{"id":29185,"date":"2018-09-11T01:00:50","date_gmt":"2018-09-10T15:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/?p=29185"},"modified":"2025-03-25T21:46:17","modified_gmt":"2025-03-25T10:46:17","slug":"romania-things-to-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/romania-things-to-do\/","title":{"rendered":"I visited Romania for the vampires; but discovered so many other reasons to go"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>OK, I\u2019ll admit it. I picked Romania because of the vampires.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Like many people, when I think about this Eastern European country I mostly imagine the region of Transylvania \u2014 fictional home of Count Dracula, the most famous vampire of all time.<\/p>\n<p>As a serious fan of horror books and movies, vampires in general have always been my favourite monsters. But I also study the myths around them, and even wrote my own book about it. I\u2019m also pretty into all things Gothic \u2013 castles, churches, cemeteries, and the like. So when I decided to finally set foot on Transylvanian soil after reading about it for so long, it was with that stereotypical spooky stuff in mind.<\/p>\n<p>Funny thing happened though. After spending a week there with a group on Intrepid\u2019s <strong><a href=\"\/romania\/budapest-bucharest-159998\">Budapest to Bucharest<\/a><\/strong> trip, I realized the most shocking thing about Romania has nothing to do with monsters. It\u2019s how few travellers have yet to discover all the fascinating history, heritage and charm this lesser-known (and inexpensive!) Eastern European country has to offer.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_29191\" style=\"width: 810px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-29191\" class=\"size-full wp-image-29191\" src=\"\/adventures\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Brasov.jpg\" alt=\"Romania things to do\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Brasov.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Brasov-400x300.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Brasov-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Brasov-585x439.jpg 585w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-29191\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Brasov<\/p><\/div>\n<p>So here are some of the many surprises I encountered on my first trip to Romania \u2014 that have nothing to do with vampires. (OK, and maybe one at the end that does.)<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Yellows and blues and reds, oh my<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Honestly, I came expecting grey Eastern Bloc architecture and dark shadowy forests. But no sooner had our group entered Romania, we encountered the brightly coloured houses of rural Maramures. Traditional folk motifs from embroidered textiles are reproduced here with tiles, sometimes wrapping entire houses in golden yellow and deep reds. Nearby, we visited the so-called Merry Cemetery, all of its graves painted in bright azure blue, with cheery, comic-book style portraits of the deceased.<\/p>\n<p>The cities too, were a kaleidoscope of colour: from our viewpoint in a 15<sup>th<\/sup> century watchtower in Brasov, we looked out over a city blanketed in red roof tiles, later wandering amongst the pastel-hued storefronts of its town square. In the capital of Bucharest, from raw political street art to elaborate religious frescos, unexpected colour explosions await.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_29198\" style=\"width: 560px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-29198\" class=\"size-full wp-image-29198\" src=\"\/adventures\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Sighisora-Street-e1535990872752.jpg\" alt=\"Romania things to do\" width=\"550\" height=\"825\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-29198\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sighisoara<\/p><\/div>\n<p>I\u2019m definitely adding Romania to my list of Prettiest Countries of Europe.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"\/adventures\/romania-travel-guide\/\"><strong>READ MORE: 6 MUST-VISIT PLACES IN ROMANIA<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<h3><strong>The revolution was televised, but you can\u2019t beat a first-hand account<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Eastern European history is complicated, and Romania is no exception. Second to Vlad \u201cthe Impaler\u201d Tepes, the bloodthirsty 15<sup>th<\/sup> century prince that partly inspired Dracula, the historical figure I associated most with this country was Nicolae Ceau\u0219escu, the former President ousted and executed in the Revolution of 1989.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re thinking that 1989 wasn\u2019t that long ago, you\u2019re right. The spectre of Ceausescu\u2019s communist dictatorship looms still over present-day Romania. There\u2019s no way to sugar-coat it: there are dark tales in the recent history of this country.<\/p>\n<p>Truly, more than anything \u2014 the guided walking tours of medieval villages, the insider tips, the arranging of trains, and trams and horse-drawn carts \u2014 what made the Intrepid group tour experience so valuable was the local guides that joined us along the way, who shared their very personal stories.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_29201\" style=\"width: 810px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-29201\" class=\"wp-image-29201 size-full\" src=\"\/adventures\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Maramures-Group-e1535992514118.jpg\" alt=\"Romania things to do\" width=\"800\" height=\"433\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Maramures-Group-e1535992514118.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Maramures-Group-e1535992514118-425x230.jpg 425w, https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Maramures-Group-e1535992514118-768x416.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Maramures-Group-e1535992514118-585x317.jpg 585w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-29201\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">My amazing Intrepid group in Maramures<\/p><\/div>\n<p>To visit the Memorial to the Victims of Communism (housed in a former prison) then to sit with a local as he reveals how his own family was visited by secret police. To hear a woman who has cooked your dinner recall stealing bread as a child during food rationing. Or have the bullet holes in a wall pointed out by someone who was there that day, at that protest. These are things that stick with you, especially as you tour the ostentatious Palace of the President, Bucharest\u2019s most surreal experience.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"\/romania\"><strong>VISIT ROMANIA ON A SMALL GROUP TOUR WITH INTREPID TRAVEL<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Save your fork, there\u2019s donuts<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Before this trip, I couldn\u2019t name a single Romanian dish. Maybe because the country\u2019s cuisine is a melting pot of the cultures that have made up its citizenry through the centuries, including Hungarian, German, and of course, Roman. Or maybe because so much of our contemporary food culture is focused on the small plate tasting menu, and that is most definitely <em>not <\/em>what you\u2019ll find here.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_29200\" style=\"width: 810px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-29200\" class=\"size-full wp-image-29200\" src=\"\/adventures\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Maramures-Beef-Dinner-Photo-by-Ronald-Paik.jpg\" alt=\"Romania things to do\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Maramures-Beef-Dinner-Photo-by-Ronald-Paik.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Maramures-Beef-Dinner-Photo-by-Ronald-Paik-425x239.jpg 425w, https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Maramures-Beef-Dinner-Photo-by-Ronald-Paik-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Maramures-Beef-Dinner-Photo-by-Ronald-Paik-585x329.jpg 585w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-29200\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Beef for dinner<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Romanian food is hearty. In our village homestays, we were fed like we\u2019d been working the fields all day: dense home-baked breads, soups laden with noodles or dumplings, cabbage rolls, sweet cakes. In many cases this was true farm-to-table, with ingredients grown on site.<\/p>\n<p>As a vegetarian I was pleasantly surprised to find polenta a staple, either with cream of mushroom or baked with cheese. I discovered my favourite \u201csalad\u201d is pureed eggplant. And what the menu lacks in green vegetables it makes up for in the most flavourful tomatoes I\u2019ve ever tasted. I\u2019m not sure what our tour leader Mike was thinking waiting until the last night to show us the Papanasi, a wallop of a donut packed with soft cheese and plum jam, because I could have eaten that every day.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"\/adventures\/homestays-in-romania\/\"><strong>READ MORE: WHAT IT&#8217;S REALLY LIKE EXPERIENCING A HOMESTAY IN ROMANIA<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>For the brave, no meal was complete without P\u00e1linka, the local fruit brandy. Nothing was that expensive and one meal often felt like a day\u2019s worth of food. In short: bring your appetite.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_29202\" style=\"width: 810px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-29202\" class=\"size-full wp-image-29202\" src=\"\/adventures\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Maramures-Appetizers-Photo-by-Ronald-Paik-e1535992737896.jpg\" alt=\"Romania things to do\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-29202\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Appetizers at our homestay<\/p><\/div>\n<h3><strong>In search of Dracula<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>If you\u2019re into vampires, you probably want to visit the famous Bran Castle (erroneously referred to in a bit of marketing genius as \u201cDracula\u2019s Castle\u201d) as a day trip from Brasov or Bucharest. But if you\u2019re really, really, into vampires, you\u2019ll find even more to sink your teeth into in Sighisoara.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"\/subscribe\" data-wpil=\"url\"><strong>SUBSCRIBE TO INTREPID&#8217;S NEWSLETTER FOR INSPIRING STORIES, COMPETITIONS, GIVEAWAYS &amp; MORE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>This medieval Transylvanian town is a postcard-perfect Unesco Heritage site, a walled community with a stunning 14<sup>th<\/sup> century clock tower, gorgeous church, and\u2026. quite a few silly vampire souvenirs.<\/p>\n<p>Blame Vlad the Impaler. He was born here, and since becoming a pop culture figure as \u201cthe real life Dracula,\u201d is now part of Sighisoara\u2019s identity. I\u2019m grateful our itinerary allowed us ample time here, to wander the cobblestone streets, relax in cafes, and yes, indulge my vampire tourist.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_29197\" style=\"width: 557px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-29197\" class=\"wp-image-29197 size-full\" src=\"\/adventures\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Bran-Castle-From-afar-e1535993052667.jpg\" alt=\"Romania things to do\" width=\"547\" height=\"681\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Bran-Castle-From-afar-e1535993052667.jpg 547w, https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Bran-Castle-From-afar-e1535993052667-241x300.jpg 241w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 547px) 100vw, 547px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-29197\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bran Castle from afar<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Even for me, it\u2019s pretty cheesy to pay $1 to enter \u201cDracula\u2019s birthplace\u201d \u2014 the room Vlad was born in, now done up haunted house-style. But hey, when in Transylvania!<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ready to let Romania blow your mind? <a href=\"\/romania\">Check out Intrepid&#8217;s range of small group tours there.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&#8212;<\/p>\n<p><em>(Image credits from top to bottom: Jeff Satterfield x2, Liisa Ladouceur x2, Ronald Paik, Liisa Ladouceur x2. For more of Jeff Satterfield\u2019s beautiful landscape shots, check out his Instagram\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/jeffacrosstheworld\/\">@jeffacrosstheworld<\/a>.)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After spending a week there with a group on Intrepid\u2019s Budapest to Bucharest trip, I realized the most shocking thing about Romania has nothing to do with monsters. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16093,"featured_media":29188,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[455,1313],"tags":[513,46,80],"class_list":["post-29185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feature","category-guides","tag-eastern-europe","tag-europe","tag-romania","ipf_region-romania"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.3.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Amazing Things To Do In Romania, Beyond Vampire Activities | Intrepid Travel Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"After spending a week there with a group on Intrepid\u2019s Budapest to Bucharest trip, I realized the most shocking thing about Romania has nothing to do with monsters.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/romania-things-to-do\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"I visited Romania for the vampires; but discovered so many other reasons to go\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"After spending a week there with a group on Intrepid\u2019s Budapest to Bucharest trip, I realized the most shocking thing about Romania has nothing to do with monsters.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/romania-things-to-do\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Good Times by Intrepid\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/intrepidtravel\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-09-10T15:00:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-03-25T10:46:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Sighisoara-e1535990771592.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"450\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Liisa Ladouceur\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Intrepid_Travel\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Intrepid_Travel\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Liisa Ladouceur\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/romania-things-to-do\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/romania-things-to-do\/\",\"name\":\"Amazing Things To Do In Romania, Beyond Vampire Activities | Intrepid Travel Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/romania-things-to-do\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/romania-things-to-do\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Sighisoara-e1535990771592.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-09-10T15:00:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-03-25T10:46:17+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/#\/schema\/person\/c3232a6c4f6968a9d1fca18650674319\"},\"description\":\"After spending a week there with a group on Intrepid\u2019s Budapest to Bucharest trip, I realized the most shocking thing about Romania has nothing to do with monsters.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/romania-things-to-do\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/romania-things-to-do\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/romania-things-to-do\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Sighisoara-e1535990771592.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Sighisoara-e1535990771592.jpg\",\"width\":800,\"height\":450,\"caption\":\"Romania things to do\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/romania-things-to-do\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"I visited Romania for the vampires; 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