Sibiu: what to see, where to stay and how to get around
Sibiu, Hermannstadt in German, was the capital of the Transylvanian Saxons, and its roofs are pierced by long thin dormer windows that look like half-closed eyes watching the square. In 2007 it was a European Capital of Culture, and its old town was restored. Ninety minutes between the upper and lower towns.
A short history of Sibiu
Saxon settlers arrived here in the 12th century, and the town they built, Hermannstadt, is first mentioned in 1191. In 1241 the Mongols destroyed it, after which the inhabitants surrounded it with walls and towers, some of which still stand. In the Habsburg period the city was the seat of the governors of Transylvania, and in 1817 the Brukenthal Museum opened here, one of the first public museums in the region. After the Second World War most of the Germans left, but the city kept its character. In 2007 Sibiu was European Capital of Culture, and Klaus Iohannis, who was mayor during those years, was elected President of Romania in 2014.
The ten best sights in Sibiu
1Piața MareThe great square, watched by the roofs’ eyes
2Council TowerClimb for the roofs and the mountains
3Brukenthal MuseumA baron’s palace and one of the oldest museums of the region
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4Piața Mică
The square of the guilds and the old pharmacy
5Bridge of LiesAn iron bridge of 1859 that collapses under a liar
6Piața HuetThe quiet square around the cathedral
7Evangelical CathedralThe Lutheran cathedral and a prince’s tomb
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8Passage of Stairs
Stairs down from the upper town to the lower
9Great SynagogueThe synagogue of 1899 on Constituției street
10Orthodox CathedralA cathedral of 1906 modelled on Hagia Sophia
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What is an audio walk?
Tours in Sibiu →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 Sibiu:
Free walking tours in Sibiu
The town with eyes
Sibiu, Hermannstadt in German, was the capital of the Transylvanian Saxons, and its roofs are pierced by long thin dormer windows that look like half-closed eyes watching the square. In 2007 it was a European Capital of Culture, and its old town was restored. Ninety minutes between the upper and lower towns.
- Piața Mare · The great square of the upper town, ringed with the houses of Saxon merchants. The town was governed for decades by Saxon mayors even after most Saxons left in the 1990s; one of them, Klaus Iohannis, mayor from 2000, went on to become president of Romania.
- Brukenthal Museum · Baron Samuel von Brukenthal, the only Saxon to become governor of Transylvania under the Habsburgs, built this palace and filled it with paintings. His collection opened to the public in 1817, one of the oldest museums in this part of Europe, with works by Titian, Bruegel and a portrait by Jan van Eyck.
- Council Tower · The tower between the two squares was a gate of the first wall in the thirteenth century, and later the town hall. From the top you see the eyes on the roofs, and the Făgăraș mountains white with snow to the south.
- Piața Mică · The small square of the craft guilds, with arcades below and the old Black Bear pharmacy, one of the oldest in Romania, now a museum of pharmacy. Samuel Hahnemann, the founder of homeopathy, lived in Sibiu as a young man, as the librarian of Baron Brukenthal.
- Bridge of Lies · The first cast-iron bridge in Romania, of 1859, linking the upper town to the lower. The legend says it will collapse if anyone tells a lie standing on it — so students, merchants and lovers have been tested here for generations.
- Evangelical Cathedral · The Lutheran cathedral of the Saxons, with a tower of about seventy-three metres and a huge fresco of the Crucifixion of 1445. In 1510 Mihnea the Bad, son of Vlad the Impaler, was stabbed to death in front of it after mass, and he is buried inside.
The lower town and the walls
Below the upper town the stairs and lanes lead down to the old lower town of craftsmen, and along the south side runs the best-preserved stretch of the walls with its guild towers. On the way are a synagogue and an Orthodox cathedral. An hour and a half.
- Passage of Stairs · A covered stairway that runs down beside the old wall from the cathedral to the lower town, under arches and between buttresses, one of the oldest passages of the city.
- Piața Huet · The quiet square around the cathedral, with the old Saxon gymnasium, the Brukenthal school, which has taught in German since the fourteenth century and is still one of the best schools in Romania.
- Great Synagogue · Jews were allowed to settle in Sibiu only in the nineteenth century, and in 1899 the community built this synagogue. Under the Romanian regime in the war the Jews of southern Transylvania were spared the deportations of the north, but most later left for Israel, and the community is now tiny.
- City Walls · Sibiu had four rings of walls and nearly forty towers, each defended by a guild — carpenters, potters, harquebusiers. Along Cetății street three towers stand in a row, with the moat garden below.
- Orthodox Cathedral · The Orthodox Romanians were long kept outside the Saxon town; when they finally built their metropolitan cathedral inside it in 1906, they modelled it on Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, with a great dome and golden mosaics.
- ASTRA Museum · Just outside the city, in the Dumbrava forest, about three hundred wooden village buildings — farmhouses, mills, churches, workshops — were brought from all over Romania and set around lakes. It is one of the largest open-air museums in Europe.
The shepherds’ villages and the high road
South of Sibiu the villages of the Mărginimea are home to shepherds who have taken their flocks across the Carpathians for centuries, and to the east the most famous road in Romania climbs over the Făgăraș mountains. A full day and a car; the high road is open only from about July to October.
- Cisnădioara · A small Romanesque basilica of about 1200 on a steep hill above a Saxon village, inside a ring wall. By old custom, a young man of the village who wished to marry had to carry a heavy stone up the hill to the wall, to prove his strength.
- Rășinari · A large shepherds’ village of painted gates, the birthplace of the poet Octavian Goga and of the philosopher Emil Cioran, who wrote in Paris of his longing for its hills.
- Sibiel · A village whose museum holds hundreds of icons painted on the back of glass, a folk art of Transylvanian peasants, who could not afford wooden icons and painted saints in bright colours on panes of glass.
- Cârța Monastery · The ruins of a Cistercian abbey founded in 1202, the first Gothic building in Transylvania, its roofless church standing in a field under the mountains. Part of it is still used by the village’s Lutheran church.
- Bâlea Waterfall · The Transfăgărășan road was built between 1970 and 1974 on Ceaușescu’s orders, after the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, so the army could cross the mountains quickly. It took six million kilograms of dynamite and cost many workers’ lives. The waterfall is on the way up.
- Bâlea Lake · At the top, at about two thousand metres, the road winds in hairpins to a glacial lake in a bowl of rock under the highest peaks of Romania. In winter, when the road is closed, a cable car reaches a hotel built of ice here.
Getting to Sibiu and getting around
- Sibiu Airport · Fifteen minutes from the centre; direct flights from several European cities
- Sibiu Station · A short walk below the old town
Cheap eats in Sibiu
Sibiu eats from the shepherds’ villages around it: telemea and caș, fresh and salty sheep’s cheeses; bulz, polenta balls stuffed with cheese and baked; and the famous Sibiu salami. The Saxons left cakes and bread, and every café has papanași. A plate of polenta with cheese and sour cream costs a few euro.
- Rășinari · Sheep’s cheese from the shepherds’ doors
- Piața Mare · Papanași on the square
- Piața Mică · Sibiu salami and Saxon cakes
- Sibiel · Village guesthouse meals
- ASTRA Museum · Traditional food in the village inn
Museums in Sibiu
Sibiu is a city of museums: a baron’s picture gallery, a pharmacy museum, an open-air village museum, and the churches of the Saxons and Romanians.
- Brukenthal Museum · The baron’s gallery
- ASTRA Museum · Three hundred village buildings
- Piața Mică · The pharmacy museum
- Sibiel · Icons on glass
- Biertan · The marriage prison
Nature and day trips near Sibiu
Sibiu lies under the Făgăraș, the highest mountains of Romania, crossed by one of the most spectacular roads in the world, with forests, salt lakes and shepherds’ pastures nearby.
- Bâlea Lake · The glacial lake at the top of the road
- Bâlea Waterfall · A walk to the waterfall
- Ocna Sibiului · Float in the salt lakes
- Sibiu Zoo · The Dumbrava forest
Things to do in Sibiu with kids
With children: the bridge that collapses under liars, an open-air village museum, a zoo, salt lakes to float in, and a road over the mountains.
- Bridge of Lies · Test the legend
- ASTRA Museum · Windmills and boats in the forest
- Sibiu Zoo · The city zoo
- Ocna Sibiului · Float like in the Dead Sea
- Council Tower · Climb the tower
Holy places in Sibiu
Sibiu’s churches tell its history: the Lutheran cathedral of the Saxons, the Orthodox cathedral of the Romanians, a Catholic church on the square, and the synagogue of 1899.
- Evangelical Cathedral · The Saxon cathedral
- Orthodox Cathedral · A Hagia Sophia in Transylvania
- Great Synagogue · The synagogue of 1899
- Cisnădioara · The hilltop basilica
- Cârța Monastery · The Cistercian ruins
Nightlife in Sibiu
Sibiu has a lively cultural life — the International Theatre Festival every June is one of the largest in the world — and its old town nights are in cellar bars and on the squares.
- Piața Mare · The theatre festival in June
- Piața Mică · Cellar bars under the arcades
- Bridge of Lies · The squares lit at night
Frequently asked questions about Sibiu
What is there to see in Sibiu?
The top sights in Sibiu are Piața Mare, Council Tower and Brukenthal Museum. The full list on this page has 10 sights, each with a photo and a short note.
How many days do you need in Sibiu?
Three to four days are enough to see the best of Sibiu without rushing, including at least one walking tour.
Is there a free walking tour in Sibiu?
Yes. sleepntrip has 3 free audio walks in Sibiu, with no guide and no group: your phone tells the story at every stop. The first one: The town with eyes.
How do you get to Sibiu and get around?
The main ways are Sibiu Airport and Sibiu Station. Full details are in the transport section on this page.
Where to stay in Sibiu, and for how much?
sleepntrip shows only rooms in Sibiu 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 Sibiu for your dates?
Only rooms that meet nine conditions, up to $80 a night.