Romania is bordered to the north and east by Moldova and Ukraine, the southeast by the Black Sea, the south by Bulgaria, the southwest by Serbia and Montenegro and in the west by Hungary. The country is divided into four geographical areas. Transylvania (a belt of Alpine massifs and forests) and Moldavia compose the northern half of the country, which is divided down the middle by the north–south strip of the Carpathian Mountains. South of the east–west line of the Carpathians lies the flat Danube plain of Walachia with the capital Bucharest, its border with Bulgaria being defined by the course of the Danube. Romania’s coastline is along the Black Sea, incorporating the port of Constanta and the Danube Delta.
The largest of the Balkan states, Romania has seen several empires come and go, from the Roman, to the Ottoman to the Austro-Hungarian.
Romania has dramatic mountain scenery including the Carpathian Mountains and Transylvania. The beautiful and densely forested Carpathian Mountains area lends itself to many sporting and leisure activities such as skiing, bobsleighing, horseriding and tennis. Situated in picturesque valleys and on mountain slopes are many health and winter resorts. Since Roman times, the Romanian spas of Transylvania have been known for their miraculous healing powers. The Black Sea Coast, ideal for family holidays with 70km (43 miles) of fine white sandy beaches, boasts many resorts. Transylvania also contains the famous Bran Castle, said to be one of the original abodes of the medieval king known as Vlad the Impaler, who helped inspire Bram Stoker’s novel, Dracula.
Bucharest has an astonishing range of architecture – from Wallachian wooden and bell-towered mansions to Byzantine-style chapels, neo-classical buildings, striking 1930s modernism and even the post-Stalinist absurdities of Ceaucescu’s megalomaniac regime – cannot help but leave the visitor in awe at the varieties of vision that have taken place in this city over the centuries. But Bucharest has also been the epicenter of the country’s many upheavals, with the stages of the country’s history like vivid tattoos etched across the city’s surface, each telling a different chapter of the story.