Introduction
Hunedoara county sits in western Transylvania where the mountains close in, and it holds more deep history per kilometre than anywhere else in Romania: two ancient capitals, one of Europe's most theatrical Gothic castles, a national park of glacial lakes, and a stone church assembled out of Roman rubble.
Overview
Most people come here for the castle and leave without realising what else is in the county. Corvin Castle, on a rock above the industrial town that shares the county's name, is the country's most dramatic secular medieval building — a tall, tightly packed mass of towers, buttresses and steep red roofs reached across a long wooden bridge, with a knights' hall, a deep well and the general appearance of something invented for a film. It deserves the attention. But the county's real distinction lies south and east, where two ancient capitals sit forty kilometres apart with confusingly similar names. High in the Orăștie mountains, reached by a long climb up a forest road, Sarmizegetusa Regia was the Dacian capital: circular and rectangular sanctuaries of andesite and limestone, a paved sacred way, and a famous stone disc laid out on a terrace in dense forest, UNESCO-listed together with the ring of hill fortresses around it. Down on the plain, Ulpia Traiana Sarmizegetusa is a different place entirely — the Roman provincial capital that followed, with a forum, an amphitheatre and temple foundations in open farmland. Visitors book one and arrive at the other with real regularity. Beyond both, Retezat National Park holds the largest concentration of glacial lakes in the country, the Hațeg basin is a UNESCO geopark known for unusually small dinosaurs, and at Densuș there is a church built directly out of Roman masonry robbed from the ruins nearby.
Discover Hunedoara
Fix this before you set out, because the names defeat people. Sarmizegetusa Regia is the DACIAN capital: it sits at around twelve hundred metres in the Orăștie mountains, it is reached by a long and slow forest road followed by a walk, and what survives is a set of sanctuaries — a large circle of andesite posts, a smaller one, a rectangular sanctuary and a carved stone disc — laid out on terraces cut into a wooded ridge, with the remains of fortification walls in a distinctive masonry technique. It is atmospheric rather than monumental, the forest presses in on all sides, and it is UNESCO-listed along with several other hill fortresses in the same mountains. Ulpia Traiana Sarmizegetusa is the ROMAN capital that came afterwards, and it lies about forty kilometres south-west on flat farmland near the modern village of the same name — a forum, an amphitheatre, temple platforms and a small site museum, easily reached by car on ordinary roads and taking about an hour. The two are separate journeys of very different character: one is half a day and a mountain drive, the other is a straightforward roadside stop. If you have time for one and want atmosphere, take the mountain. If you want legible Roman town planning, take the plain. Just book the right one.
Ways to Experience This Destination
Andesite sanctuaries, a paved sacred way and a carved stone disc on forested terraces at twelve hundred metres — UNESCO-listed.
Forum, amphitheatre and temple platforms in open farmland forty kilometres away — a different place with a confusingly similar name.
A vertical mass of towers and steep roofs on a rock, crossed by a long timber bridge — Romania's most theatrical medieval building.
Around eighty glacial lakes above the treeline, and a UNESCO geopark built on dinosaurs that evolved unusually small on an island.
Frequently asked questions
Visaja keeps this page's contact details and visa guidance under continuous review — still, requirements can change at short notice, so confirm the essentials with the mission or the official government portal before you travel.