Cluj-Napoca

Transylvania's liveliest university city, with Gothic St. Michael's Church and Baroque squares, the sci-fi-like underground theme park of Salina Turda nearby, and hiking in the Turda Gorge.

Cluj-Napoca lies in central Transylvania in northwestern Romania. With around 300,000 residents, it is Romania's second-largest city and is regarded as Transylvania's "unofficial capital". The city grew from Napoca in the Roman province of Dacia, was built up by Saxons and Hungarians in the Middle Ages, and was long a centre of Hungarian culture; its bilingual Romanian–Hungarian heritage survives to this day. Babeș-Bolyai University and other institutions bring in tens of thousands of students, and cafés, craft beer bars and music festivals make it one of Eastern Europe's most vibrant cities.

The old town centres on Unirii Square, with St. Michael's Church, Bánffy Palace, the Matthias Corvinus House, Museum Square, the Orthodox Cathedral and the National Theatre all within a 15-minute walk. Cetățuia Hill offers views over the whole city, and the Botanical Garden and Central Park are good for a stroll. Just outside town are the Hoia-Baciu "haunted forest" and an open-air ethnographic park. Top day trips are Salina Turda and the Turda Gorge (about 35 km), while Rimetea village, Bánffy Castle in Bonțida and the Scărișoara Ice Cave in the Apuseni Mountains are also popular.

The climate is temperate continental, best May–Sep. UNTOLD in early August and Electric Castle in July draw hundreds of thousands of fans, and hotel prices soar, so book ahead; winters are cold and snowy. Getting there: Cluj International Airport, about 9 km from the centre, has direct flights to many European cities; from Bucharest it's about 7–10 hours by train or 1 hour by plane. The old town is walkable, but for out-of-town sights, drive or join a day tour. Plan on 2–3 days. Local specialities include Cluj-style cabbage (varză a la Cluj), chimney cake and Hungarian goulash.

Top sights

• Union Square & St. Michael's Church – A Gothic cathedral on Union Square, the heart of the Old Town. Its 80-meter neo-Gothic bell tower is among Romania's tallest church towers…
• Salina Turda – An underground playground carved deep inside an old salt mine. Visitors can ride a Ferris wheel and row boats on an underground lake, and t…
• Turda Gorge – A limestone gorge about 3 km long, with walls up to about 300 meters high. A trail along the stream crosses suspension bridges and cliff le…
• Bánffy Palace – Transylvania's most important Baroque palace, now the National Art Museum, with classic works by Romanian and Hungarian painters.
• Matthias Corvinus House – A 15th-century Gothic stone house where Matthias I, the 'Just King' of Hungary, was born in 1443, one of Cluj's oldest surviving residentia…
• Museum Square & Franciscan Church – One of Cluj's oldest squares, with a Carolina Column at its centre, surrounded by the Franciscan Church, the history museum and cafés.
• National History Museum of Transylvania – One of Romania's oldest museums, with archaeological treasures from prehistory, the Dacian period and the Roman province, plus medieval art…
• Pharmacy Museum (Hintz House) – A small museum in the former site of Cluj's first pharmacy, preserving a 16th-century vaulted cellar, old medicine cabinets and an alchemy…
• Reformed Church on Farkas Street – A 15th-century Gothic church ordered built by King Matthias, its interior walls covered with coats of arms of Hungarian noble families, wit…
• Tailors' Bastion – The only fully preserved tower of Cluj's medieval city walls, guarded by the tailors' guild, with a stretch of the old wall still standing…
• Dormition Cathedral & Avram Iancu Square – A Byzantine Revival cathedral completed in the 1930s, with gilded icons and dazzling murals under its dome, facing the National Theatre acr…
• Lucian Blaga National Theatre & Romanian Opera – A New Baroque theatre designed by the Vienna architects Fellner & Helmer, with a gold-accented auditorium for plays, operas and ballets.
• Cluj Central Park – A city park opened in the 19th century, with rowboats on the lake and the Art Nouveau Chios Casino building across from the island.
• Cetățuia Hill – A small hill on the north bank of the Someș, with the ruins of an 18th-century Habsburg star-shaped fort and the best viewpoint over the re…
• Alexandru Borza Botanical Garden – One of Romania's largest botanical gardens, with a Japanese garden, a Roman garden and greenhouses, serving as the city's backyard garden.
• Ethnographic Museum of Transylvania – An ethnographic museum housed in the 19th-century Reduta Palace, displaying costumes, embroidery, pottery and farm tools from Transylvania'…
• Romulus Vuia Ethnographic Park – Romania's first open-air folk museum, on the slopes of Hoia Hill, gathering wooden houses, workshops and wooden churches moved here from ac…
• Hoia-Baciu Forest – Known as Transylvania's Bermuda Triangle, this forest on the edge of the city has twisted tree trunks and a barren circular clearing that h…
• Bánffy Castle, Bonțida – Often called the 'Versailles of Transylvania,' this Baroque castle was severely damaged in World War II and gradually restored. Every summe…
• Rimetea – A well-preserved Hungarian village where white-walled houses with green window frames line the foot of Sekler Rock, and the sun appears to…
• Scărișoara Ice Cave – A sinkhole ice cave in the Apuseni Mountains that holds one of Europe's largest underground glaciers. The ice is thousands of years old, an…

Where to eat

• Roata – A family-run, rustic-style restaurant in the center of Cluj, specializing in Transylvanian stews, platters, and papanaș…
• Zama – A modern Romanian bistro on Napoca Street, naming its dishes in regional dialects and presenting traditional food in a…
• Vărzărie – A local canteen-style institution operating since 1968, specializing in home-style dishes like Cluj-style cabbage, offe…
• Casa Maramureșeană – A wood-decorated, folklore-themed restaurant opened in 2015, serving dishes from the Maramureș region of northern Roman…
• Samsara Foodhouse – A well-known vegetarian restaurant in Cluj, offering a wide range of vegetarian, vegan, and raw dishes, using local sea…

Itineraries

• Romania Grand Circle Road Trip – Drive through the Southern Carpathians, Bucovina, Maramureș, and Transylvania to see all the major World Heritage Sites…
• Transylvania by Rail – Skip the driving and take the train from Bucharest via Sinaia, Brașov, and Sighișoara to Cluj-Napoca.
• Maramureș & Bucovina – Cross northern Romania from Cluj-Napoca to Iași, taking in wooden churches, a steam forest railway, and painted monaste…
• Western Romania Loop from Budapest – Enter Romania from Budapest, looping through Oradea, Cluj-Napoca, Sibiu, Corvin Castle, and Timișoara.