Cluj-Napoca
Clean spacious dorms huddle around a leafy courtyard at this friendly hostel. As well as amenities such as a common room with comfy sofas, games room and a shared kitchen, there are thoughtful touches such as plug sockets by every bed, and a very welcome espresso machine (5 lei).
A social calendar of shared dinners and homemade tuică (fruit brandy) ensures you mingle with other travellers.
One dorm is for walk-ins, so it’s a good bet if you arrive in Cluj without a booking.
1.14 MILES
More of a living, breathing creative space than a gallery, Fabrica de Pensule teems with just-made artwork by local and foreign creators who use this…
0.23 MILES
The showpiece of Piaţa Unirii is 14th- and 15th-century St Michael’s, the second-biggest Gothic church in Romania (after Braşov’s Black Church). Its neo…
15.63 MILES
The meadowlands and chalky hills surrounding Turda have a secret underworld: a salt mine so impressive, it could be a supervillain’s lair. Walking along…
Parcul Etnografic Romulus Vuia
1.72 MILES
Traditional architecture from around Romania has been faithfully reassembled at this open-air museum, 5km northwest of central Cluj. Most impressive is…
14.06 MILES
The manicured gardens and orchards of this 17th-century fortress once gave it the nickname ‘Transylvania’s Versailles’. The aristocratic Bánffy family…
15.05 MILES
Precipitous Turda Gorge (Cheile Turzii) lies 8km west of town (as the crow flies), and it makes a stunning, if leg-stiffening, half-day hike. The canyon…
0.2 MILES
Cluj-Napoca’s oldest pharmacy building holds an intriguing collection of medical miscellany. ‘Crab eyes’, skulls and powdered mummy are just a few of the…
Alexandru Borza Botanic Gardens
0.79 MILES
These wonderfully relaxing gardens comprise rockeries, neoclassical statues peeping from tangles of rose, and a Japanese-style garden with a crimson…
0.12 MILES
Housed beneath a gleaming white cathedral, this museum exhibits religious icons and other artwork.
0.17 MILES
The permanent collection of this sizeable gallery has creaky rooms featuring 18th- and 19th-century art, mostly portraits of nobles and their bewigged…
3. Pharmacy History Collection
0.2 MILES
Cluj-Napoca’s oldest pharmacy building holds an intriguing collection of medical miscellany. ‘Crab eyes’, skulls and powdered mummy are just a few of the…
0.21 MILES
Commissioned by the king of Hungary, Matthias Corvinus, in 1486, this church took more than 20 years to complete. Its interior seems spare at first glance…
5. Statue of Matthias Corvinus
0.22 MILES
Hogging the limelight in front of St Michael’s Church is a bulky 1902 statue of horseback Matthias Corvinus, the famous 15th-century Hungarian king.
0.23 MILES
The showpiece of Piaţa Unirii is 14th- and 15th-century St Michael’s, the second-biggest Gothic church in Romania (after Braşov’s Black Church). Its neo…
0.26 MILES
Rotating exhibitions of local art within this stone tower can be somewhat threadbare. But it’s still worth wandering inside this pointy-roofed former…
0.27 MILES
A statue of Serbian revolutionary Baba Novac, who plotted against the Ottomans, stands outside the 15th-century Tailor's Tower.