As the season of spookiness is upon us, this is a great time to visit Transylvania. One of my favourite places is Sighisoara, which is less than 2 hours from Brasov which is cheap to fly to from London. It’s certainly a little bit different to explore Sighisoara at this time of year, or head there to celebrate Halloween.
Sighisoara is the birthplace of Vladimir Tepes “the impaler”, who is more commonly known as Dracula. Therefore the city is the perfect introduction to Transylvania. These are my recommendations for a visit.
Explore
The best way to explore Sighisoara is on foot and I can highly recommend just wandering the cobbled streets.
Here are the things not to miss:
Clock tower
The key landmark is the clock tower which you can climb throughout the day, for a small fee, and it’s well worth seeing the wooden figures up close, which emerge from the clocks on either side. There are seven on one side which rotate at midnight and two on the other representing day and night.
Scholars stairs
A covered wooden staircase consisting of 176 steps and 29 landings, this used to extend further into the square (before it was partly destroyed), to the school/church on the hill.
Church on the Hill
A Gothic construction with Saxon cemetary and great views.
I recommend taking the route back into the centre through here.
Towers of the guilds
Only 9 of the original 14 towers remain around town, each named after a different guild who was responsible for maintaining it. My favourite, the hexagonal shoemakers tower which is not open to the public but can be viewed from the gated entrance.
Vlad’s birthplace
This is now a restaurant located on the site of where he was born ie not the original building. It’s very touristy but really you can’t miss it.
Teo’s
This 500 year old cellar is a great place to taste and buy locally produced alcohol. The fruits if the forest liqueur (palinka) was really good, but there are many other flavours. All of which I can highly recommend, although perhaps limit yourself to just a couple of shots :).
Arts and Crafts
You can find some beautiful hand made souvenirs around town but Arts & Crafts is one of the best with hand carved wooden items for sale and a small museum/gallery.
Where next
Romania is an interesting country in Eastern Europe which is some what unexplored compared to other parts of Europe. After Sighisoara I would recommend a visit to Bran Castle of course, but it’s not really what you would expect.
