Romania is a southeastern European country known for the forested region of Transylvania, ringed by the Carpathian Mountains. Its preserved medieval towns include Sighişoara, and there are many fortified churches and castles, notably clifftop Bran Castle, long associated with the Dracula legend. Bucharest, the country’s capital, is the site of the gigantic, Communist-era Palatul Parlamentului government building.

Romania is home to no less than eight World Heritage Sites just waiting to be explored: the painted churches of Moldavia, the Dacian fortresses of the Orăştie Mountains, the historic centre of Sighișoara, the Danube Delta, the Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and other regions of Europe (shared), the Monastery