Travel in Romania: Sighişoara

We arrived in Sighişoara, a medieval walled town, in the early afternoon.  There is no parking within the walled town, so we parked down below the back gate entrance and walked up the hill to check out the town before our 2:00 check in.  This city is older and smaller than Braşov.  Parts of it date to the 12th century, though much was built in the 14th and 15th centuries.  It is now a UNESCO heritage site and considered one of the best preserved medieval towns in Europe.

We ate lunch at the Cafe International and then checked into our room at Casa Wagner.  After, we headed towards the Clock Tower, the top attraction in the town, but decided to wait to enter as there were several large school groups going in.  We wandered around the entire perimeter of the town, checking out the various towers (only a couple are open to the public) and many-centuries-old houses and buildings.

Once we had thoroughly explored the perimeter, we returned to the Clock Tower, where we paid to enter the town and climb up to the upper balcony.  On the way up, on each floor, there is a museum about the history of the citadel.  The balcony has good views of both the walled citadel and the surrounding city, as well as small plaques indicating in which direction and how far away various cities are.  My mom, who isn’t a fan of heights, didn’t particularly like the balcony views, but I thought they were pretty cool.

After we visited the Clock Tower, my dad went to the Torture Museum while my mom and I sat on the church steps near the tower.  We then wandered around the town a bit more before climbing the Scara Scolarilor (Scholar’s Stairs), which are 176 covered steps, built in 1642, that lead to the Church on the Hill.

We spent a bit of time relaxing in our room before heading out for dinner.  We ate at Hotel Sighişoara Restaurant, then spent some time sitting in the Piata Cetatii (Citadel Square) taking in our surroundings.

Where we stayed: Casa Wagner (Booking.com)

Notes and tips about visiting Sighişoara:

• The walled city is pretty small.  One day to walk around it is plenty.  It seemed like most people were visiting as a day trip.  One of the advantages to staying directly in the citadel was that many of the tourists cleared out by dinner time, so it was quieter to explore in the evening.
• It is a very remarkable medieval town.  When we first entered, it felt a little like actually going back in time.
• There is parking below the back gate entrance.  We paid the daily rate, and then had to pay again in the morning, even though we were leaving, because the daily rate only covers one calendar day.  This was fine with us, as we were just happy there was no fine/ticket for parking overnight.
• Be prepared for lots of stairs! We walked up both the Clock Tower and the Scholar’s Stairs within about an hour.  It was lots of stairs at once, but worth it.