Whenever I mentioned to anyone that I was planning a trip to Romania, the first question was: Why? or people would comment somewhere in the lines of: “I am not inclined to go there at all”.

Fun fact – I was actually in Romania once before, with my parents. I had to be around 4 maybe and it was probably my very first time on a plane. And I have the best memories of us eating grilled meat all week, getting tomatoes with bits of dirt on the table at the hotel, as well as butter with mould and of course I remember jumping into the black sea and driving a tricycle on the beach. All in all, lovely memories of the country, albeit stereotypic ones. A lot of time has passed since I was 4 after all.

This time, I travelled to Romania with my friend Anja, to do our annual trip. We chose Cluj-Napoca in the heart of Transylvania as our base this time. We only had one weekend this time so we decided to stay in one place all the time.

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And if we go back to the Why? of it all. The completely honest answer would be: We chose Romania by coincidence. We looked through Google flights and found the cheapest tickets from Vienna to Cluj-Napoca with Wizz Air. I probably don’t have to tell you that prices in Romania are very wallet-friendly (at least for someone coming from Slovenia).

Some facts on Cluj-Napoca. It is the second-most populous city in Romania and it lies in the northwestern part of the country, Transylvania. It hosts the country’s largest university. It was named the European Youth Capital in 2015 and European City of Sport in 2018. Bet you haven’t heard that one before. It is clean, cute, walkable, full of art, young people and great restaurants and café’s offering everything from the fancy breakfast menu, healthy food, traditional food and street food. Oh, and bakeries…lots of bakeries all around.

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Where to stay in Cluj? We booked a place to stay through Airbnb, right in the centre of the old town – check it out here.

What to see? In a weekend you can see all of these things on the list below and more. Honestly, we took it easy as it was quite hot. We could have probably squeezed more sights into our weekend but we decided to take it easy.

• Cluj-Napoca Botanical Garden (small entrance fee)
• Union Square with St. Michael’s Church(the church is currently closed for renovation, but you can still hang out in the square in front of it) and Matthias Corvinus Monument
• Museum Square and all the great restaurants around it
• Hajongard cemetery
• One of the many churches which are all around town
• Central Park
• Turda Salt Mine
• The National Theatre building
• Cluj-Napoca Tailors’ Bastion

Basically, sights are scattered everywhere around the old town so you can just walk around the city and enjoy.

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How to travel around? We mainly walked and used public transport which is cheap and adventurous. Adventurous meaning it is not always easy to find information on where you need to go exactly or how to buy tickets. But luckily Romanians are one of the nicest people you’ll meet. Their English is great and they also don’t lack the skills in other languages. If you ask for help you’ll get it. Aside from walking and public transport, you could also rent a bike and if you have more than a few days renting a car is also a good option, especially if you want to venture outside the city.

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Day trip to Turda. If you have time for only one day trip, this should be it. We got our fill of adventurous transport when we were going to Turda Salt Mine which is about a 40 minutes drive away from Cluj. You can do the whole trip in half a day. You’ll definitely need some help from TripAdvisor and a bit of imagination to find where you need to wait for the bus in Cluj and where to get off it in Turda. We used the help of this link. Also, finding the salt mine is not that easy as there are no signs. You should rely on Google Maps and try to find the old entrance to the mine, which is a walking distance away from where the bus will drop you off. The mine itself is an amazing experience and you should definitely visit. But, come prepared as it gets quite cold inside.

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What to eat? Maybe a better question is what not to eat – see happy faces in the photos. Honestly, it is really difficult not to eat well in Cluj. We started our culinary adventure in Olivo Caffe & Bistro, continued in one of the Marty Restaurants – the one in Museum Square and finished with a touch of traditional food in Zama. Dining here is an experience for all senses and the customer service is next level anywhere you go.

We had no issues or safety concerns whatsoever – aside from me almost getting stuck on border control on our way back home, as usual. Romanians are really nice and helpful and almost unprepared for tourists, so it is still a good time to visit before the masses discover the wonders of Romania.

Verdict? Visit Cluj, you will not be sorry. But if you have more than a weekend definitely rent a car and explore some more of this wonderful country.