, is a fair number of well-documented scams. The two-day version of Romania runs better if you know both parts.

Getting to Bucharest

Henri Coanda International Airport (OTP) sits 16.5 km north of central Bucharest. A taxi from the official kiosks inside arrivals (look for the fixed-price touchscreen machines just outside the baggage hall) runs 60 to 130 Lei (roughly 12 to 25 euros) for the 30-to-40-minute drive. Do not accept offers from drivers approaching you in the arrivals hall. The Bolt or Uber apps both operate at the airport with designated pickup zones and show the fare before you confirm.

Currency is the Romanian Leu (RON). One firm piece of advice: exchange money only at bank branches or ATMs, not at street-level exchange kiosks. The kiosks in the Old Town area display attractive rates but apply fees, commissions, or simply miscalculate in their favour. The airport ATMs have standard bank rates.

For EU citizens, no visa is required. Romania joined the Schengen Area in March 2024, which simplified border crossings from most neighbouring EU countries.

Day 1: Bucharest and the Drive North

Start in Bucharest at the Palace of the Parliament. Completed in 1997 and built under Nicolae Ceausescu’s direction, it is the second-largest administrative building in the world by floor space (the Pentagon edges it, barely). Guided tours run every 45 minutes from the north entrance; tickets cost around 45 Lei (roughly $9 USD) in 2025. The scale inside is the experience, not the official story.

Walk east to Piata Revolutiei (Revolution Square), where the 1989 uprising against Ceausescu began. The Romanian Athenaeum concert hall on the north side of the square is one of the best neo-classical interiors in Eastern Europe and open to visitors outside performance hours for a small fee.

Old Town Bucharest (Centrul Vechi) is worth walking through to see the scale of the 18th- and 19th-century merchant architecture, some of it restored, some still crumbling interestingly. However: Old Town restaurants in the tourist zone have a documented problem with per-100g pricing instead of per-portion pricing, automatically added bread covers, and service charges buried in the menu’s fine print. Check the pricing format before sitting down. Locals eat a few blocks away from the main tourist drag at prices roughly 30 percent lower.

By early afternoon, take the train or drive north to Sinaia, about 90 minutes from Bucharest by rail (tickets under 30 Lei) or 90 minutes by car on the DN1 highway (faster out of the morning rush). Peles Castle at Sinaia is a German neo-Renaissance royal residence built between 1873 and 1914 and contains 160 rooms of furnished period interiors. Entry to the ground floor runs about 50 Lei; a guided upper-floor tour adds another 30 Lei and is worth it for the arms collection and the library.

Continue another 40 minutes north to Brasov for the evening. Check in here and stay two nights: it is the better base for Transylvania than Bucharest.

Hotels in Brasov: the Radisson Blu Aurum Hotel sits at the edge of the Old Town and is the most straightforward 5-star option. For a smaller, locally-run alternative, Residence Aro Palace on Bulevardul Eroilor has quieter rooms and better breakfast at roughly half the price.

Dinner in Brasov: David Grill House in the Old Town specialises in charcoal-grilled meats and is one of the most consistent local restaurants in the city in 2025 to 2026. Stana Turistica Sergiana near Poiana Brasov serves traditional Romanian food in a farmhouse format that is genuinely popular with Romanians, not staged for tourists. It requires a reservation.

Day 2: Transylvania

Morning in Brasov itself. Council Square (Piata Sfatului) is the medieval market square and the Black Church on its southern edge, a 14th-century Gothic church that acquired its name from a 1689 fire that blackened the stone exterior, is the most significant Protestant church in southeastern Europe. Entry is cheap and the interior holds the largest collection of Anatolian rugs outside Turkey, donated over centuries by Saxon merchants. This detail is in every Brasov guide and still surprises most people who walk in.

Take the cable car or walk the trail up Tampa Mountain, which rises directly behind the Old Town, for a view of the Brasov roofscape and the Carpathian foothills beyond. The cable car runs from the base on Aleea Tiberiu Brediceanu.

In the afternoon, the choice is Bran Castle (the one marketed as Dracula’s Castle) or Viscri and the Saxon villages. A clear opinion: Bran Castle is worth visiting for the 14th-century architecture and the history of Vlad III, who was imprisoned there briefly, but the surrounding complex at the base of the hill, with its plastic-fang souvenir stalls and “traditional” food stands, is worth ignoring entirely. Walk past it all, buy nothing, and eat in Brasov afterwards. The castle interior, which was the summer residence of Queen Marie of Romania in the early 20th century, is the actual interesting thing inside.

Viscri is 60 km east of Brasov and requires a car or private transfer. The Saxon village, founded in the 12th century, has been partly restored through conservation projects supported by King Charles III and has a well-preserved fortified church at its centre. It is a genuine working village, not a reconstruction, and the museum of traditional crafts on the main street is small and honest. If you have a car, continue to Sighisoara: the medieval citadel there, with its 14th-century clock tower and the church on the hill above the old town, is one of the most intact medieval urban sites in Central Europe. Vlad the Impaler was born in a house on the main square that is now a restaurant; the restaurant is unremarkable.

Return to Brasov for a last dinner. The train back to Bucharest for onward connections runs hourly and takes about 90 minutes.

A Few Things Worth Knowing

The weather in the Carpathian region swings dramatically. Even in summer, afternoons in the mountains can produce rain; bring a layer. Spring (April and May) is the best time for Transylvania: the tourist volumes are lower, the meadows are in bloom, and the prices at hotels in Brasov are 20 to 30 percent below July and August peaks.

Romania’s driving roads in Transylvania are genuinely scenic but some secondary roads to places like Viscri are unpaved. A standard rental car handles them; nothing higher-ground-clearance is required.

The Dracula-themed dinner experiences sold in Bucharest and near Bran Castle have no connection to anything historical or culturally Romanian. They exist entirely for the tourist market and the money is better spent on a meal at a proper restaurant.