Hey!
I recently went to Romania and as I've got a lot of info of these forums I thought it only Karma to write a little back. Romania was a rewarding experience and it's definitely worth a visit. It seems a lot different in a way to other countries I've been to, it's 'off the beaten track' for sure but in a very under-developed way, but has a lot of good places. I'll just mention a few which I didn't notice much written about on site.
Bucharest - Everyone said this place was a dump, and yeah, it's not exactly Prague or Budapest, but it is still charming in a way. Once you get of the main boulevards there are a lot of old houses with wonderful architecture, sadly very run down. But still with some kind of atmosphere and good for photographers. Be a little wary though, quite a few dodgy characters in these areas. Anyway, the city isn't much to look at aside from these few isolated parts of the old town, but it's a good place in other respects:
Food: Lots of restaurants of all types and a meal is very cheap. A good meal in a decent restaurant was about 12Euro! And there are all time of cuisines there!
Museums: Quite a few good museums, the museum of the village and the peasant are particularly enjoyable. Very cheap entrance fees too.
Nightlife: Lots of clubs and bars, again many with very reasonable prices. The Roms seem to love going out and cafe, bars and clubs downtown are busy every night. Stay clear of the seedy places though.
Parks: Cismigiu and Herastrau Parks are lovely at the moment and a great escape from the traffic and concrete (but not the people - the parks are popular!)
Sighisoara - Ok, well known, and a tourist spot, but do visit it. I loved it there.
Alba Iulia - Less known but has a wonderful wall town, very well preserved with some old church, Roman rubble lying around, an ethnological museum, a museum celebrating the reunification of Romania and a lot of nice architecture. We virtually had the place to ourselves. Great place, poor marketing department!
Sarmasagituza - The old Roman city. Not too impressive but not covered with plaque, gadgets, walkways, screaming kids, fake plastic Roman centurions or gunk like that. It's just there, dug up, and left to your imagination.
Here are some sites to help:
www.entertainmentbucharest.com
www.sighisoara.com
www.apulum.ro/index-en.htm
Anyway, I hope that's given you a flavour. If you are a little brave, don't mind working things out on your own, and have the ability to see something nice behind the crud, then Romania might be an idea.
