Four days in Romania is Bucharest for one day, then three days locked onto Transylvania’s most famous cluster: Brasov as a base, Bran and Peles castles as one day trip, and Sighisoara’s walled citadel to close things out. That’s a genuine, well-built sampler of Romania’s headline region, not the whole country and nowhere close to all of Transylvania. The offbeat move is deciding which castle to actually believe: Bran gets the crowds and the fridge magnets because a Victorian novelist invented a vampire he never researched on Romanian soil, while Sighisoara, the town where the real inspiration for that vampire was born, gets a fraction of the visitors.

Five days in Romania is enough for one proper Transylvania loop, Bucharest, Brasov, Bran and Peles, Sighisoara, Sibiu, done properly instead of rushed. It’s still Transylvania only, Bukovina’s painted monasteries, Maramures’ wooden churches and the Danube Delta stay separate trips. Everything here prices in the Romanian leu (RON), not the euro, and since land borders opened on 1 January 2025 Romania is a full Schengen member end to end, no passport stamp at the Hungarian or Bulgarian crossing either.

Six days is enough to do Transylvania properly and still add one region past it, which is close to the honest ceiling for a week in Romania. This plan spends one day in Bucharest, three days on the Brasov, Bran, Peles and Sighisoara cluster that most Transylvania trips are built around, a day in Sibiu to close that loop properly, and a sixth day pushing north into Maramures for the Merry Cemetery at Sapanta and one of the region’s UNESCO wooden churches.

A long weekend in Romania is two days in Bucharest plus one long day pushing north into Transylvania, not a tour of the region. Romania is a big, regionally varied EU country priced in the Romanian leu (RON), not the euro, and since land borders opened on 1 January 2025 it’s a full Schengen member, so there’s no passport stamp between it and other Schengen states. Day three here is a sampler: Peles Castle, Brasov and Bran in a single long push up the Prahova Valley, honest about being a taste of Transylvania rather than the whole thing.

Two days in Romania is two days in Bucharest, full stop. Romania is a big, regionally varied EU country that genuinely rewards a week or more, and Transylvania’s castles are their own trip, not a rushed side-quest bolted onto a city weekend. This one skips the fridge-magnet Dracula stuff for Bucharest’s weirder real story: a communist megastructure, a 1989 balcony, and a village of wooden houses trucked in from the countryside.

One week in Romania is enough for a full Transylvania loop, Bucharest, Peles, Brasov, Bran, Sighisoara and Sibiu, plus a genuine push north into Maramures for the wooden churches and the technicolor headstones of the Merry Cemetery. It is still not the whole country: Bukovina’s painted monasteries and the Danube Delta stay separate trips. Seven days is Romania’s actual sweet spot, long enough to do two regions properly instead of one region rushed.

Three days in Bucharest takes the same Palace of Parliament and Revolution Square spine as a shorter trip and adds a third day for the city’s quieter, odder corners: Cismigiu Gardens, the Belle Epoque stretch of Calea Victoriei, and the free ruins at Curtea Veche. This is still a city-only trip, no Transylvania, no rushed castle day. Prefer a shorter or longer version? See the 2-day or 5-day itineraries built on the same route.

Three days keeps the same Bucharest-and-Sinaia base as the 2-day version and adds one long day trip north to Bran Castle and Brasov, a 12 hour round trip that will not feel relaxed. It is still cheaper and simpler than the alternative: skipping Transylvania’s marquee castle entirely. The 4-day itinerary turns this same day into an overnight instead, if a rushed third day sounds like the wrong trade. Book these before you go

Two days is a rushed but honest version of this trip: one night in Bucharest’s Old Town, then a full day at Sinaia’s Peles and Pelisor castles before flying out that evening. It skips Bran and Brasov entirely. For the calmer pace that adds them, see the 3-day through 7-day versions of this same route. Book these before you go Peles Castle timed entry slot at bilete.peles.ro, the daily cap is 2,000 visitors and summer slots fill by mid-morning Bucharest Old Town hotel for the single arrival night A guided Sinaia and Peles Castle tour on GetYourGuide if you would rather skip the train transfer entirely Sinaia train ticket from Gara de Nord at cfrcalatori.

Two days in Bucharest is enough for the city’s one unmissable oddity plus its darkest history, nothing more. Day one is the Palace of Parliament and the Old Town, day two is Revolution Square and the Village Museum. Skip Transylvania entirely this trip, there is no time, and this route does not try to squeeze a castle in anyway. Longer stays get their own 3-day and 7-day versions of this same spine.

Bucharest is the landing pad, not the postcard. You touch down at Otopeni, spend a night in the Old Town, and pay in lei, RON, never euros, even though Romania sits fully inside Schengen since January 2025 and has been an EU member since 2007. The actual draw is two to six hours north: Peles Castle’s overstuffed royal rooms, Bran Castle wearing a Dracula story it never earned, and Sighisoara’s genuine medieval quarter, where Vlad the Impaler was actually born.

Bucharest pays in lei (RON), not euros, despite sitting inside the EU and full Schengen since January 2025. That single fact trips up more visitors than anything else. The city itself, not the Transylvanian castles two hours north, is the point of this guide: a Cold War palace so big it needs its own basement tour, a square where a dictator’s speech turned into his downfall, and a museum full of wooden churches nobody prays in anymore.

Four days in Bucharest takes the 3-day city spine, Palace of Parliament, Revolution Square, Cismigiu and Curtea Veche, and adds a full day at Therme Bucuresti, the mega thermal spa outside the city, as a genuine break from monuments. Still no Transylvania here; that is a separate trip covered in our Bucharest castles and day-trips guide . Shorter or longer plans on this same route: 3-day and 6-day . Book these before you go:

Five days in Bucharest keeps the 4-day city spine, Palace of Parliament, Revolution Square, Cismigiu, Curtea Veche, and Therme Bucuresti, and adds a fifth day for the wealthy Primaverii district and a proper local market. Still entirely city-based; Peles and Bran get their own day starting at the 6-day mark . Want less time instead? See the 4-day itinerary . Book these before you go: Palace of Parliament tour : phone-booked 24 hours ahead, no online sales, bring a passport Old Town hotels on Booking.

Six days in Bucharest keeps the 5-day city spine, Palace of Parliament, Revolution Square, Cismigiu, Curtea Veche, Therme Bucuresti, and Primaverii Palace, and allows exactly one day to leave the city: Peles Castle in Sinaia. That is the only day trip on this itinerary; the rest stays in Bucharest on purpose. Want the deeper Transylvania version with Bran and Brasov added in? See our 7-day itinerary , or drop the day trip entirely with the 5-day plan .

Four days does what the 3-day version cannot: it turns the Bran and Brasov day into an actual overnight, so you reach the castle without a taxi rush and leave Brasov’s old town properly seen the next morning. Same Bucharest arrival, same Sinaia day, one calmer night added north. The 5-day itinerary pushes this same route on to Sighisoara if four days leaves you wanting more Transylvania. Book these before you go

Five days keeps the 4-day route intact through Brasov and adds Sighisoara, the genuine medieval Saxon town where Vlad the Impaler was actually born, a stronger claim than anything Bran can offer. The catch is the return trip: the direct train from Sighisoara to Bucharest runs about 6 hours, which this version has to spend on your last afternoon. The 6-day itinerary fixes that by giving Sighisoara a full second day and a calmer finish.

Six days keeps the 5-day route through Sinaia, Brasov, and Sighisoara, but stops asking your last afternoon to absorb a 6 hour train. Sighisoara gets a real second day here, artisan shops and citadel walls at a walking pace, before the long ride back to Bucharest happens with a full day to spare rather than a rushed one. The 7-day itinerary adds one more thing entirely: the real Vlad the Impaler fortress that Bran only pretends to be.

A full week in Bucharest runs the entire 6-day spine, Palace of Parliament, Revolution Square, Cismigiu, Curtea Veche, Therme Bucuresti, Primaverii Palace, and one Sinaia day trip to Peles Castle, then closes with a slower seventh day back in the city instead of a second day trip. This route deliberately keeps Transylvania to that single Sinaia day; for a deeper castle-and-mountains trip, see our Bucharest castles and day-trips guide instead. Shorter version: the 6-day itinerary .

A full week runs the entire 6-day route through Sinaia, Brasov, and Sighisoara, then adds the one castle none of the shorter versions reach: Poenari Fortress, the ruined clifftop citadel that was actually Vlad the Impaler’s seat, unlike Bran. There is no train to Poenari, so this closing day runs on a rental car or a private driver out of Bucharest, not the rail network the rest of the week uses.