Brașov

Brașov sits directly under the mountains, which is the first thing you notice and the thing that shapes everything else about it. The old town runs up to a wooded ridge, the ski slopes are a cable car ride from the centre, and the castles most people come to Romania for are within an easy day.

The centre

Council Square — Piața Sfatului — is the old town’s middle, ringed with coloured baroque façades and centred on the old Council House, which now holds the city museum. It is one of the more comfortable squares in the country to spend an evening in, largely because the whole centre is pedestrian.

The Black Church

The Gothic church on the edge of the square was built between 1383 and 1477, and is commonly described as the largest Gothic church between Vienna and Istanbul. Its name comes from a fire that blackened the walls; the interior is worth going in for, particularly the collection of Anatolian carpets given by merchants returning from trade in the Ottoman lands.

What it is a base for

Brașov is the practical base for the Bran and Peleș castles and for the Piatra Craiului ridge — which is why most visitors treat it as a hub rather than a destination. That is a reasonable use of it, but the town rewards an evening of its own before you start driving out of it.

Brașov or Sibiu?

The question most people actually have. Sibiu is the better base for the Saxon villages and the calmer town to stay in. Brașov is the better base for the castles and the mountains, and the livelier of the two. On a longer trip you do both — they are close, and they are genuinely different.