Romania Travel Guide

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Best known as the home of Count Dracula, Romania is an imposing landscape of forests, medieval churches, seaside villages and historic gems. Bran Castle, the inspiration for Dracula's castle is the country's top tourist attraction, but there is more to this Balkan state than fictional fame.

The forests covering the Carpathian Mountains shelter Europe's last remaining healthy population of brown bears, wolves and lynxes while a white sandy coastline along the Black Sea provides families with picturesque seaside holidays. Medieval churches, monasteries and other UNESCO World Heritage sites are also found in this overlooked part of the world.

Hikers, walkers and sportsmen will enjoy the untouched natural scenery and those pursuing a spot of historical interest will find Romania's history of Roman, Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian rule have left a mosaic of cultural intrigue. The capital of Bucharest has beautiful architecture as do the small villages with their preserved churches and country buildings.

Geography

Romania is bordered to the north and east by Moldova and Ukraine, the southeast by the Black Sea, the south by Bulgaria, the southwest by Serbia and in the west by Hungary. The country is divided into four geographical areas. Transylvania (a belt of Alpine massifs and forests) and Moldavia compose the northern half of the country, which is divided down the middle by the north-south strip of the Carpathian Mountains. South of the east-west line of the Carpathians lies the flat Danube plain of Wallachia with the capital Bucharest, its border with Bulgaria being defined by the course of the Danube. Romania's coastline is along the Black Sea, incorporating the port of Constanta and the Danube Delta.