Sarah
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For 2019, Markus and I had already planned to visit more of Central and Eastern Europe. I already started with a trip to Slovenia across various ski resorts in January, which was an amazing experience (Read, why I loved skiing in Slovenia). And in April, we both spent five amazing days in Budapest, Hungary (gosh, I still have to write a guide for you about this city too…!).
So, when Markus and I were offered the chance to join a trip to Romania with 50 other bloggers from all across the world, Markus and I gladly took this opportunity!
During our 10 days in Romania, we discovered various beautiful places all across the country – from castles in Transylvania to the Revolution Square in Timisoara and lavender fields near Oradea. The focus was visiting the regions of Banat and Transylvania (central to the northwest of Romania). We were really astonished by the beauty of the country!
Thus, I decided that I’ll write an article about the most instagrammable places in Romania to help you experience the country as we did.
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Map of the most instagrammable places in Romania
With the map below, you can find the exact location of each and every photo spot where we took pictures while traveling Romania. We started our itinerary in Bucharest and then went on to Brasov first!
Ask me if you still need advice on any of these locations! And don’t worry, we did not meet any vampires in Transylvania! 😉
Feldioara Castle (Brasov)
The first magical place that we visited on our trip was the small citadel of Feldioara. It is, in fact, the oldest fortress of Brasov and was just recently renovated! You will still find a lot of photos of the ruins online – but now, you can visit the fortress again and see the beautiful countryside of Feldioara.
When we arrived, we were greeted by the Mayor of the city – and they even dressed up as Teutonic knights! How cool is that?!
Sighisoara Citadel
If I could only recommend one single place to visit in Transylvania, it would be Sighisoara. Or more precisely, the citadel of Sighisoara! It is one of the oldest inhabited citadels in all of Europe and is listed as a UNESCO world heritage site for a pretty damn good reason.
Wandering through the streets of Sighisoara, you will easily find numerous beautiful photo spots and easily understand why this beautiful city is unarguably one of the best places to visit in Romania!
By the way, Sighisoara is also the place where Vlad, the Impaler was born. If that name does not ring a bell: Vlad was the inspiration for Bram Stoker’s Dracula! (Although, Bram did not seem to know a lot about Vlad…)
Instagrammable Oradea
Oradea is one of these very rare, incredibly beautiful places that are still mainly undiscovered by tourism. Yes, this gorgeous Transylvanian city with its romantic-baroque architecture is one of these gems where you can wander around and feel like the only tourist in town.
Frankly, I don’t really get why tourists have not realized the beauty of the city yet – but this offers the unique opportunity for you to discover this city before everyone else travels here.
Roman-Catholic Church
The Roman-Catholic Church in Oradea is not only stunningly beautiful from the inside – it is also a perfect instagrammable place from the outside.
Make sure to also visit the neighboring Palatul Episcopal for some insta-worthy snaps!
Oradea Fortress
Oradea Fortress itself looks rather unspectacular from the outside. But there is a really cool light installation in the courtyard of the fortress that is highly instagrammable at night!
Lavender Fields near Oradea
If you are traveling through Romania by car during the right season (June-August), you absolutely should plan to visit a lavender field.
We stopped at the beautiful Lavender Farm Oradea – a field that is solely grown for the purpose of photo shoots. Thus, the whole location is really beautiful and there are numerous spots to take beautiful and highly instagrammable pictures!
Thanks to Jinson (@jinsabraham) for the picture above!
Where to stay in Oradea: Ramada
During our stop in Oradea, we slept at the Ramada Oradea. While the rooms of Ramada are nothing special, I really loved the wine spa (Riserva Wine Spa). They have two Jacuzzi on the roof top and a sun deck with a beautiful view over Oradea – and prices for Spa treatments were really fair!
Instagrammable Timisoara
Timisoara definitely belongs in a list of the best places to visit in Romania – it’s a beautiful city with a lot of history. The Romanian Revolution of 1989 began in Timisoara before it spread across the country. And luckily, the city center is intact and very well maintained. There are lots of beautiful little cafés, cluttered between the main squares Union Square, Liberty Square, and Victory Square.
Timisoara is sometimes called little Vienna due to its beautiful buildings and the coffee culture. No wonder that you can find lots of highly instagrammable photo spots in the historic city center!
Union Square
Union Square is the biggest square in Timisoara and it offers plenty of chances for insta-worthy pictures!
In the evening, there is also a “changing of the guards” in front of the church!
Cafe Senneville
My absolute favorite cafe was “Senneville” – everything is white, pink or pastel and they have Macarons and Eclairs. This place is just made for Instagram! Make sure to snap a shot at this instaworthy cafe when you walk around in the historical city center!
Liberty Square (West Radio Station)
At the northern border of Liberty Square, you can find a cool old building with the letters “West City Radio” written on it. Wait until the streetcar passes by and you can get a really cool shot that exactly looks like I imagined a Romanian city to look like!
Umbrella Street
Bucharest’s “Umbrella Street” is one of the most Instagrammed places in Bukarest – and luckily, Timisoara has an equally beautiful street!
Make sure to get your insta-worthy shot facing southwest – so that you have the church in the background! Oh, and there is an amazing artisanal ice-cream parlor right in this street as well. Instagrammable Timisoara – here we come!
Fabric Synagogue
If you like buildings that are slightly run down and where nature starts to reclaim its territory, you will love the Fabric Synagogue in Timisoara.
Most people come to this area of the city to see the nearby Millenium Basilica – but the Old Synagogue is much more fascinating and insta-worthy in my opinion! Check the map for the exact location!
Where to stay in Timisoara: Hotel del Corso
During our days in Timisoara, we stayed at Hotel del Corso. The hotel is a bit out of the inner city but is well connected by streetcar. I found that all hotels directly in the city center seemed really old and run-down.
Hotel del Corso, on the other hand, is immaculately clean and really well maintained. I also liked that they really had a very modern design!
Corvin Castle
Probably the most Instagrammed place in Romania and most certainly the most beautiful castle is Corvin Castle. It is one of the largest castles in the whole of Europe and is listed as one of the “Seven Wonders of Romania” (although, there is more than one of these lists. But: Corvin Castle is on EACH of them!).
Unfortunately, this place is already pretty popular – making it really difficult to get a cool insta-worthy shot without the crowds. Either you come early or you try one of these two perspectives:
- Outside, on the wall facing the castle
- Inside the castle on the balconies (you’ll need good presets or photo editing skills for that!)
Bran Castle (Dracula’s Castle)
The first thing that comes to people’s minds when they think of Transylvania is Dracula. Although he is a fictional character, there is a real historical person that Bram Stoker used as an inspiration: Vlad, the Impaler (also called Vlad III Dracula).
And even though this castle is marketed as “Dracula’s Castle” – historians believe that Vlad actually never set foot in this castle! Anyway, whether he did or not – the castle looks stunning is definitely one of the places you should visit when traveling across Romania!
The best place to snap a picture of this castle is either from down below (there is a little rock with a cross in the background) – or from where the original entrance was.
In order to get to the second spot, you have to go up to the main entrance of the fortress. You will see a small locked gate to the left. Simply climb across (or beside it) and follow the small, overgrown footpath up the hill. There’s a cross here as well that gives your Instagram picture a really eerie look.
Oh and just to make sure: I would have never climbed over a closed gate if our tour guide wouldn’t even have suggested doing it! I am not sure why they have the gate then anyway, but I was told it’s totally fine to ignore it!
Some final words about our trip to Romania…
Markus and I both absolutely loved our trip to Romania and we want to thank the amazing team of #ExperienceRomania to make this trip possible.
It must have been a crazy amount of work to make this possible for so many people! It was our first time exploring this country and it won’t be the last trip for sure!
We both definitely want to come back to Romania one day – after all, we still have to explore the capital Bukarest! And I also think that it would be super cool to see the coast of Romania too!
So, until next time, Tribemates!
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This trip was sponsored by Experience Romania – however, all opinions are mine and not influenced by this!
