Sibiu

Three squares and the Bridge of Lies fit into a single day on foot; a second day, if there is one, goes to the open-air ASTRA Museum and a slower pace. The Grand Square and the Small Square are still the city's main space, joined by that very bridge — the first cast-iron one built on the territory of today's Romania, put up in 1860. The Council Tower on the Grand Square has been closed for restoration since September 2026 until the end of 2027, so the view over the city comes from the Evangelical Cathedral tower instead, open every day.

Sibiu was settled in the mid-12th century by Saxon colonists, invited by the Hungarian king Géza II to defend the kingdom's southern border. The first written mention is from 1191, in a bull by Pope Celestine III, under the Latin name Cibinium; it was confirmed as a city in 1366, under the German name Hermannstadt. The double layer of names has stayed — Sibiu in Romanian, Hermannstadt in German — along with a double layer of architecture, Saxon in the centre, socialist on the outskirts.

A Tursib bus, line 11, runs directly from Sibiu Airport (SBZ) to the centre, stopping at the dedicated "Aeroport Terminal" stop, on an ordinary fare of €0.66. The airport sits in the same fare zone as the city, so there is no separate airport surcharge. Bucharest, with far more flights, is the other way in — an overnight train or coach to Sibiu takes several hours, so a direct flight to SBZ pays off whenever one exists.

In 2007 the city shared the title of European Capital of Culture with Luxembourg — the first such title for a city from a country that had only just joined the European Union that year. A festival calendar grew out of it: the largest is FITS, the international theatre festival in mid-June (2026: 19–28 June, its 33rd edition), whose outdoor programme is free, though the city carries heavier crowds and higher accommodation prices those days.