Sibiu

Sibiu is deep in Transylvania, a long day's travel from the Black Sea, so a beach vacation is not on offer. The nearest thing to it is Ocna Sibiului, a small spa resort about 20km away whose salt lakes, formed in old mine workings, are dense enough to float in and warm up well in July and August. Otherwise summer swimming means outdoor pools or a mountain reservoir.

Eating here means Transylvanian home cooking: sarmale cabbage rolls with polenta and sour cream, bean soup served in bread, smoked pork, and sweet cozonac and papanasi doughnuts. The shepherd villages of the Marginimea Sibiului, just south of the city, supply sheep's cheese, smoked meats and brandies, and the city lends its name to a well-known dry salami. Restaurants in vaulted cellars around the Large and Small Squares serve these dishes in generous portions.

The range beyond that is limited. There are a handful of serious modern kitchens and some good cafés, but little international depth and almost no street food, and the terraces on the main square trade more on the view than the cooking.

Sibiu is one of the best-preserved of the old Transylvanian Saxon towns. The Upper Town is set around three linked squares, the Large Square, the Small Square and Huet Square, with the Council Tower, the Gothic Lutheran Cathedral and the cast-iron Bridge of Lies between them. Steep passages and stairways lead down to the Lower Town, and stretches of the medieval walls and their guild towers still stand along the edge of the centre. The attic windows on the rooftops, which locals call the eyes of the city, give the streets their look.

The Brukenthal Museum, founded in the 18th century in a baroque palace on the main square, holds a respectable European painting collection. On the edge of town the ASTRA open-air museum spreads hundreds of rural buildings, mills and churches through the Dumbrava forest. It is a rewarding two or three days, though not a long list.

Going out in Sibiu is modest and centres on the old town. Students keep a run of cellar bars, pubs and craft beer places busy around the squares and down towards the Lower Town, and summer terraces stay full into the night. There are a few clubs, mostly lively at weekends in term time. It is a pleasant place for a drink after dinner, but nobody plans a trip here for a night out.

The Southern Carpathians fill the horizon south of the city. Paltinis, a small mountain resort about 35km away, has easy hiking in the Cindrel range in summer and modest skiing in winter. To the east the Fagaras Mountains, the highest in Romania, rise above 2,500m, with ridge walks, glacial lakes and long multi-day traverses. The Transfagarasan road climbs in tight hairpins to Balea Lake when it is open in summer, one of the classic mountain drives in Europe.

Closer in, the Dumbrava forest on the city's edge is good for walking and cycling, and the rolling hills of the Saxon villages make gentle country for longer rides. Brown bears live in these forests and are sometimes seen on the mountain roads. A car or an organised trip is needed for most of it.

Sibiu is a good base for Saxon Transylvania. Sighisoara, a walled hilltop town with a clock tower, is about an hour and a half by road. The fortified churches of the surrounding villages are closer still: Biertan, the most famous, Valea Viilor and the hilltop church at Cisnadioara, little more than a short drive away. Alba Iulia's star-shaped Habsburg citadel is about an hour west on the motorway, and the Gothic Corvin Castle at Hunedoara is a little beyond.

The shepherd villages of the Marginimea Sibiului, with their painted gates and wooden churches, make an easy half day, and Brasov is reachable for a long day. Trains are slow on most of these routes, so a car or a tour makes the list far more practical.

Sibiu is easy and relaxed with children: the old town is small, mostly traffic-free around the squares and calm in the evenings. The ASTRA open-air museum, with its windmills, farmhouses and lakes in the forest, is the best outing for families, and the small zoo and playgrounds of the Dumbrava park sit right beside it. The Natural History Museum adds a rainy-day option, and the Christmas market on the Large Square works well with younger children. Beyond that there is little designed for kids, and the stairways between the Upper and Lower Town are hard work with a pushchair.

Everything most visitors come to see in the city is within a short walk of the Large Square, and the Upper Town's main streets are largely pedestrianised. The one effort is the climb between the Upper and Lower Town, via steep lanes and stairways. A local bus network covers the outer districts and the ASTRA museum, and the airport is close to the centre. Beyond the city it changes: trains to the region's towns are slow and infrequent, so the mountains, fortified churches and villages are far easier by car or on a tour.

Shopping is small-scale and mostly about crafts. Along Nicolae Balcescu Street and around the squares there are shops selling painted ceramics, embroidered blouses, wooden toys, icons on glass and local brandies and cheeses, alongside ordinary high-street chains. A summer pottery fair and the Christmas market on the Large Square, with its wooden stalls, are the high points of the year. There is no fashion or luxury shopping to speak of, and the big malls are on the edge of town.

Sibiu is an inexpensive place to stay by European standards. Guesthouses and small hotels in or near the old town are affordable for most of the year, a hearty meal with local wine or beer costs little, buses and taxis are cheap and the museums charge modest entry. Prices on the main square terraces are higher than a street or two away, and rooms fill up and cost more during the June theatre festival and the Christmas market season.

For a city of its size Sibiu takes theatre seriously. The Radu Stanca National Theatre has a reputation well beyond Romania, and the State Philharmonic and smaller stages, including a children's theatre, keep a regular season. The city's calendar is defined by the Sibiu International Theatre Festival each June, one of the largest anywhere, when performances fill the halls, churches and squares for over a week. A long-running jazz festival and summer open-air concerts add to it. Outside those weeks the choice on any given night is limited, and most of the theatre is in Romanian.

Sibiu is a calm, unhurried city, where long evenings on the squares and coffee in the old town are part of the appeal. Its own spa offer is limited to a few hotel wellness areas. The real bathing tradition is at Ocna Sibiului, about 20km away, a spa resort since the 19th century whose salt lakes and treatment baths are used for floating and mud cures. Paltinis in the mountains is a quiet place for a restful stay with clean air.