Brasov: what to see, where to stay and how to get around
Brașov was founded in the thirteenth century by German settlers, the Transylvanian Saxons, who called it Kronstadt and walled it under the mountain. For centuries Romanians were not allowed to live inside; they built their own quarter outside the gate. Ninety minutes, flat in the old town.
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A short history of Brasov
In 1211 the King of Hungary granted the Burzenland region to the Teutonic Knights, who began to fortify the area. The knights were expelled as early as 1225, but the German settlers, the Transylvanian Saxons, stayed and built the town they called Kronstadt. It grew rich on trade between Central Europe and the Balkans, and its great church became known as the "Black Church" after a fire in 1689 blackened its walls. In the 16th century Johannes Honterus spread the Reformation and printing from here. Between 1950 and 1960 the city was called "Stalin City", and in 1987 a workers' revolt against Ceaușescu's regime broke out here, two years before his fall.
The ten best sights in Brasov
1Piața SfatuluiThe old square of the Saxon town
2Black ChurchA Gothic church blackened by fire, full of Turkish carpets
3Rope StreetOne of the narrowest streets in Europe
4Beth Israel SynagogueA synagogue of 1901 still in use in the old town
5Catherine’s GateA gate of 1559 with four corner turrets
6Schei GateThe gate to the Romanian quarter outside the walls
7St Nicholas ChurchThe Orthodox church of the Romanian quarter
8First Romanian SchoolA museum of early Romanian books and printing
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9Weavers’ Bastion
A bastion of the guild walls, with a model of the old city
10Black TowerA watchtower on the rock above the walls
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What is an audio walk?
Tours in Brasov →A guide in your headphones: open the walk on our site, walk from stop to stop, and at each one your phone tells its story. No guide, no group, and free. This is the first walk in Brasov:
Free walking tours in Brasov
Kronstadt, the Saxon town
Brașov was founded in the thirteenth century by German settlers, the Transylvanian Saxons, who called it Kronstadt and walled it under the mountain. For centuries Romanians were not allowed to live inside; they built their own quarter outside the gate. Ninety minutes, flat in the old town.
- Piața Sfatului · The square of the town council, whose hall of 1420 has a watchtower, the Trumpeter’s Tower, from which a guard warned of fire and attack. The houses around it are the painted merchants’ houses of the Saxon town, and the market was held here for six centuries.
- Black Church · The largest Gothic church between Vienna and Istanbul got its name from the great fire of 1689, which blackened its walls. Inside hangs one of the largest collections of Ottoman carpets in Europe — over a hundred, given by Saxon merchants who traded with the Turks — and an organ of about four thousand pipes.
- Beth Israel Synagogue · Jews were long kept out of the Saxon towns; a community formed here only in the nineteenth century, and in 1901 it built this synagogue in the old town. Under the Romanian regime in the war, Brașov’s Jews suffered forced labour and confiscations but escaped the deportations that destroyed the Jews of Hungarian-ruled northern Transylvania; most later emigrated to Israel, and the synagogue still holds services.
- Rope Street · A lane about one point three metres wide at its narrowest, built as a passage for firefighters between two streets, and now one of the narrowest streets in Europe. You can touch both walls at once.
- Catherine’s Gate · The gate of 1559, the only one of the original city gates to survive, has four small corner turrets around its tower. They were the sign that the town had the right of the sword — to judge and execute its own criminals.
- Weavers’ Bastion · Each section of Brașov’s walls was built and defended by a guild, and this is the best-preserved bastion, of the weavers, with wooden galleries on four floors. Inside is a model of the walled town in the seventeenth century.
Schei and the mountain
Outside the south gate lies Schei, the Romanian quarter, where the Orthodox community built its church and opened a school in the language of the people. Above the city rises Tâmpa, the mountain where, legend says, Vlad the Impaler did his worst. Two hours with the cable car.
- Schei Gate · The Romanians of Schei came into the walled town through this gate to work and trade, paying a toll, and had to leave by nightfall. The gate itself was built in 1828 to let carts through beside Catherine’s Gate.
- St Nicholas Church · The Orthodox church of the Romanian quarter, rebuilt in stone around 1495 with help from the princes of Wallachia across the mountains, who supported their fellow believers inside Saxon Transylvania. Its spire mixes Gothic and Byzantine.
- First Romanian School · Beside the church stood one of the first schools that taught in Romanian, and here in the sixteenth century the deacon Coresi printed some of the first books in the Romanian language. The museum keeps old Bibles, a press and the benches of the classroom.
- Tâmpa Cable Car · The cable car climbs the mountain over the old town to a terrace under big white letters spelling BRAȘOV, in Hollywood style. The legend says that Vlad III, the Impaler, impaled Saxon merchants on this hill in the 1450s after the town supported his rival.
- White Tower · A round watchtower on the hill west of the walls, reached by steps. From it and from the Black Tower nearby, the whole old town, its red roofs and the Black Church lie below.
- Strada Republicii · The pedestrian street of the old town, of cafés and bakeries. Look for kürtőskalács, chimney cake: dough wound around a wooden spit, roasted over coals and rolled in sugar and cinnamon — a Hungarian Székely specialty of this region.
Castles and bears
South-west of Brașov the road to Wallachia passes a peasant fortress, the castle sold to the world as Dracula’s, a sanctuary of rescued bears and a gorge into the mountains. Romania has more brown bears than any other European country outside Russia. A full day and a car.
- Râșnov Fortress · A citadel on a hill built by the villagers, not a lord, as a refuge from Tatar and Ottoman raids, with houses and a school inside. The legend says two Turkish prisoners dug its well, a hundred and forty-six metres deep, over seventeen years, in exchange for their freedom.
- Bran Castle · A Saxon customs fortress of 1377 on the pass to Wallachia, marketed as Dracula’s castle because it resembles the one in Bram Stoker’s novel. Vlad the Impaler probably never lived here. In the 1920s it was the beloved home of Queen Marie of Romania, granddaughter of Queen Victoria.
- Zărnești Gorge · A narrow gorge of white limestone leading into the Piatra Craiului, the King’s Stone, a sharp ridge about twenty-five kilometres long and a national park. Chamois live on the cliffs, and wolves and bears in the forest below.
- Libearty Bear Sanctuary · Until the 2000s bears were kept in small cages by restaurants and petrol stations to attract customers. A local woman, Cristina Lapis, started rescuing them, and the sanctuary now gives about a hundred bears a forest to live in. Visits are by guided tour.
- Dino Parc · A forest park of more than a hundred life-size dinosaur models below Râșnov fortress. Transylvania had real dwarf dinosaurs: on an ancient island in the west of the region lived small sauropods, studied by an eccentric baron, Franz Nopcsa, a century ago.
- Poiana Brașov · On the way back, the ski resort on the mountain above the city, a plateau of meadows and pine woods at about a thousand metres, reached by road or by a hiking path from the old town.
Getting to Brasov and getting around
- Brașov Airport · A new small airport west of the city; Bucharest is about three hours by train
- Brașov Station · In the new town; buses to the old centre
Cheap eats in Brasov
Transylvanian food mixes Romanian, Hungarian and Saxon: sarmale, cabbage rolls of minced meat with polenta and sour cream; ciorbă, sour soups; mici, small grilled sausages with mustard; and papanași, fried doughnuts with sour cream and sour-cherry jam. From the mountains comes sheep’s cheese packed in fir bark. Kürtőskalács, chimney cake, is sold hot in the street. A plate of mici with a beer costs a few euro.
- Strada Republicii · Chimney cake hot from the stall
- Piața Sfatului · Papanași and sarmale on the square
- Bran Castle · Sheep’s cheese in fir bark from the village stalls
- Râșnov Fortress · Mici and beer below the fortress
- Poiana Brașov · Ciorbă in a mountain lodge
Museums in Brasov
Brașov’s museums are its Saxon churches and walls, the first Romanian school, and the castles and fortified churches of the land around.
- Black Church · The Ottoman carpet collection
- First Romanian School · Early Romanian printing
- Prejmer · A village inside a church’s walls
- Bran Castle · Queen Marie’s rooms
- Peleș Castle · The king’s palace in the mountains
Nature and day trips near Brasov
Brașov sits in a ring of the Carpathians, with forest coming down to the old town walls. Bears, wolves and lynx live in these mountains in larger numbers than almost anywhere in Europe.
- Libearty Bear Sanctuary · Rescued bears in the forest
- Zărnești Gorge · Into the King’s Stone mountains
- Tâmpa Cable Car · The forest mountain over the old town
- Poiana Brașov · Meadows and skiing
Things to do in Brasov with kids
Children love Brașov’s castles and dinosaurs, the narrow street, the cable car and the bears.
- Dino Parc · Life-size dinosaurs
- Bran Castle · Dracula’s castle
- Rope Street · Touch both walls
- Libearty Bear Sanctuary · See bears up close
- Tâmpa Cable Car · The cable car up the mountain
Holy places in Brasov
Brașov was a meeting of faiths: Lutheran Saxons in the Black Church, Orthodox Romanians in Schei, Hungarian Catholics, and a Jewish community with its synagogue.
- Black Church · The Lutheran church of the Saxons
- Beth Israel Synagogue · The synagogue of 1901
- St Nicholas Church · The Orthodox church of Schei
- Prejmer · The fortified church
Nightlife in Brasov
Brașov is a student city with a lively old town at night: bars in the cellars around the square, terraces on Republicii, and the walls lit up.
- Piața Sfatului · Cellar bars around the square
- Strada Republicii · Terraces into the night
- White Tower · The old town lit up from above
Frequently asked questions about Brasov
What is there to see in Brasov?
The top sights in Brasov are Piața Sfatului, Black Church and Rope Street. The full list on this page has 10 sights, each with a photo and a short note.
How many days do you need in Brasov?
Three to four days are enough to see the best of Brasov without rushing, including at least one walking tour.
Is there a free walking tour in Brasov?
Yes. sleepntrip has 3 free audio walks in Brasov, with no guide and no group: your phone tells the story at every stop. The first one: Kronstadt, the Saxon town.
How do you get to Brasov and get around?
The main ways are Brașov Airport and Brașov Station. Full details are in the transport section on this page.
Where to stay in Brasov, and for how much?
sleepntrip shows only rooms in Brasov that meet nine conditions: a good location, high guest scores, cleanliness, and a price of up to $80 a night for two. Pick your dates and see what is free.
Looking for a hotel in Brasov for your dates?
Only rooms that meet nine conditions, up to $80 a night.