Bucharest is Romania's capital and biggest city, but Transylvania — the mountainous central region of castles and medieval towns — is what draws most first-time visitors to the country in the first place.
Transylvania is the clear draw for castle-hunters: Bran Castle (marketed as Dracula's Castle), Peleș Castle, and Corvin Castle (Hunedoara Castle) are genuinely spectacular and spread across a scenic mountain region. Bucharest's Palace of Parliament (Palatul Parlamentului) is a landmark of a different kind — the second-largest administrative building on earth, built under communist rule.
Transylvania's Sighișoara Medieval Citadel is a genuinely preserved medieval town, still inhabited, and the ASTRA National Museum Complex in Sibiu adds an open-air folk architecture museum. Bucharest's Lipscani (Old Town) is smaller and more nightlife-driven, with the National Museum of Art of Romania (MNAR) as its cultural anchor.
Transylvania rewards a road trip or multi-town itinerary through the Carpathian mountains, with dramatically different scenery from town to town. Bucharest is a single, dense capital city best explored on foot or by metro over two or three days, without the driving required to see Transylvania properly.
Bucharest has Romania's main international airport and the most direct flights, making it the natural entry point. Transylvania is best reached by car or train from Bucharest, and a rental car is genuinely useful for reaching castles and towns that aren't on a single train line.
Choose Bucharest as your entry point and for a compact capital-city stop with communist-era history. Choose Transylvania for castles, medieval towns, and mountain scenery — the region most people picture when they think of Romania. Most trips combine both: a couple of days in Bucharest, then a drive or train north into Transylvania.